Still the one-stop fix-it shop?: a question of professional tutor identity in the university writing tutoring center

Abstract

This IPA study examines how professional college writing tutors feel their role is understood and appreciated (or not). While writing tutoring is a hallmark service at many undergraduate institutions, there remains an incongruence between what tutors, professors, students, and administrators expect from the role. In order to bring more clarity to the matter, this study sought to give voice to professional college writing tutors. This study surveyed six professional writing tutors in a semi-structured interview format, allowing them to express their sentiments around role, identity, hierarchy, and professional perception. Data was coded and examined through the theoretical framework of social identity theory. Key findings included: writing tutors make sense of their professional experiences by thinking of themselves as guides and translators for students; writing tutors found it difficult to maintain professional boundaries because students and faculty understood their role differently; relationships with administrators set the tone for whether writing tutors feel appreciated; and writing tutors generally enter the profession through their prior experience as peer tutors and personal connections to a university. Based on these findings, it is recommended that the field move toward standardization of professional writing tutor roles, establishment of clear professional boundaries, and intrauniversity academic support meetings.Future studies might examine trained vs. untrained professional tutors, as well as whether prior writing tutoring experience informs professors' teaching styles.