Molly D. Kenner
Dr. Chandler
ENG 4070 01
03 December 2008
Listening and Nonverbal Language in the Writing Center
When a college student comes to a writing center, she comes because she needs assistance in achieving a well-written paper for a particular class. She may have one or more concerns about “fixing” her paper. Sometimes a student will come with no idea of where to begin writing the assigned paper or perhaps the student got a “bad assignment” and doesn’t know what the paper should be on. These are just a couple of the circumstances that can be the cause of a student’s dismay when she finds her way inside a writing center. Whatever the problem, the student needs a successful experience that will yield a successful paper at the end of her 40 or 50-minute session.
There are some specific nonverbal indications exhibited by the tutor and the tutee that shows that a writing session is going well or not. These signs speak louder than words do. Some of the pointers are: eye contact, head nods, leaning in or leaning back, facial expressions, posture, smiling, frowning, and finger-pointing. There are techniques that a tutor can use to get a particular nonverbal response from the learner, but most of the body language that takes place in a writing session is unscripted, unplanned, and unrehearsed. Communicating sans words cannot be shut off. It occurs naturally, like breathing. When a person makes a decision to be silent, he is speaking volumes.
Albert Mehrabian suggested in the 1970’s from his extensive research that a mere 7% of what is being said is said verbally. The 93% that is left over is all displayed nonverbally. Although his investigations happened close to 50 years ago, his findings are not unlike what researchers of today are finding. On a documentary that aired just two weeks ago on the History Channel, Secrets of Body Language, viewers got an update on nonverbal cues and were shown the very same percentages that Mehrabian found regarding human communication.
My research was conducted in Kean University’s Center for Academic Success, (CAS) in the school’s tutoring center. I was one of approximately ten undergraduate students who took Dr. Sally Chandler’s Peer Tutoring and Writing Center Course, a three-credit program. At the onset of the semester each student was required by federal law to pass a course and obtain a certificate from the National Institutes of Health before we could participate. The self-study was about protecting human research participants in the United States.
Each person I observed in the writing center gave his or her permission to be observed by me while they were being tutored. I signed the three-page form and Dr. Chandler as the faculty advisor signed them as well. So began my research. I started by reading the required text books, Tutoring Writing: A Practical Guide for Conferences by Donald A. Mc Andrew and Thomas J. Reigstad and The Longman Guide to Writing Center Theory and Practice by Robert W. Barnett and Jacob S. Blumner. I tutored my classmates and they tutored me. I signed up for students in the CAS, but I did not get the opportunity to tutor any of the students who came to the writing center for help with their papers. My observations include some of my class peers but most were from the university’s students who came in for help writing a paper.
In the first of two sessions that I observed on December 1st, the tutor was Sasha and the learner was Stella. I observed the tutor is doing the writing and the learner is making hand gestures. When the tutor asks the learner questions, the learner answers and continues to nod her head. The tutor is in agreement with what the student is saying because now she is nodding her head, too. Both are smiling, the tutor writes as she speaks, the tutee speaks and moves her hands and head. The tutee ‘s facial expressions are animated and her gaze is deep in the tutor’s eyes. The tutor is not so intense. Her facial expressions reflect interest in that her direct eye contact is direct. The tutor smiles more than the learner. The learner’s facial expressions display a lack of confidence that she is getting her point across.
The documentary, Secrets of Body Language explained through examples of celebrities, politicians, and other persons well known to the world that people will try to betray what they are feeling with words, but the communication that takes place that is nonverbal is more dominant than that which is said. The same is true in the writing center. Tutors need to learn what is not being said by becoming aware what different gestures, facial expressions, body movements, eye contact, (or the lack there of), and even silence mean when they come from the learner in a writing session. There is the moving closer or pulling away that occurs between the tutor and the tutee, the head nods, blinking of the eyes, and nervous touching of oneself.
