Introduction

Tutors face a variety of challenges in tutorials with L2 writers. For example, difficulties can include consulting with a student writer who does not know what he or she wants to work on, encountering an assignment that is difficult for both the writer and the tutor to interpret, and having difficulty seeing eye-to-eye with a writer about how to use the limited time of a tutorial. Nevertheless, tutors can prepare themselves for these and other perplexing situations by writing and discussing scenarios inspired by difficulties encountered in real tutorials.

Tutors may be more willing to discuss difficult tutoring situations if they can present them as fictionalized events, written in the form of scenarios. Additionally, using scenarios in training can help tutors adapt to local environments (Ganobscik-Williams, 2012; Papay, 2002) because scenarios can be based on occurrences that have taken place in the specific contexts in which tutors work. Using scenarios can also help tutors build confidence and foster ongoing discussion among tutors after the scenarios session is over.

Planning for Use of Scenarios

To implement scenarios in tutor training, a 2-hour time block or two 1-hour sessions are needed. Before the meeting, tutors can be told that they will participate in discussions of tutor-written scenarios that involve a description of a problem that might occur in their own tutoring context. Tutors can be also asked to think about possible scenarios to discuss. They might be directed to write a draft of a scenario before the tutor training session or simply come prepared to write a scenario with a partner or group during the session itself.

Helping Tutors Write Lively and Engaging Scenarios

Whether they draft scenarios before or during the training session, tutors should be given example scenarios. (See the appendix for examples of tutor-written scenarios: The first two scenarios were written by tutors who work with ESL students in my own university, which is located in the Midwest region of the United States. The latter two were written by participants in a workshop at the 2014 European Writing Center Association [EWCA] Conference at Europa-Universität Viadrina and include scenarios set in European writing centers.)

Tutors can be directed to read sample scenarios and then to write their own, following these instructions, adapted from Owenby (1992) and Reichelt (2000):

• Write a scenario in which a tutor faces a dilemma.

• Write the scenario in the form of a story.

• Draw on your own experience, but feel free to fictionalize.

• Creatively name the people in the scenarios.

• Use realistic details.

• Employ dialogue.

• Appeal to the reader’s eyes and ears.

• Make the story easy to follow by writing in chronological order.

• Include all the information the readers need to understand the situation.

• End the scenario with the question, “What should the tutor do?”

If tutors have not written scenarios in advance, they can be given 20–25 minutes to work with a partner or group to draft a scenario. They can be reassured that the scenario does not have to be perfectly written; it just has to illustrate the dilemma the tutor faced. Depending on the size of the group, all scenarios can be discussed as a large group, or groups can exchange scenarios, discuss, and then later summarize their discussion for the larger group.

Using Scenarios in Different Contexts

I have used scenarios in working with ESL tutors in the United States, EWCA workshop participants from a variety of contexts, and groups in the United States and Poland that included experienced tutors as well as inexperienced individuals preparing to be writing center tutors.

Some of the scenarios that tutors have written could occur in almost any writing center context. This is true, for example, of a scenario written by a tutor at the relatively new writing center at the University of Łódź, Poland (see Reichelt et al., 2013). In the scenario, both the tutor and the tutee were L2 writers of the target language, English. The tutor had doubts about the phrasing the student had used in the paper. Of course, native speakers can also have questions about correct usage in a student’s writing, but such questions may arise more frequently or be more salient for nonnative speakers (see Maupaté-Steiger, 2014, for a discussion of the advantages nonnative-speaking writing consultants have in tutoring second/foreign language students). Situations similar to this one can occur in a variety of contexts, because nonnative English speakers are employed as tutors in many writing centers around the world.

Tutors I have worked with have also described situations that are specific to their particular context. For example, another scenario written by tutors from the Łódź, Poland, writing center involved a student expressing doubts about the tutor’s competence, compared to a “real” teacher. This concern stemmed at least in part from the fact that the notion of writing centers was unfamiliar in this context both to students and their professors.

The approach taken to using scenarios may need to be adjusted based not only on the context of the writing center in question, but also on the level of tutoring experience that the trainees have. For example, in working with a group of individuals who had not yet undertaken any writing center tutoring, I found it helpful to warm up by working through the sample scenarios available at Case Scenario/Critical Reader Builder (2012), as described in Hughes and Tedrowe (2013).Afterwards, instead of having this group write their own scenarios, I used scenarios that tutors had written in the past, telling the trainees they would write their own scenarios for discussion after they had begun tutoring.

Conclusion

Providing tutors with the opportunity to write and discuss scenarios based on prior tutorials or anticipated tutoring difficulties allows tutors to work through a variety of tutoring dilemmas and reflect on how they may address various quandaries that can arise during tutorials. The use of scenarios can be adapted to different writing center contexts, allowing tutors to explore approaches to local circumstances and solutions to particular tutoring dilemmas.

