Smart Questions for Inclusive Tutoring

Abstract

Founded upon the ideas of the postcolonial writing center, specifically Gloria Anzaldúa’s “border culture” and “mestiza consciousness,” this article proposes the SMART questions as a tool that writing center tutors may use to advance inclusivity in their tutorials and re-strain the acculturative effects of academic vernacular as a power structure. This research conducted self-observations and interviews to test and compare the proposed SMART questions for writing tutorials (mimicking the existing tutoring practices,e.g., agenda-setting) in three ways: as a protocol, a list of non-consecutive questions, and a heuristic. Each use of the SMART questions was applied to three self-observations, which were followed by one-on-one semi-structured interviews with participants from each observation. Three main markers provide the basis for analysis of observation results: verbal engagement, agency, and code-switching. While the protocol participants had the most balanced engagement in the tutoring session, the heuristic exhibited the strongest agency and purposeful code-switching. Results of the interviews revealed varying levels of tutee self-identification with the academic vernacular, with the protocol participant being the least, and the heuristic participant being the most supportive of total separation of one’s personal style from the conventions of academic writing. Study concludes that the heuristic SMART intervention is most suitable for the facilitation of mestiza consciousness and the spread of awareness of acculturation among writing center tutees. SMART questions can be a helpful tool for further inclusivity research in the writing center