Tell Me How It Reads: Tutoring Deaf and Hearing Students in the Writing Center

Babcock’s book is based on the resulting study of tutoring writing in the college context with both deaf and hearing students and their tutors. She describes sessions in detail between deaf students, hearing tutors, and the interpreters that help them communicate, using a variety of English or contact signing rather than ASL in the tutorials. These experiences illustrate the key differences between deaf-hearing and hearing-hearing tutorials and suggest ways to modify tutoring and tutor-training practices accordingly. Although this study describes methods for tutoring deaf students, its focus on students who learn differently can apply to teaching writing to learning disabled students, ESL students, and other students with different learning styles. Ultimately, the grounded theory analysis within Tell Me How It Reads provides a complete paradigm for tutoring in all writing centers.