WRA Observation #1

I observed my first session in the writing center this afternoon. The client was a first year PhD student and a non-native English speaker. The paper that she brought in was the final copy of description and explanation on a certain theory of communication. She began the session by saying that she needed help with grammar and had lost many points on her first draft because of her punctuation. The consultant looked through her first draft just to get an idea of the type of feedback that she received. He stressed to her that the first draft hadn’t been as bad as she seemed to think it had been and that her professor had given her a lot of positive feedback as far as her content and ideas were concerned. The consultant described the general process of the writing center, because this was the first visit for the client, “Joslyn”.

Joslyn decided that she would be more comfortable if the consultant read her paper allowed, instead of reading it herself (probably because of her language barrier). Right from the beginning of the first read through I was surprised how often the consultant would stop to discuss an issue of grammar with her. In fact it seemed a little bit authoritative to me. He was making changes on her paper and explaining to her what he was doing and why it made sense. After completely reading through her paper and fixing many and all of her grammar issues the consultant took a step back and asked her if there were any issues about her paper that she particularly wanted him to focus on. Her main concern was her grammar.

After the session I spoke for several minutes with the consultant and we both shared our feelings about the session. He agreed that the session was very focused on grammar and that this was very unlike most of his sessions. He explained that the only time he allows himself to focus on grammar is if the rest of the paper seems focused, concise, and appropriate. Jsolyn’s paper was very focused, very clear (once the grammar was repaired), and very well structured. She really did not seem to need or want help with issues of argument, structure, layout, or approach. Joslyn wrote like she was a PhD student and if it were not for the focus on grammar it seems like there would not have been too much to discuss for the entire session. Joslyn only came to the center because she wanted her grammar checked and corrected. The consultant told me after the session that you need to find the balance for yourself of how much or how little grammar you will focus on during a session. After discussing these issues in class and reading many articles about the importance of not fixing grammar I was shocked at how much he fixed. He told me that fixing her grammar was the reason she came in and grammar was the only real thing that she needed help with. In a situation like this I agree; why not help the student with what they need help with? I am not advocating that we check the grammar of every native English-speaking freshman that has just never taken the time to learn grammar or really edit their own paper. But if grammar truly is something that a client is struggling with and needs help understanding I feel that the center would be doing a poor job if we did not do our best to fix and explain the grammar so that it may be understood and properly used in future papers.