UWC Director, Intern Awarded IWCA Grant to Conduct Research

by Jennifer Cerdeiras (9/30/2009)

Miami Gardens- Dr. Kevin Dvorak, Director of the UWC @ STU, and Aileen Valdes, an undergraduate University Writing Center tutor, have been awarded an International Writing Center Association Research Grant to conduct research on bilingual tutoring in the UWC.

Their project, Using Spanish while Tutoring English: A Study of Writing Center Tutoring Sessions involving Bilingual Tutors and Students, will focus on the effectiveness of bilingual tutoring with students who speak Spanish and English.

Dvorak and Valdes have used the grant to purchase necessary recording materials and tools that will assist their research. They have currently begun interviewing tutees and observing tutoring sessions. They will complete their research by the end of the Spring 2010 semester, and will begin writing during the summer

They plan on presenting this research at the 2010 IWCA-NCPTPW Conference this November in Baltimore, and hope to publish their research in The Writing Center Journal, the writing center field’s most respected publication.