The Tutoring Book - California State University, Sacramento

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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 90
experience on the tutoring road. I concede that it is a bit tortured as analogies go, so I’ll leave you with this - deal with each ESL tutee as an individual independent from any cultural profile, and adjust to the individual needs of that tutee, using cultural sensitivity as one of the many useful tools in your expanding tutoring toolbox. Works Cited Harris, Muriel. “Cultural Conflicts in the Writing Center: Expectations and Assumptions of ESL Students.” The St. Martin’s Sourcebook for Writing Tutors, 3 rd ed. Ed. Christina Murphy and Steve Sherwood. Boston: Bedford/St. Martin’s, 2008. Writing Across Borders. Dir. Wayne Robertson. Oregon State University’s Center for Writing and Learning and its Writing Intensive Curriculum Program, 2005. 91
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The Tutoring Book Fall 2011 Edition
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�� Diverse Students and Cont
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Helpful Strategies 5 Savannah Corti
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Draw Upon Other Tutors Experiences
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and that even the sessions that did
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What is one thing you wish you had
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eceiving tutoring. But don’t let
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helped me see that. As a result, ex
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One Time Wonders: 30 Minutes to an
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No Draft? No Problem! 19 Kathleen U
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10-4, Little Buddy: Two Way Convos
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her paper, I noticed she hadn’t a
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mentors and sounding boards for the
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�On this page, the top link leads
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Purdue OWL (http://owl.english.purd
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• Argument • Writing about Lite
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The WAC Clearinghouse (http://wac.c
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“This exercise, popularized by Pe
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active problem solving and critical
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Page 61 and 62: thinking about it and without reali
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Page 73 and 74: Tips for Tutoring Reading 73 Kathry
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Page 121 and 122: 121 Katie Johnson Fall 2004 The Wri
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Analyzing Rhetorical Situations in
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word choice and the attitude that r
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Social Constructivism in Action 145
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Social Constructivist Strategies fo
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The Writing Center as a Bridge: A P
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Situated Acts of Writing and Tutori
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Kastman Breuch, Lee-Ann M. “Post
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The Tutoring Book - California State University, Sacramento

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