The Ubiquitous Writing Center: A Unique Pedagogical Space

As a freshman composition teacher I thank the Writing Center at my campus for all it does for students (and me). In the limited amount of classroom time I have with my students, it’s impossible for me (or my students) to create the kind of individualized space they may need and receive from a Writing Center tutor. Taking a customer service point of view, the Writing Center is accessible, user friendly and on-target with the services it provides. I like the Writing Center’s focus on the student writer himself/herself, and not necessarily on the texts they bring with them. Writer Centers fill a critical role by providing opportunities for continued skill development through their one-on-one tutorial sessions. Within this space, students have opportunities to explore, ask questions—and most important of all—get immediate feedback on issues that are important to them.

From a bigger picture view, Writing Center tutorials offer one way to help students bridge any gaps they may face as they try to fit themselves into the academic discourse groove. In a discussion about reading and writing in Facts, Artifacts and Counterfacts, David Bartholomae talks about “feelings of powerlessness that students face when they are presented with a text and are asked to do something with what they read (22). He observed that “the real problems were due, to a greater degree, to their limited knowledge of academic discourse” (22). With the focus on student-centered individualized instruction, Writing Center services are one way to help students overcome these kinds of feelings about academic discourse.