Writing Centers' Praxis Is Not Neutral but Raced: Collaborative Ethnography

Daniel Chang; Qinghua Chen; Angel Mei Yi Lin

doi:10.4018/978-1-6684-9029-7.ch010

Writing Centers' Praxis Is Not Neutral but Raced: Collaborative Ethnography

Daniel Chang
, Qinghua Chen
, Angel Mei Yi Lin

Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceeding › Chapter › peer-review

Abstract

This chapter begins by questioning the existing practices of writing centre tutoring. Based on the first author's writing centre tutoring experience and some artifacts, such as consultation notes, consultation forms, and feedback on student essays, the authors question whether the writing centre is truly a safe and neutral space for post-secondary writers and whether writing tutoring feedback contains some Eurocentric racial discourses that are complicit and coded in a way that sounds so called objective. Drawing on Lemke's principle of intertextuality, the authors highlight how standardized academic writing expectations have been unconsciously normalized and naturalized in writing centre tutoring discussions, thereby reinforcing the tutor's authority. In the end, we are in the position to look for an alternative, transformative change in the writing centre tutoring practice and a structural shift that can go beyond “remedial writing service provider.”

Original language	English
Title of host publication	Advances in Educational Marketing, Administration, and Leadership
DOIs	https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-6684-9029-7.ch010
Publication status	Published - 20 Oct 2023

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abstract = "This chapter begins by questioning the existing practices of writing centre tutoring. Based on the first author's writing centre tutoring experience and some artifacts, such as consultation notes, consultation forms, and feedback on student essays, the authors question whether the writing centre is truly a safe and neutral space for post-secondary writers and whether writing tutoring feedback contains some Eurocentric racial discourses that are complicit and coded in a way that sounds so called objective. Drawing on Lemke's principle of intertextuality, the authors highlight how standardized academic writing expectations have been unconsciously normalized and naturalized in writing centre tutoring discussions, thereby reinforcing the tutor's authority. In the end, we are in the position to look for an alternative, transformative change in the writing centre tutoring practice and a structural shift that can go beyond “remedial writing service provider.”",

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Writing Centers' Praxis Is Not Neutral but Raced: Collaborative Ethnography

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