Response to McLeod

McLeod: “the person who has the disciplinary knowledge base and writes the discourse as a mother tongue is the person who can best serve as mentor into this professional-apprentice relationship” (p. 155). This quote reminded me of Lave and Wenger’s theory where learning is seen as becoming a participant in a community of practice. It is why learning to write in a discipline is such a tricky thing because one does not only have to learn the content in the disciplines to establish a conversation in the field, but also has to learn how to take on that conversation. And it is in this intersection between knowing and saying that writing to learn and writing to communicate come closer to each other.
How to ask professors to “demystify their own disciplinary discourse for students” (p. 155)? How to engage professors in this? This is hard not only due to personal interests but also because this is institutionally compartmentalized. It is hard for me to imagine a chemistry teacher choosing to read the “resources for teachers in the disciplines” (p. 155) that McLeod suggests instead of an article in a journal in his/her own field.
I absolutely agree with McLeod when he asserts that faculty worshops should “model the pedagogy they are promulgating” (p. 159) and this made me think about my last presentation about writing and how little we made experience the teachers we were in theory training for teaching writing in a second language.
Hobson’s article made me think about the fact that the writing center provides an unique place to practice (as an exercise and as a social action). I think one of the main factors that influence this is that in this space the student is not evaluated and can establish a different relationship with the tutor than he/she would do with a student. However, writing tutors lack the expertise that the professors have and this sometimes can be negative, especially for ESL graduate students. This is why I would question the “democratic” space that Hobson proposes. Sometimes writing tutors can’t provide a the support students need due to their lack of knowledge of the subject matter. However, I do believe in collaborative learning and I see this as one of the best characteristics of the writing centers along with the bridging function that it brings. As far as I know writing centers do not exist in Argentine universities and I think it would be great if they were implemented.