Significance of the Study
University writing centers have most often served NES students, but increased
enrollment of NNES students brings these students to the writing center as well, yet
writing centers may not necessarily be equipped to meet the needs of NNES students.
Because L2 writing is distinct from the writing of NES students (Silva, 1993), current
tutoring practices for NES students may not apply to this newer NNES student
population. First, important differences in NNES students‘ writing need to be identified.
While NNES students have the same academic writing requirements at university,
5
including mandatory writing classes, Matsuda and Silva (2001) find a ―pattern of
neglect‖ regarding how the writing issues of the NNES student writer at university are
addressed. Instructors, along with tutors at the writing center, may be unaware of the
specific needs of the NNES writers. At this time, it seems that ESL writing specialists are
not common at universities. An ESL writing specialist could assist in meeting the needs
of the NNES writers, deal with the NNES students directly, and help instructors and
tutors learn to address these needs as well. While most studies do look at how effectively
sessions address the needs through the artifacts of student papers, few if any seem to have
asked students and tutors if they perceive sessions as successful. By doing so, this
research study will help to negotiate the differences, if any, of perceived success in
sessions by exploring both tutor and student views. In turn, this study hopes through
observation to gain further insight of sessions and how sessions can be labeled directive,
non-directive, or flexible. This research study will also further understanding of student
needs in academic writing and look at tutor perceptions of student needs, an area that has
rarely been approached in current research. In addition, this study will look at the role of
ESL writing specialist in the writing center by comparing two writing centers, one with
an ESL specialist and one without an ESL specialist. Together, these aspects of the
research should provide a more developed view of university writing centers and their
interactions with NNES students and can lead to a practical look at how writing centers,
their tutors, and their NNES clients interact and achieve academic success in writing.
Most importantly, this research will offer views of how to work with the NNES student
and how to best address their unique writing needs. This will, in hope, work towards
success for both the university writing center and the NNES university student.