Okay, but what about the WC?

Since last week…

I’ve been trying to find more intercultural articles regarding the tech comm classroom and intercultural practices, but the have been few and far in between. Much of the research was published around 2007-2008. But, I found that STC has recently published: Where Practice Meets Theory: Adjusting Classroom Pedagogies for a Globalizing Technical Communication Field, but I will have to read that through an interlibrary loan or later when it is available. This week, I’ve been pondering over another aspect of technical writing. My students are great, and I’ve had more of them visit my office hours for help than I’ve had students ever visit in a semester. In addition, they come to meet with me at the writing center. I’ve been thinking about my consultations with my technical writing students and how they differ and are similar to my consultations with other students in different courses.

 

How can the Writing Center work with Technical Writing students?

Our class is in the first unit which is the job packet. This unit is comprised of a résumé, application letter, and a memo. While content is a big feature of these documents, the grammar/mechanics/usage/style are also paramount for these items. This class is focus on teaching the students various genres and conventions of technical writing, so they have to master the format as well. When students go to the writing center, we look at grammar/style/etc. last, which I still think is the best approach. But, does this do a disservice to students? Or not? Should the writing center be doing something else for different courses such as tech comm and courses outside of the English department? These are all questions I’ve been thinking about during my sessions with these students.

I’ve been doing some light research, and there are some schools that have separate writing centers just for technical communication writing courses, such as Purdue (http://et.engr.iupui.edu/sites/tcmwritingcenter/index.php). But, these schools have writing centers tied to specific schools, usually Engineering, Business, Technology, etc. I think it is important to note that not all schools have funding for writing centers in various departments, so how as a central writing center, can we incorporate these methods? Or, should we incorporate them at all?

 

Examining TC-Specific Writing Centers

When I was trying to see how, if at all, TC-specific writing centers differ from regular writing centers, they seem minor, but significant. I’ll use the Purdue example to note how it is similar and different to most writing centers.

The biggest commonality was that Purdue mentioned “tutors will not edit your paper. They will work with you to become a better communicator and help you to identify patterns and issues to improve upon.” This is fairly similar to other writing centers. I think many people outside of the English world view the writing center as a grammar shop that will mark your paper in red and then fix it for you, but alas, it isn’t a copyediting service. (Thankfully so).

The TC-specific writing center did have a difference of helping clients focus on: “plan[ning], organiz[ing] and revis[ing] your documents or presentations to address audience, purpose, and context more effectively. They are especially prepared to help students with assignments from Engineering and Technology faculty, but can assist with other writing and speaking tasks as well.” While many writing centers focus on the planning, organizing, and revising portion, the TC-specific writing center takes it a step further to focus on key tech comm aspects such as audience, purpose, and context. One of the questions I had when reading Purdue and a few other Engineering-specific writing centers was what they mean when they are particularly trained to help with engineering and technology classes. I’m guessing the consultants have some previous experience working with these assignments, but what else do they do? Also, what other types of training or help do they get so they can be prepared to guide these consultations?

 

Suggestions

When I’m thinking of the writing center I work for, I wonder if would help clients, if the consultants would list their specialties? This could be easily housed in the center, or on the website. Clients could see these specialties and more easily choose which consultant would be the best for their needs. This could help the smaller writing centers that don’t have centers housed within various departments. I admit, I don’t think every client would view this information, but for the students who do use this information, it would make the session more productive. For example, my bio could say my specialties include “technical writing, creative nonfiction, business writing, APA style, and Dear John letters”. Okay, maybe not Dear John letters, but hey, it might draw in more clients. But listing the consultant specialties might help a student in poetry find someone who has taken a poetry class rather than someone like me who only has Dr. Suess rhyming schemes to fall back on. I can already see poets cringing.

An additional suggestion that might be helpful is having a fellow work closely with the writing center for different classes. Many times a TA teaches an introductory technical writing course (or another field-specific course), and they could use some of their WC time to focus with students who are taking the same class they are teaching. Again, I’m not sure if writing centers have the manpower to allow for this, but it might be a suggestion, so that these students get the most productive session possible.

Again, there are a lot of questions that are circulating about how TC can be incorporated more in the WC. I guess I have a new research project to focus on. J