The Tutoring Book - California State University, Sacramento

particular solution, you are still causing them to modify their paper in a particular way. Even in asking
general, open-ended questions, you are usually leading them towards a particular idea or learning goal. In
fact, in A Guide to Peer Tutoring, Paula Gillespie and Neal Lerner point out that question-posing can
actually end up being quite directive: “The tutor is primarily trying to lead the writer to her interpretation
by asking questions (evidence that questions aren’t necessarily a nondirective form of tutoring” (112).
What is so interesting is that minimalist approaches still encourage this type of questioning. In fact, these
leading questions are exactly what Jeff Brooks calls for in his essay on “Minimalist Tutoring.” He
encourages “minimalist” tutors to “ask questions—perhaps ‘leading’ questions—as often as possible”
(171).
I am not bringing up this seeming contradiction to lampoon the idea that facilitative, non-direct
tutoring should be a desired goal. But I would contend that while we should strive to be as non-directive
and facilitative as possible, if you find yourself drifting into direct, prescriptive advice, don’t suddenly
veer away from your particular point or suggestion; but rather use this moment as an opportunity to
explain why this particular rhetorical decision seems important.
For example, perhaps you are asking the student a general question about the structure or
organization of his paper. Let’s say that his conclusion is an almost word for word repetition of his
introduction. You might continue to ask peripheral questions around this issue.”How do you feel about
your conclusion?” “I like how your conclusion is on point, doesn’t go off track.” “Is this a summary?”
“It’s really similar to your introduction?” Eventually student the will realize that something is amiss.
You’ve started being a little directive. You could continue to ask questions and seemingly non-directive
riddles. But at this point you may have “blundered” your way into having to explain the difference
between conclusions and summaries. And why not? They may have heard this before in a teacher’s
lecture, but why not take a moment to describe a particular habit or preference of academic writing. Yes.
You are being direct telling them why a particular academic move seems important. But you are not
revising their actual conclusion. You are giving them helpful rhetorical strategies as a “knowledgeable
peer.”
Trying to Be Direct but Not Directive:
One thing to keep in mind, as you continue your first semester as a tutor, is that you are as much a
colleague to these students as you are a tutor. You are as much a peer as you are a teacher. I think that this
gives us a lot more freedom to bridge the gap between the varying discourse communities that separate us
from academic writing. We too are experiencing the challenges of adapting to academic writing. It is not
as though our own papers are written perfectly, or that we have achieved a mastery of the academic
dialect. In her book on the post-modern writing center, Nancy Grimm argues that “Writing center tutors
can also be much more direct about academic expectations without being directive” (34). She gives an
example of Rebecca, a former tutee that eventually became a tutor in Grimm’s writing center. She praises
Rebecca’s direct style of tutoring, because Rebecca knew “first-hand” the struggle to understand the
peculiar dialect of the academic discourse community. She argues that “Rebecca’s habits of directness,
which stand in contrast to the elaborate hedging of middle-class practices, make her a good writing coach,
and I reclaim that directness” (51). While our own personal experiences acclimatizing to academic
discourse are all quite varied and not directly comparable to Rebecca’s, I would venture to say that
academic discourse is not our first language. And I think that as students we share the helpful quality of
being able to stand outside of the institution—to describe academic moves in terms external to purely
academic discourse. We are able describe things and relate to the students needs to an extent that the
professors often can’t. And while we should never attempt to take directive control over a tutee’s paper,
we should feel confident in giving them direct answers to direct questions.
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