Questioning Assumptions About Online Tutoring: A Mixed-Method Study of Face-to-Face and Synchronous Online Writing Center Tutorials

Abstract

As online writing tutorials become increasingly widespread, writing center scholars continue to debate the pedagogical differences between face-to-face and online tutoring (Breuch, 2005; Denton, 2017; Neaderhiser & Wolfe, 2009). However, empirical research has lagged behind technological advancement, with only one study (Wolfe & Griffin, 2012) comparing face-to-face and media rich online writing center tutorials. This article builds on such scholarship by sharing results from a comparative study of face-to-face and synchronous audio-video online tutorials that collected data from writing tutorials, writers' postsession surveys, and interviews with writers. Using primarily linguistic analysis of the hundreds of interactions in each of the 24 transcribed writing tu-torials, we determined that audio-video online and face-to-face sessions share similarities in tutoring strategies, discourse phases, tutor-writer interaction, and student satisfaction. However, significant differences were found in the International Writing Centers Association , Purdue University Press are collaborating with JSTOR to digitize, preserve and extend access to