The Tutoring Book - California State University, Sacramento

How to Encourage Passive Tutees
70
Phillip Louie
Spring 2011
One of the most common challenges in trying to be a non-directive tutor is working with tutees
who perhaps because of shyness or insecurity are overly quiet, passive, and unresponsive. When you ask
them to brainstorm ideas, they sit there staring blankly at their paper. When you pose questions to them,
they ask you for the answer. And their most common response to most any prompting begins with “I
don’t…” or “I can’t….”
It’s easy to jump to conclusions when working with such tutees, especially after comparing them
to those who are more enthusiastic and overtly motivated; some tutors might, for example, be inclined to
blame themselves for their lack of experience or charisma, while others might prefer to blame their tutees
for their laziness or diffidence. While such feelings may be understandable (and in some cases even
justified), playing the blame game is almost certainly not going to be very productive for either you or
your tutee. What ought to be done, rather, is to figure out what positive steps can be taken to break out of
this familiar trap and get the most out the limited time you have to work with your tutees.
But before dispensing my own advice on the matter, I’d like to come clean and admit that
although I have taken up the discussion of this topic for my Tutoring Book article, I am certainly not any
kind of expert on transforming passive, stubborn, or unenthusiastic students into model tutees. What has
largely enabled me to write this Tutoring Book entry is not my own reservoir of knowledge and expertise
on the subject accrued from my experiences at the Writing Center but the invaluable input I’ve received
from my colleagues and from Professor Melzer in asking what they might do were they in my situation.
Similarly, if you get a tutee who has you frustrated, one of the best things you can do is probably not to
run to the nearest computer so you can refer to this Tutoring Book entry but to simply ask your peers or
mentors (don’t forget about the GACs) for advice on your specific situation (in fact, the same holds true
when dealing with any issue you might encounter during your time at the Writing Center). After all, even
if I was the authority on the matter, there’s no way I could address what to do in every possible situation
in a mere two and a half page essay.
And just as important as collaborating with one’s peers is collaborating with one’s tutees.
Usually, when speaking of working collaboratively to help one’s tutees overcome their challenges, we’re
talking about helping them overcome HOCs or LOCs. But in this case, the issue at hand hasn’t anything
to do with a lack of any kind of skill or body of knowledge but with certain attitudes or perceptions that
interfere with their holding up their end of the collaborative relationship between tutor and tutee.
So yes, my suggestion is to work collaboratively with one’s tutees in order to overcome their
attitudinal problems (I hesitate to use the term “attitude problem,” as this connotes defiance or resentment
on one’s part, and while defiance and resentment can of course be the source of a tutee’s passivity, it’s not
the only one possible). To do this, we do what we so frequently do anyway in being non-directive,
minimalist collaborators: we invite them to offer their own opinions instead of telling them what to do. If,
for example, we have tutees who are very unresponsive and don’t offer their own thoughts and ideas in
brainstorming sessions, we might begin by asking why this is the case. The trick, of course, is to do this in
an inoffensive, non-confrontational way that doesn’t make you come across as angry, resentful, etc. One
possible way this, in turn, might be done is to ask them about the issue in a way that exudes concern
rather than negativity. If you suspect that your tutees underperform during your sessions because of
nervousness, shyness, or stress, you might try sympathizing with them by first asking them if this in fact
what is preventing them from performing to the best of their ability. Then, if they answer affirmatively,