In Shamoon and Burns’ A Critique of Pure Tutoring, in their argument about directive tutoring and being empowered. The learner has gotten alternatives for what he or she has tried to write. This method works best for the learner wishes to follow what has been modeled for him. In a session that I observed on October 27th (Connie was tutored by Theresa) I looked to see when eye contact was exchanged and what tutor and learner did with their bodies when they were involved in the session. I looked at these behaviors to see which were more prevalent when the session was successful and which were exhibited when the tutoring session was unsuccessful. I looked for facial expressions and hand motions, smiles and frowns, and indications of ease, distress, or frustration from learner, tutor, or both simultaneously.
I will review the works of Albert Mehrabian, Peer Tutoring Information from Penn State University, Grace Ritz Amigone, Frank van Marwik, Tutoring Writing, The Longman Guide to Writing Center Theory and Practice, and a History Channel documentary on body language to support what I observed in the tutoring sessions. I will explore what nonverbal language the tutor uses when he is getting positive feedback and what he displays when the learner is not picking up his cues. I am looking to find out what kinds of body language accompany listening in the tutoring session, be it a successful session or a failure.
In a successful session with VT as the tutor and CA as the learner, I took notes of what was being said and how each person responded to the other. There was lots of eye contact and smiles. Tutor and teacher nodded and leaned in. Admittedly, I was unsure of what direction I would go in or what I was looking for even after I had gathered the data for that session.
One more session that yielded success; was one with DSC as the Tutor and Stevie as the learner. This meeting had a lot of head nodding and agreement from the learner. The learner appeared confident but seemed to display nervousness in the way she touched herself. She kept moving her hands on her face. She covered her nose as she looked down at her paper. This happened when the tutor narrowed her eyes. The tutor’s facial expressions were pleasant and welcoming, however she finger points and occasionally shakes her head from side to side. The tutor touches her body, also. She touches her hair and ears when she is talking to the learner. Learner displays a puzzling look when tutor gives an example for her. Learner expresses herself by raising her hands a bit and extending all five fingers. I take this as a way to show that she doesn’t quite grasp what she’s been told.
An unsuccessful tutoring session involved Martina and Analese on December 1st. Martina is a university student who was looking for a specific tutor, one of which she was familiar. He was unavailable and Analese stepped in to replace him. The tutor was friendly and pleasant, smiling, and apologetic in her mannerisms. She appeared to bow a bit, lowering her eyes and making small movements. The learner was annoyed as was reflected in her body language. She frowned and shook her head no. After a short time both tutor and learner agreed that she should set another appointment, one in which she would be able to be tutored by the person she knew.
In her paper, Writing Lab Tutors: Hidden Messages that Matter, Grace Ritz Amigone quotes Smith and Williamson and she agrees with them that “every verbal act contains nonverbal aspects which are essential to the meaning of the verbal act.” In the cases that I observed, the body language goes hand in hand and at times it precedes verbal language. In the introduction or the initial greeting for example, both tutor and learner smile to reassure the other.
In the documentary, Secrets of Body Language on the History Channel, (Satellite and Cable television) the announcer opens up the film saying: Gestures, facial expressions and body movement compose ninety-three percent of communication--only seven percent of understanding derives from words. Experts in non-verbal signals will deconstruct video footage of people from iconic moments in history, past and present, to reveal what was truly being said. Learn how subtle movements are used to persuade masses, establish power, and advance careers--most often without anyone knowing it.
I was able to get good data about nonverbal communication in tutoring sessions from the 5 or so sessions that I observed. My research proved that nonverbal language is dominant in these sessions where one would expect that words would rule over any nonverbal messages. It may be true, only more research will tell if and when tutors in writing centers have a better understanding of the various types of nonverbal language displayed during tutoring sessions if it will mean more successful sessions. What can be said now is; there is much more going on in a writing center than what meets the ear.
Works Cited
Secrets of Body Language
Newkirk, Thomas. “The First Five Minutes: Setting the Agenda in a Writing Conference.”
Robert W and Jacob S Blummer. The Longman Guide to Writing Center Theory and Practice. New York: Pearson Longman, 2008.
Last Day of Class
15 years ago
