Tutoring Second Language Writers (20 page)

How fortunate for our center that Diego, Georgia, Camila, and Thalia became tutors and can share their own experiences with learning a new language with the students they tutor. At the same time, tutors who have successfully adopted English as a primary language may be self-conscious about their ability to speak in their “first language.” After conducting our conferences for the Digital Video Project, we started two new conversation circles in our writing center. The first circle is in English for those students who want to practice their English in an informal place, especially international students in the United States for their first semester. Also, we have a conversation circle in Spanish for students interested in
practicing their Spanish, many of whom are children of immigrants to Miami. Our multilingual tutors, then, want an opportunity to improve their “first” language, as most of their schooling has been in English.

In our conferences, we find ways to celebrate different languages and dialects. In the peer-tutoring class, we read essays about code-meshing and the CCCC’s resolution, Students’ Rights to Their Own Language, which explains, “Language scholars long ago denied that the myth of a standard American dialect has any validity. The claim that any one dialect is unacceptable amounts to an attempt of one social group to exert its dominance over another” (
National Council of Teachers of English 1974
). However, how do we challenge the idea that “there is but one tongue that must be mastered if those students before us are to succeed, the standardized American English, the conventions of an universalized Edited American English” (
Smitherman and Villanueva 2003
, 2)? So we want to continue asking how our multilingual writing center can be a place for code-meshing, or what Vershawn Ashanti Young calls the “multidialectalism and pluralingualism in one speech act” (
Young 2011
, 67).

One important way is for our staff to be respectful of different dialects and aware that as our world becomes more globally connected, we communicate in different ways and in World Englishes. As our tutor, Martha, explains, “[Multilingual students] can be amazing writers; they usually are. They have a lot to offer in terms of opinions from a fresh and different perspective, but sometimes lack the confidence to say things how they want to, due to fear of sounding silly or having ‘bad English.’ I’ve realized through all of this I don’t believe a ‘bad English’ exists, just different versions of it.”

Also, as we mentioned previously, our writing center is a place where we hear different languages being spoken. Students often communicate with receptionists in Spanish to make an appointment for a writing session. We have a conversation circle that encourages people to speak in Spanish. Some of our staff attend a Mandarin class organized by international students from China and report back words and phrases they learn to our weekly staff meeting.

Our tutors tell us that they ask students what they want to express in their writing. For example, Jeanette says her sessions sometimes explore that tension between different ways of communicating and the question of what is “standard and acceptable.” Her advice to other tutors is “Listen. Discuss. Allow [students] to share their intended meaning and especially
when you come across confusing or awkward syntax. Dialoguing helps students to find an array of ways to communicate what they mean to say and are experts on.” Jeanette points out that students often know what they want to change in their writing, so why not ask them?

Besides a respect for different dialects, our writing conferences also explore the cultural and political aspects to language instruction. For instance, Carlos, too, often asks his writers, “How would you say it in Spanish?” when they are struggling with a passage in their writing. Of course, if tutors do not share a second language with writers, then tutors can ask, “How would you say this in—?” For instance, Carlos will ask a writer how she would write it in Japanese, and then they find the word in a dictionary. Therefore, tutors can help create a multilingual writing space even if they don’t share a second language with the student.

In our conference, Carlos mentioned other ways he connects with students. For example, in his video clip, he works with a student on his personal statement. The student visited the center at least seven times as he revised his statement for his dental school application. Carlos helps him with removing unneeded repetition in the essay. Also, the student discusses how his parents immigrated to the United States by taking a dangerous boat ride, as many Cubans have done, to find freedom. Carlos shares some of his own family’s immigration story. Carlos was born in the United States, but his parents were immigrants from Cuba. These tales of exile can create powerful bonds between tutors as well as between tutor and writer.

The experience of exile can be painful. In our conference with Carlos, we discussed the stigma often given to different dialects and languages. Carlos told us that as a child, there was a time when he didn’t want to speak Spanish, perhaps because of all the negative terms he heard Hispanic people being called. However, now Carlos often helps lead our conversation circle in Spanish, and many of his fellow tutors praise his enunciation and fluency in Spanish.

The Digital Video Project, then, gives us an opportunity for ongoing tutor training. The videos and conferences help us discover more about our center and learn more from our tutors. This project can encourage further research. First of all, the project can give tutors an opportunity to be researchers; two of our tutors, Asra and Nazneen, presented their videos at a recent writing center conference, analyzing the videos and the learning process they experienced as they watched themselves at
work. Also, our tutors are often reluctant to separate multilingual writers into a different category since our writing center thinks of second language writers as the “norm” (as our tutor Bryant put it). In fact, many tutors stress the strengths of ESL writers.

Challenges for the project include time and technology. Some tutors complete their videos sooner than others. And although this project is part of tutors’ job responsibilities for the center, we schedule our meetings with them in advance as a reminder for them to complete the video before the meeting. Though most students choose to use the camera on their laptop/phone or the center’s Flip camera, we must make sure we have adequate equipment for students to record their sessions. Finally, we are discovering the value of typing up transcripts of the videos and reflecting upon the language used during the tutoring session. We now also appreciate the value of a quiet venue for these sessions, as our center’s buzz can be distracting.

These videos show us how a writing center can work toward becoming a multilingual writing space, an important component for access to literacy. The multilingual writing space is a reflection of the United States, a place of different cultures, languages, and ideas. And for our students, who are often the first in their families to go to college, it is a crossroads: many struggle below the poverty line and see education as a chance for the American dream and a better future.

As Laura describes, “Sometimes those students are from countries far away from here, and their families have given up everything to enable them to come to America to study. They may not know the culture or the language well, and how you interact with them has the potential to make their experience, so far from home, a little bit easier and more comfortable.”

National Council of Teachers of English
.
1974
. “
Resolution on the
Students’ Right to Their Own Language
.” NCTE Position Statement.
http://www.ncte.org/positions /statements/righttoownlanguage
.

Each semester, we like to discuss this statement with our students and invite their reactions. If there is no Standard American English, then what changes do we need to make in our writing centers? We hope our chapter shows you how we attempt to address this issue by respecting different languages/dialects and creating a multilingual space.

Daiker
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We often discuss this article in our tutoring class and staff meetings. We believe that sometimes as teachers and tutors we can focus too much on error and forget to praise students for the positive parts to their writing. One reason for giving specific praise is to help students identify the strengths in their writing so they can apply that skill in new writing tasks.

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Vershawn Ashanti Young’s chapter asks us to think about the politics of race when we discuss language. This is a great chapter to discuss in your peer-tutoring course or staff meeting.

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