Abstracts

Training writing center tutors to work collaboratively with students on their writing is a complex and challenging process. This practitioner action research uses critical discourse analysis (Gee, 2014a) to interrogate tutors understandings of their work, as expressed in their written reflections on video-recorded tutoring sessions, to facilitate the development of strategies for training and support in the LIU Post Writing Center. This thesis develops a model of knowledge construction that includes writing center knowledge, disciplinary genre knowledge, writing knowledge, rhetorical knowledge, interpersonal knowledge, and intrapersonal knowledge. The results show that video recording of and reflection on writing center sessions with the addition of critical discourse analysis is an appropriate and productive method for improving tutor training in individual writing centers. Additionally, it discusses a need for additional tutor training on pedagogical reflection.