Fostering a sense of belonging for community college students is a shared responsibility among all institutional areas, including academics, student services, and student life. This article presents a collaborative tutorial initiated and sustained by academics and support services that addressed the needs of students cycling through writing…

A writing center derives its definition from the services it renders. (HOD)

Argues that while the writing laboratory cannot solve all problems inherent in teaching writing, it is a rich resource for both student and instructor. (MM)

Notes the inevitable tensions that arise between centripetal writing centers and centrifugal writing across the curriculum programs. Examines the tutoring program at an eastern university as an example of a decentralized writing center that resists pressures to assume a uniform composition pedagogy and coordinates its work with many parts of the…

Freshman and sophomore composition students who are required to write in response to literature frequently find that they are not yet secure enough in their basic writing skills to discuss a literary work. In order to help these students, writing center tutors must be familiar with the assigned writing tasks and what instructors expect from an…

This practicum developed a multimodal approach for remediation of "main idea" reading comprehension deficits with secondary school students having behavior disorders. The six target students (ages 12 to 18) attended a school within a psychiatric hospital and residential treatment center and were reading significantly below grade level.…

This document presents 13 keynote addresses and major papers presented at the 1997 and 1998 conferences of the Pennsylvania Association of Developmental Educators. The papers are: (1) "Developmental Education: History of Implications" (Hunter Boylan, 1997 keynote speaker); (2) "Learning and Teaching in the 21st Century: Seven Habits of Highly…

Until recently, the conventional wisdom about the conjunction of peer tutoring and writing in the disciplines was that a tutor unfamiliar with subject matter actually operated at an advantage. In spite of some of the theoretical advantages of ignorance, recent research suggests that it is difficult to ask probing questions and make useful…

Addressing a variety of concerns of writing center directors and staff, directors of freshman composition, and English department chairs, the papers in this collection discuss writing center research and evaluation, writing center tutors, and computers in the writing center. The titles of the essays and their authors are as follows: (1) "Narrative…

Examines two studies: one that shows that competent to highly competent writers find writing centers beneficial, and the other that shows that faculty continue to think of writing centers as suited to remedial students and surface level corrections. Attempts to glean from these studies important information that could act as a corrective to all…

Because Los Medanos College (LMC) has no entrance tests or academic tracks, instructors are faced with mixed reading and writing levels in the classroom. LMC has elected to address this problem through a college reading and writing center and through the extensive use of peer tutors to upgrade language skills in all subject areas. In 1980, LMC…

The investigation of peer response groups in a basic college writing class was one method of charting the development of students' writing skills over the span of a semester to see if collaborative learning was beneficial to the writing process. Response groups were tape-recorded and observed, and members were interviewed. By the fourth week of…

The attitudes of teachers referring students to writing centers for mandatory instruction may weaken the center's ability to provide support to the students who need it most. Training tutors to provide a pleasant learning environment can increase the program's effectiveness. (MSE)

A university English department's writing center uses peer tutors trained in questioning, explanation, and constructive criticism techniques. Among the issues raised are tutoring adult students and writing across the curriculum. The program has been an effective method of encouraging good writing. (MSE)

A project at Manor Junior College, Pennsylvania, developed further and implemented the tutoring programs in the Learning Center and integrated them with the Computer Tutorials Program. The objective was to increase retention and graduation rates and academic success of students enrolled in vocational programs. The reading, writing, and peer tutor…