Investigating L2 writing through tutor-tutee interactions and revisions: A case study of a multilingual writer in EAP tutorials

Abstract

This case study draws on the framework of Vygotskian sociocultural theory to investigate tutor-tutee interactions carried out in a series of tutoring sessions and the tutee’s subsequent revisions to her writing drafts over the course of a semester. In total, eight tutoring sessions were analyzed, along with 12 pieces of writing constructed by the writer for five writing tasks. The results showed that the writing tasks, rather than the writing stages, influenced both the problem areas addressed by the tutor and the directiveness of his feedback. Overall, the tutor focused more on the rhetorical aspects of the texts than on the sentence-level issues, and he adopted a largely directive approach to tutoring. However, the tutee incorporated more sentence-level than text-level suggestions into her subsequent drafts. In the meantime, contextual, interpersonal, and institutional forces all shaped her text revision decisions. Over time, the tutee’s writing showed changes on rhetorical aspects directly connected to her tutor’s mediation, but she continued to work on some basic text-level issues. The study suggests the importance of providing tutorial support that is sensitive to writers’ emerging abilities as well as their needs and responsiveness as revealed during the course of tutor-tutee interactions.