The Tutoring Book - California State University, Sacramento

The documentary Writing Across Borders gives a brief account of one of the first academic studies of
contrastive rhetoric. Robert B. Kaplan’s “Cultural Thought Patterns in Inter-Cultural Education,”
published in 1966, suggests that different cultures produce different rhetorical systems. This work is
considered overly simplistic and culturally insensitive today. He used simple diagrams to display the
rhetorical systems of several cultures, using a straight line to depict American rhetoric, and a swirling
design to indicate the “Asian preference for indirection” (215) mentioned in Harris’ article. Also included
in the documentary was the modern testimonial of a Columbian student whose friends became irate when
he adopted the American rhetorical style and got straight to the point in a conversation over the phone.
His friends told him that he was being rude by not asking questions about other things before getting to
the point, and he agreed. After watching Writing Across Borders, I wondered how the Columbian
student’s testimonial had been any different than Kaplan’s simple diagrams. The answer, after careful
consideration, became clear - the testimonial was from the source.
As tutors, we must avoid stereotyping when attempting to be culturally sensitive in our sessions with
ESL students. We cannot take a simple rhetorical diagram and apply it to all students from a specific
culture, nor can we assume that all students from a specific culture enter the tutoring environment with
the same expectations. It would be easy to take the information from Harris’ article and use it to
anticipate the tutoring session expectations of an Asian ESL student, but that is not the correct method for
applying cultural sensitivity.
Each individual student is unique, and each ESL student is unique within their respective cultural
community. Just as no two Americans are perfectly alike, no two Asians or members of any other culture
are perfectly alike. Harris’ use of the term ‘Asian’ illustrates the impossibility of accurately categorizing
and anticipating the behavior of an ESL student, as ‘Asian’ presumably refers to all Chinese, Vietnamese,
Korean, Japanese, Cambodian, and other cultural communities within that vast framework. It is
unrealistic to think that all ‘Asian’ ESL students share an identical cultural profile.
Though each ESL student is unique, cultural similarities still may apply; however, it is not productive
to start with those similarities when engaging an ESL tutee. Starting with cultural assumptions is
stereotyping, and completely ignores the fact that a unique individual is sitting across from you. The
appropriate application of cultural sensitivity comes when you know how to adjust to the culturally-based
expectations of a tutee, and distinguish the difference between an alternative rhetorical approach and an
error in organization.
I concede that identifying an alternative rhetorical approach is not at all easy, and I would not tell you
that I know a sure method for you to follow. I would humbly suggest that you try to remain open-minded
when reading an ESL tutee’s work, and remember that there are other rhetorical approaches which differ
from the straight-line logic of American academic rhetoric. It may be helpful to read an entire essay
before attempting organizational fixes, as this will give you an opportunity to first discover the tutee’s
rhetorical approach.
As for the strangeness of my title, I must apologize to you. It was the easiest way for me to understand
the application of cultural sensitivity when tutoring ESL students. Consider the information offered in the
Harris article about the tendency in Asian students to “agree or nod rather than challenge or confront,”
and “pretend to understand when they don’t” (212). If you use this information as a windshield, you see
the tutee through it, thus imprinting your stereotype of what an Asian student is supposed to be upon that
tutee. You thereby begin the session with assumptions which may not be true. If an Asian ESL tutee tells
you that she or he understands, is it really a good idea to always assume that the tutee is confused and
simply does not want to admit it? Of course not. On the other hand, if we remember the potential
cultural issues which may surface in an ESL tutoring session (without letting it creep into our
consciousness in the form of stereotyping), we may use cultural sensitivity to fix any flat tires we
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