WRITING CENTER LOCATION AND PHYSICAL ENVIRONMENT: THE RELEVANCE OF TUTOR AND TUTEE PERCEPTIONS

Author

Veronica Jean Oliver, Southern Illinois University CarbondaleFollow

Date of Award

12-2009

Degree Name

Master of Arts

Department

English

First Advisor

Cogie, Jane

Abstract

While the politics of the institutional location and physical environment of the writing center is not a new issue, the majority of this scholarship does not adequately consider tutors' and tutees' perceptions regarding these issues. The purpose of my study, then, was to understand if and how the institutional location and / or physical environment within a writing center affects the tutors' and tutees' perception of the writing center and / or affects the dynamic of a peer tutoring session. The participants in my study were volunteer tutors and tutees who had worked or been tutored at one or more of the three Writing Center locations at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale during the Fall 2008 semester. The instruments used in my research were surveys for both tutors and tutees that included fact-based as well as open-ended questions. In addition, some participants in my study also volunteered for a follow-up interview. Given the low number of participants involved in my study, the results do not provide sufficient evidence to make specific claims regarding my research questions; however, the results do have implications for future research on the institutional location and / or physical environment of the writing center. Specifically, consideration for writing center scholarship to offer more contextualized discourse on the institutional location and physical environment of a writing center, as well as the inclusion of tutors' and tutees' perceptions of these issues.