A Discourse Analysis of Tutoring
The Purpose of a Tutor
The purpose of a tutor is to provide additional support to a student. These select few are usually hand-picked or asked by a teacher or professor who believes that the student has exceptional knowledge and a solid foundation of understanding regarding the topic, but also possess other important qualities to be successful at this particular job, such as how to teach others how to help themselves further their education.
There are certain qualities that signify a tutor, and it becomes apparent through recognition of these qualities of a definitive line between a student/peer and a tutor. There is also, however, a line between a tutor and an educator, that mostly consisting of a level of professionalism and much greater amounts of experience on the side of the certified and practicing educator.
How Tutoring is a Discourse
James Gee clearly explains the definitive line between a dominant and nondominant Discourse, and this can be applied in this scenario because a professional educator has made the Discourse of tutor, or bettering a student’s understanding of subject matter, into a way of life, and thereby establishing it as a dominant Discourse.
On the other hand, a tutor is experience this opportunity as a non dominant Discourse, as they are still testing their boundaries and understanding the best approaches to help others. In a Discourse analysis done by Fiano, the relationships between being in a Discourse and the key aspects of the Discourse on a personal level by using Gee’s Seven Building Tasks and applying them to her own work. Through an analysis of a Discourse, it becomes apparent what it is like to be in a Discourse with an insider perspective about how it works, and not just an outsider looking in.
James Gee came up with seven “Building Tasks” to describe the depth of being immersed in a Discourse. In Fiano’s published study “Primary Discourse and Expressive Language in a Kindergarten Student”, all seven of these principles are put into perspective.
It is also essential to notice that not all pieces of evidence used to support the analysis of a Discourse can fit into all seven Building Tasks. In the specific Discourse of tutoring, there are many pieces of language that can be used to identify practices related to the Discourse. According to SUNY Potsdam’s “Ten Golden Rules for Being a Good Tutor” guidelines, the very first rule is being honest (“10 Golden Rules for Being a Good Tutor”).
Honesty is a personal value, and clearly shines through one’s personality during an academic interaction such as tutoring. Early on, Gee defines a Discourse as
“saying (writing)-doing-being-valuing-believing combinations. These combinations I call ‘Discourses,’” (6),
and practices of the Seven Building Tasks as “relevant in a context and how they are being enacted” (Fiano 67), proving that an aspect of a Discourse can fit into more than one mold. The idea of a Discourse is not simply black and white.
The fact that a major piece of this Discourse is both a practice and a value, it shows potential to be considered a dominant Discourse, or a non-dominant Discourse, which is differentiated with the definition
“…whether they involve mastery of dominant or nondominant secondary Discourses.” (Gee 9)
which relates back to the differences in how one acts, and where these actions, beliefs, values, etc. originated from, and how strong of a dominant presence they show.
In the world of modern academics, sometimes the instruction from a teacher or professor is not enough for the student to fully grasp the material. In these instances, a peer tutor is called upon to understand the difficulties of the student, and provide alternatives ways of thinking, and additional knowledge to increase the level of understanding and success reached by the student.
Relationships Within the Discourse
A relationship is formed between the tutor and the student. Relationships are one of Gee’s Building Tasks, and are defined by Fiano as “What sort of relationship or relationships is this piece of language seeking to enact with others (present or not)?” (Fiano 67). Based on the information presented in the Ten Golden Rules, a professional relationship is established, along with a personal one.
Professionalism is a key part of an academic job, and needs to be upheld. The sharing of personal experiences can allow the student to “feel relieved that he is not alone. Sharing experiences and lessons goes a long way toward building trust and support. It also helps the student build self-confidence.” (“10 Golden Rules for Being a Good Tutor”) The relationships established within the Discourse demonstrate that someone in a Discourse can have positive and beneficial interactions with those who are not.
The Characteristics of a Tutor
There are certain characteristics that solidify one as a “good” tutor, versus one who could use improvement. There are also guidelines for how to become a more helpful tutor. A tutor is not born to be a tutor, there must be some inclination to help others, and some deep understanding on how to convey knowledge to someone else, essentially meaning that the characteristics they are raised with in their primary Discourse are brought with them to the tutoring Discourse, or other secondary Discourses.
Many of the characteristics of a typical “good” tutor must be acquired during the development of the primary Discourse, but the Discourse of being a tutor itself is a secondary Discourse. The technical term for bringing parts of your primary Discourse to a secondary Discourse is transference, and is something that Gee discusses in his article “Literacy, Discourse, and Linguistics: Introduction”.
The State University of New York in Potsdam thought of a way to convey the most important traits that create the ideal tutor. The “10 Golden Rules of Being a Good Tutor” blatantly states the ten most important traits that one must possess to be successful, or to be fully involved in the Discourse. A Discourse is something that is not necessarily taught, but if it does not reach a successful level,
“If you’ve fossilized in the acquisition of a Discourse prior to full ‘fluency’, then your very lack of fluency marks you as a non-member of the group that controls this Discourse” (Gee 10).
