An Activity-Theory Analysis of How College Students Revise After Writing Center Conferences

• In Event: Learning From Text Experiences

Abstract

I conducted a qualitative study to investigate how college students integrated specific feedback from peer tutors into their plan for revising. Results indicated that students were more likely to follow tutors suggestions about corrections in grammar and mechanics because they believed that their instructors valued writing that was correct. Students only followed suggestions about meaning-related revisions if they believed that the revisions would be acceptable to their instructors. Peer tutors in this study did not try to engage students’ conceptions of writing processes; rather, the peer tutors conducted the conferences according to what the student wanted. An implication of this research is that peer tutors should be trained to discuss students’ writing processes to help them develop better writing strategies.

Author

• Samuel Van Horne, University of Iowa