CompFAQs from CompPile | WritingCenters-Mainstreaming / Collaborative Theory browse

Collaborative Theory and the Mainstreamed Student

According to Irene Clark, “Writing center pedagogy has long acknowledged the importance of both process and collaboration—that is, a typical writing center model consists of a student and a tutor working together to develop text that, ideally, will help the student acquire a more effective writing process and ultimately make him or her a more successful writer” (“Information Literacy and the Writing Center” 562). As discussed, the open admission efforts of the 60s and 70s drew increasing numbers of underprepared students to universities and colleges.

Writings centers’ adoption of collaborative learning theory was in direct response to these students’ needs. Lisa Ede indicates, “[R]ecent interest in [collaborative learning grew out of a crisis. . . One response to this crisis was the establishment of writing centers, places where these and other students could get the help they needed” (“Writing as a Social Act” 6). Thus, writing centers, from the very beginning, where already poised to serve this growing student population. Given the fundamentals of collaborative learning theory, it is easy to see the connection between basic writers and writing centers—they have a shared history that exists because of the presence of each other in universities and on college campuses.

Writing Centers employ a collaborative style where the consultant and student work together to discuss the student text, negotiate meaning, and share ideas. This approach is wholy beneficial for mainstreamed students because rather than being placed in a remedial basic writing class that often times focuses primarly on sentence level, mechanical, and surface issues of writing, the student and consultant in the writing center work together to improve the process rather than the ultimate end product. Not only is the student actively engaged in the construction of a text, but the collaboration between the two peers enables a conversation about writing leading recursive reflection and Whole Language theory.

for further reference, see Eva Muniz’s Discussion on Collaborative Theory