The Tutoring Book - California State University, Sacramento

“This exercise, popularized by Peter Elbow (1981), liberates the writer from their internal critique and
allows pure discovery of thought on paper” (33). You, as the tutor, have given the initial push and the
tutee contributes by writing their own thoughts about the question you asked or the topic you gave them.
We have found that any type of collaborative effort between you and the tutee works to get ideas flowing;
sometimes, just talking is enough to engage the tutee to think abstractly about the topic. Therefore, “The
tutor and writer share equally in the conversation, the problem solving, and the decision making” (26).
Thus, a collaborative effort is created within the learning process.
Active Listening vs. Passive Listening
In a tutoring session, you may find yourself wanting to control a conversation or jump in
immediately when you notice an issue with a tutee’s writing. This usually happens when a tutee is
unwilling to open up. Our experiences have taught us that a student who does not want to talk in a
tutoring session is usually one that is either embarrassed about their writing or confused or frustrated with
their assignment.
So far, in order to collaborate rather than control a tutoring session, one of the best ways to
attempt to overcome a tutee’s reticence is by asking open-ended questions. In Tutoring Writing, it is
explained how, “Collaborative tutoring allows the tutor to maintain a flexible posture. The tutor
encourages the writer, often with open-ended and probe-and-prompt questions, to engage in off-the-paper,
exploratory talk and to expand upon undeveloped themes in the paper” (26).
Some example questions are, “What do you think about ‘this’?”, “What are you trying to say
here?”, and even a basic question, such as “This isn’t clear to me; can you explain it in a different way?”
This helps to get the tutee’s thought process going and by asking questions about their writing, it allows
for them to become a part of the tutoring session as well. Then, you can either refer to a suggestion that
has been made previously or point to a specific passage in their essay.
This forces the tutee to engage and actively participate in the tutoring process, rather than just
observe. This approach is effective and it allows the student to come to their own conclusions about their
writing, rather than listening to what the tutor has said.
An example of this occurred during the first week of tutoring. A tutee came in to the Writing Center
struggling with a paper for a class in Social Work in which he had to reflect upon a book called "Nickle
and Dimed" about the working poor in America. He was reluctant to talk at first, wanting me (the tutor) to
read his paper silently to myself. Part of this was probably embarrassment at having to hear himself read
aloud. However, after coaxing him for awhile by asking prodding questions, he was more than willing to
talk in the session. He even found that the part of his paper that he felt most passionately about was the
part that he had neglected the most. He did this on his own, through use of his own insight, and by talking
aloud about what he felt were the strengths and weaknesses of the paper.
This approach encouraged the tutee to talk rather than the tutor monopolizing the conversation.
This is an important key to having an effective tutoring session. In fact, the tutee worked on his paper for
awhile, and as the session ended, he said that expressing his thoughts verbally helped him a lot more than
he thought they would. This shows the tutee that they can make positive changes to their own writing. It
helps to empower them as writers, which can ultimately change their entire perspective on writing for the
better.
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