To better understand the promising effects of data-driven learning (DDL) on language learning processes and outcomes, this study explored DDL learning events enabled by the Research Writing Tutor (RWT), a web-based platform containing an English language corpus annotated to enhance rhetorical input, a concordancer that was searchable for…

The writing center at a Maryland university prepares third-year students for nonacademic, preprofessional writing by using retired professionals as tutors. These tutors are trained by discussing readings centered around the Aristotelean schema of ethos, logos, and pathos and the more recent conception of writing as a problem-solving process. The…

Designed to describe and assess the activities engaged in between a writing tutor and a student in a one-to-one writing conference, this survey contains two forms. The first records the student's major, native language, source of the writing task with which he or she needs help, and the student's perception of the problem. The second form, filled…

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…

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…

Explains how peer writing tutors not only help their fellow students, but can also learn a great deal themselves about grammar and mechanics, information processing, marking papers, audience awareness, and problem-solving strategies. (ARH)

Describes new sources in word processing, proofreading, and text editing that can be used in hands-on computer sessions, analyzing writing samples for and with students. (MM)

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…

Offers perspectives of four different writing lab personnel, namely: (1) a new peer tutor with writing skills but no formal training in teaching; (2) a graduate teaching assistant in writing with no tutoring experience; (3) an experienced tutor reflecting on what he wished he had been taught; and (4) a director-tutor sharing her lab experience.…