A language laboratory component became an integral part of the ESL (English as a second language) program at Sacramento City College when student enrollment increased and a freeze on hiring new teachers went into effect. While the number of class hours of each ESL course was reduced, an hour or two per week of laboratory work was added. The term…

Since 1984, the Language Arts Lab at Irmo High School (Columbia, South Carolina) has provided: (1) remediation in reading and writing to students with low standardized test scores; and (2) assistance to other students in the areas of study skills, college entrance exam preparation, term papers, reading and reading assignments, grammar, and…

Writing centers have been working diligently to create a centripetal space to draw as many faculty and students into its collaborative learning process as possible. The degree to which writing centers have succeeded in this mission should now lead beyond the sanctum of the centers and even beyond the validated space of satellite centers. The…

A paper describes a project in which a writing center created a Web site using digital video (DV) along with essay texts, scenario notes, and a Web-based response exercise, in order to better prepare writing tutor apprentices for a range of ethical and pedagogical dilemmas which might occur. The paper begins by discussing reasons for the project…

The Learning Assistance Center's peer tutoring program at Stanford University is described in this paper. Ways are suggested to register students as tutees, match them with tutors, operate tutoring sessions, account for and control tutoring hours, evaluate tutoring performance, and train peer tutors. In this program, tutors are Stanford students…

A description is provided of Los Angeles Valley College's Life Science Learning Center (LSLC), which provides: (1) a resource center addressed to the individualized learning needs of students served by the Biology Department; (2) a learning environment enabling students to proceed in self-paced, activity-centered, concept-oriented experiences in…

Writing center tutor training at Harrisburg Area Community College, Pennsylvania, was improved through the development and implementation of a 3-credit course. Professionals in the field, other professors at the institution, writing center tutors, and the community college administration were consulted in the development of the course. The course…

The first step in an effort to expand a writing laboratory program calls for the director and the current staff to investigate the areas in which expansion is desirable and can feasibly occur. This can be done by asking students to identify disciplines in which they would use additional tutorial help, or by addressing the faculty, especially those…

Learning assistance is a relatively new idea in education in the United States since most learning centers have come into existence since 1970. Although developmental education has become accessible in remote areas and many financial and psychological barriers have been lifted, much more could be accomplished in this area if more evaluative…

One advantage of writing center tutorial groups over individual tutoring is that in groups students have the opportunity to become readers of others' writing and to provide feedback to their peers. In such groups, it is assumed that the tutor as facilitator serves as an interactional and linguistic model for students. To test this hypothesis, over…

Writing labs should utilize the knowledge gained from a variety of fields to enhance further their programs, particularly with regard to the study of nonverbal communication. Regardless of the sincerity and importance of the tutor's suggestions, nonverbal messages often are sent to the student which undermine the session. Various channels of…

Awareness of audience is of major importance in rhetoric, but most students who come to a writing center need help in recognizing and accommodating an audience for their work. Standard warnings from rhetoric texts and writing instructors not to write for the instructor not withstanding, it is the job of the writing center staff to help the student…

The academic support system for students at a two-year college is described in this paper. Various sections of the paper discuss (1) procedures for diagnostic testing of academic abilities, perceptual skills, and learning styles; (2) the tutorial program, including staff recruitment and training, program procedures, problems, and evaluation…

Keeping writing center records is perhaps the director's most dreaded chore, and it is often seen as a negative duty detracting from the more important business of helping tutors and student clients. However, research data that computers now make almost instantly available reveals surprisingly positive results and ways of presenting those results…

After much trial and error, the Agricultural Technical Institute of the Ohio State University (ATI/OSO) discovered that training of writing lab tutors can best be done through collaboration of the Writing Lab Coordinator with the "Development of Tutor Effectiveness" course offered at the institute. The ATI/OSO main computer lab and…