There are many courses and educational sessions devoted to properly training a tutor, proving that is a Discourse that is learned, classifying it as secondary.
In an attempt to better explain how a Discourse can be viewed, and the components that make it up, Gee created the Seven Building Tasks, which include significance, practices, identities, relationships, politics, connections, and sign systems. One of the most significant building tasks regarding being a successful academic tutor is the “practices” portion.
Darcy Fiano, author of the article “Primary Discourse and Expressive Language in a Kindergarten Student”, did a research study on a young girl entering kindergarten and observed how characteristics from her home life transferred to her academic life with her, and which practices she learned in school were brought back to her home setting with her. She defined these practices as “…The practice (activity) or practices (activities) that are relevant in a context and how they are being enacted” (67). Practices take a look at the different actions and characteristics a person in a specific Discourse typically exhibits. This is a key component in the analysis of a Discourse because it clearly defines who is and is not in a Discourse.
The Tutor Training Manual gives a Table of Contents in the beginning that suggest all of the important topics to be discussed in the pages to come, such as the amount of time the tutor will need to put in, and various outcomes from the practices of tutoring. These key concepts or ideas serve as practices in which tutors must become comfortable to be successful at their position.
There was also a “Code of Ethics”, which gives specific rules or guidelines to follow, falling under the practices category. In the “10 Golden Rules of Being a Good Tutor”, the ten listed traits serve as practices exhibited by the successful tutors, and the written list itself provides knowledge for those learning of the practices of the Discourse of being a good tutor.
Teachers and professors can easily pick out the “good” tutors, or those who possess the right characteristics by the practices they demonstrate. The completion of this one Building Task leads to the accomplishment of other Building Tasks, and eventually, full development into the specific Discourse of tutoring. This complete development gives the tutor the experience of being an educator, which is an inside look at the job they are doing, helping other students.
Tying it all Together
Going back to Gee’s idea of the Seven Building Tasks, there are many other aspects that can be applied to the Discourse of tutoring. The creation of an identity from mastering this Discourse is worthy of discussion. An identity incorporates “…Discourses, intertextuality, and social languages” (Fiano 73), which indicates that there are many interconnections between different textual references and the way that they are interpreted within a social context, or social language. Tutoring has many languages, the most essential of which are related to the subject that is being tutored.
For example, an English tutor most likely does not understand the terms and sign systems that a chemistry tutor uses to help his student. The understanding of these social languages can lead to the formation of an identity. Forming an identity takes practice and time, and can lead to becoming fully immersed in a Discourse.
Gee mentions that there are few ways of getting into a Discourse, one of them being an apprenticeship, which can be interpreted as
“…a master-apprentice relationship in a social practice (Discourse) wherein you scaffold their growing ability to say, do, value, believe, and so forth, within that Discourse, through demonstrating your mastery and supporting theirs even when it barely exists…” (Gee 11).
Apprenticeships are exhibited in tutoring in the form of teachers or professors.
Tutors need to be trained, which can be through crash course via presentations, like “Training College Tutors and Peer Educators”, which is an example of a Powerpoint presentation commonly given at college information sessions for newly hired tutors. With training usually comes mock tutoring, which are observed and monitored. Both of these practices are intended to highlight specific bulletpoints fully arm someone trying to get into this Discourse with all of the essential tools and skills. These bullet points, such as a high level of caring and consideration, when followed correctly, are indicators to those who are not in the Discourse of being a tutor.
There are not necessarily any physical benefits to having this particular identity, but there are many assumptions made by other outside of the Discourse. Non-tutors view tutors as intelligent, rule-abiding students who want to better themselves and and the students that they are helping.
The idea of this separation gives an indication that tutoring is not a primary Discourse, as those inside of the Discourse have made the mental decision to help those who are outsiders to this Discourse, and to develop the specific set of skills that go along with tutoring. This idea directly correlates with the different identities of a tutor. There are various subjects that students are tutored in, including but not limited to math, chemistry, biology, English, and foreign languages. Each of these subjects require a different tutor, with different skills, knowledge and ways of displaying the information so that the student can learn the material in the best possible way. The differences in styles and content of the subjects creates different identities among tutors, demonstrating that there are many identities within the Discourse of tutoring.
There are a few connections that can be drawn between the most critical aspects of the Building Tasks within a Discourse. All seven of the tasks define a Discourse as a whole. Although there are not always clear associations or connections between the seven tasks, they are all related by the general concept of a Discourse.
One trying to analyze their Discourse could look into the tasks and be able to recognize whether their own Discourse is primary or secondary, dominant or nondominant, and truly develop an understanding of why. Fiano’s interpretations of the Building Tasks make it much more user-friendly and easy to evaluate.
Someone who has not previously read Gee’s Discourses work could read Fiano’s article and understand the relationships between actions, beliefs, values, and language choices and how those relate to Discourses, and also be able to apply their relevance to the Seven Building Tasks, which serve as tools for insight into the Discourse of understanding the relationships hidden within Discourses themselves.
