Meet Nurzhan Aasanov, a young author advocating for tutors' mental health.

Nurzhan Asanov (he/him) is a recent graduate from Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan with a bachelor’s degree in Physics. He is the author of ‘This Feeling Did Not Pass’: The Emotional Labor of Multilingual Undergraduate Peer Tutors,” a paper discussing how writing center tutors have to be able to balance their tutee's emotions and also their own emotions when it comes to tutoring and focuses specifically on writing tutors who are multilingual. He accomplished this by conducting 14 semi-structured interviews with other multilingual tutors in order to get their perspective on the matter.  

Asanov came to write about emotional labor while training to be a tutor. He had come to find while learning strategies for writing consultation that the experience left him feeling emotionally drained. This sparked a curiosity within him to read up on the literature on the topic, and found that it was lacking. Through this work, he feels that he expanded the literature on the subject and further promoted the idea that emotional labor and coping mechanisms should be emphasized more during tutor training. His work involved conducting an extensive literature review to solidify a topic before applying through the ethical board review at the University of Kazakhstan in order to begin interviewing and questioning his peers. His faculty advisor assisted with the process by giving some helpful feedback but Asanov did admit to having to refute some of the editing suggestions. 

During the writing process, Asanov found difficulty finding the time to write his article while juggling his responsibilities, writing his thesis, applying for graduate programs, and working a part-time job. He recalls that the revision process was much easier for him thanks to his faculty advisor’s thoughtful criticisms and evaluations. The main challenge of revision was actually time management as, by that time, Asanov was working a full-time summer job and preparing for graduate studies and found that he could often not meet deadlines put in place by 

his faculty advisor. Thankfully, his faculty advisor was generous with extensions, making the process “more manageable” in the end. 

 

In describing the benefits of publishing with YSW, Asanov admits that he hopes the literature benefits more from the publication than he will.  He said, “I really am not expecting much personal gains from it. I learned a lot during the research, drafting, and publishing process, which to me is more important than the actual publication.” Asanov said that he also hopes that his writing will make an impact on writing centers and peer tutors who experience the emotional impact of doing consultations and that it inspires more students to publish through YSW.  

When asked if he had any advice for students who wish to publish with YSW, he said that the publication process is more beneficial than the actual publication itself. Because of this viewpoint, he advises students to “please try to do your best and enjoy the process, cause the process is what was the most important for me.”

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This post was initially developed through a partnership between Dr. Cutrufello’s Fall 2024; Digital Writing students, who interviewed the author and drafted the posts, and Dr. Beam’s Fall 2024 WRT410: Editing and Style students, who handled the first round of edits. Shelby Welch edited it and updated it for publication.