Acknowledgments

I am grateful to my fall 2013 Issues in ESL Writingclass, Łukasz Salski (director of the writing center at the University of Łódź, Poland) and the tutors there, and my workshop participants at the 2014 European Writing Center Association conference.

References

Case Scenario/Critical Reader Builder [Computer software]. (2012). Madison: University of Wisconsin-Madison. Retrieved from http://engage.wisc.edu/software/cscr/.

Ganobscik-Williams, L. (2012). Reflecting on what can be gained from comparing models of academic writing provision. In C. Thaiss, G. Bräuer, P. Carlino, L. Ganobscik-Williams, & A. Sinha (Eds.), Writing programs worldwide: Profiles of academic writing in many places (pp. 499–511).Fort Collins, CO: The WAC Clearinghouse and Parlor Press.

Hughes, B., & Tedrowe, M. (2013). Introducing case scenario/critical reader builder: Creating computer simulations to use in tutor education. The Writing Lab Newsletter, 38, 1–4.

Maupaté-Steiger, K. (2014). Tongue versus terrain. Zeitschrift Schreiben, 29, 1–7.

Owenby, P. (1992). Making case studies come alive. Training, 29, 43–46.

Papay, T. (2002). Collaborating with a difference: How a South African writing center brings comfort to the contact zone. Writing Center Journal, 23, 5–22.

Reichelt, M. (2000). Case studies in L2 teacher education. ELT Journal, 54, 346–353.

Reichelt, M., Salski, L., Andres, J., Lowczowski, E., Majchrzak, O., Molenda, M.,…Wiśniewska-Steciuk, E. (2013). “A table and two chairs”: Starting a writing center in Łódź, Poland. Journal of Second Language Writing, 22, 277–285.

Melinda Reichelt is Professor of English at the University of Toledo, where she directs the ESL writing program and teaches courses in TESOL and linguistics. She has published multiple articles on second language writing and is coeditor, with Tony Cimasko, of Foreign Language Writing Instruction: Principles and Practices (Parlor Press, 2011).

Appendix: Example Scenarios

The Essay Exam by Debbie Woodard

You are a tutor in a writing center. You have a tutoring session with a student whose assignment is to complete a take-home exam. The student has brought a copy of the assignment sheet with him. The description of the assignment clearly states that the student may solicit help from someone at the Writing Center; however, you and the student have very different ideas about the type of assistance that is appropriate.

When the student asks how he should begin, you proceed to question him in order to prompt him to consider the key points of what he is about to write. You question him about his style of composing. Does he prefer to use a formal outline or just makes notes on the key points he intends to cover in his writing? You discuss the basics of writing an essay, explaining the introduction, body, and conclusion. As the two of you discuss the key points and organization of his essay, you notice that he is not taking notes. When questioned about this, his response is that he wants to use the computer.

He sits down at the computer and asks, “How should I start?” He wants to dispense with the note taking and begin his essay. After some discussion, he types his opening sentence and asks, “What should I say next?”

At this point you realize that this student expects you to compose his essay. He expects you to dictate while he types. He wants you to write his take-home exam for him. When you explain to the student that the tutors are available to assist you, but their job is not to do your work for you, he becomes irritated and asserts that he has been to the Writing Center many times and has always been helped in this way.

What do you do?

Pizza in Chicago by Tim Escondo

It is Friday afternoon – the last day before Fall Break. You have a 50 minute appointment with an ESL student (from any country). Your student comes in with a paper in hand. The paper is due the Wednesday after break. He hopes to have it finished so that he can enjoy the long weekend to its fullest.

“I really want to go to Chicago. I hear the pizza is really good!”

As you scan the paper, you notice a variety of problems, including problems with organization, development, and grammar.

As the student looks to your reaction eager for approval, you have tell him, “This is going to need a lot of revision.

He's disappointed, but immediately asks, “What should I do?”

What do you tell him? Do you list all the problems? The most important ones? Remember, the student plans to enjoy his break.

Tears of Maria

[Authors preferred to remain anonymous. Written during a workshop at the 2014 European Writing Center Association (EWCA) conference, Europa-Universität Viadrina, Frankfurt (Oder), Germany.]

Maria is 31 years old and comes from Italy. She has been living in Germany for three years and comes to the writing center with her BA thesis. It is the first session, and she brings some pages with lots of notes, ideas, questions, references, etc.

“I need help with my thesis,” Maria says.

“What can you tell me more about your problem?” you ask.

She tells you the following: “My husband is very ill, and I have to take care of him and I’m all alone in my responsibility for our child. Additionally, I live two hours away from the university, and I can only come to the library once a week, and that’s the only place I can work.” She continues to describe her struggles.

At one point, you say, “Sorry, Maria, to interrupt you, but could you be more specific about your writing problem?”

“I am not able to focus because I’ve written 50 pages and read 60 articles, and I still don’t know what to describe in my thesis and how to start,” she says, and begins to cry. She’s clearly embarrassed.

What do you do?