What a Generalist Tutor Can Do: A Short Lesson from a Tutoring Session

Abstract

In parallel to the unique history of writing instruction, Canadian writing specialists have drawn on different theories and principles from the U.S. literature in building their writing studies scholarship (Giltrow, 2016; Graves, 1993; Graves & Graves, 2006; Paré, 2017; Smith, 2006). This is evident in the “Statement on Writing Centres and Staffing” published by the Canadian Journal for Studies of Discourse and Writing (Graves, 2016). As a doctoral student researching U.S.-based writing centres from day one of graduate school, one striking cross-border difference I find was the statement’s clear recommendation that writing centres are fundamentally teaching units in which students learn to write in their disciplines. In American writing centre theory, peer tutoring is the basis of writing centre philosophy, with some claiming that the tutor’s unfamiliarity of the tutee’s discipline enhances the non-hierarchical learning environment (Bruffee, 1995; North, 1984; Pemberton, 1995).