Beyond Barriers and Resistance: Peer Tutor Reflections on Writing Centre Practice During and Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic

DOI

10.2991/978-2-38476-006-0_4How to use a DOI?

Keywords

Academic literacies; Academic writing; COVID-19; Hybrid; Peer-tutors; Transitioning; Writing Centre

Abstract

Writing is a core staple of academic and discipline-specific discourses. Students, therefore, having entered the university, are required to demonstrate a minimum proficiency in academic writing as well as the potential to build upon effective academic discourse. Academic writing is thus vital to students’ academic access, performance, and success. Writing Centres play an important role in supporting students in the successful completion of their academic journeys through integrated writing support. The study discusses how peer tutors at the selected University of Technology Writing Centre adapted their pedagogical practices during and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic. The shift from face-to-face, physical location to blended support meant that peer tutors needed to reconceptualise strategies on how they strive to provide a learning environment that enhances students’ academic writing experiences. Tutors’ experiences during hybrid consultations and their reflections in written reports are used to explore the pertinent challenges and opportunities for Writing Centres. Adopting a reflective approach, the study interrogates the need for the development of innovative techniques that enhance substantive remote tutoring experiences and academic writing development. The study adopted the academic literacies model as the underpinning theoretical framework. Data from this case study indicates that tutors reflect on pedagogical practices as well as blended learning environments when engaging with students. This study concludes that Writing Centres need to devise hybrid support strategies that are responsive to students’ needs for tutors to effectively support all students.

Copyright

© 2023 The Author(s)

Open Access

Open Access This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/), which permits any noncommercial use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

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TY  - CONF
AU  - N. P. Khumalo
AU  - S. P. C. Onwuegbuchulam
PY  - 2023
DA  - 2023/02/07
TI  - Beyond Barriers and Resistance: Peer Tutor Reflections on Writing Centre Practice During and Beyond the COVID-19 Pandemic
BT  - Proceedings of The Focus Conference (TFC 2022)
PB  - Atlantis Press
SP  - 27
EP  - 39
SN  - 2352-5398
UR  - https://doi.org/10.2991/978-2-38476-006-0_4
DO  - 10.2991/978-2-38476-006-0_4
ID  - Khumalo2023
ER  -