Could you check my grammar? The forbidden request in the university writing center

Abstract

Along with the shift of the literacy education, the university writing center has evolved in its philosophy for writing instruction from a mechanical, error-correcting service to a collaborative process. From this pedagogical shift of writing instruction, proofreading has been prohibited from the services that the writing center can provide. Despite the policy, however, the proofreading request is still one of the most frequent requests that the tutor receives. Especially for L2 writers who have learned English grammar as explicit rules through exams, the 'no proofreading policy' of the writing center is not only ineffective but also incomprehensible. In this regard, this study investigates how L2 writers ask for proofreading and how the L1 tutor works with the forbidden request in a way that the center can provide. This study aims to understand the work of the writing tutorial and the philosophy of the writing instruction of the university writing center.