Reexamining “Attitudes of Resistance”: A Survey-based Investigation of Mandatory Writing Center Appointments

Chris Borntrager; Taylor Weeks

Praxis: A Writing Center Journal 2025 web Open Access

Reexamining “Attitudes of Resistance”: A Survey-based Investigation of Mandatory Writing Center Appointments

Chris Borntrager ; Taylor Weeks

Abstract

This article arose out of a need to better understand what happens in university writing center (WC) appointments that are incentivized or mandated by instructors. While the topic has received attention in WC literature, previous research focuses largely on student attitudes toward mandated WC appointments and only rarely addresses the interpersonal dynamics of these sessions. To address this gap, we conducted an IRB-approved, survey-based study investigating the impact of WC tutorial incentivization on writing tutors’ assessments of sessions’ effectiveness, comparing tutors’ scoring of different session types and conducting statistical queries on some of the larger categories. Our results challenge the widespread assumption that mandatory or incentivized writing center sessions are always an obvious tradeoff of “quality vs. quantity.” Specifically, we found that differences in tutor scores between voluntary and mandatory WC sessions were statistically insignificant and did not present a clear tutor preference for voluntary sessions over mandatory sessions; however, when types of incentivization were compared, tutors showed a subtle preference for sessions that were incentivized through a class-wide mandate over those that offered extra credit or involved individual referrals. In this study, we also discuss common metrics for gauging writing tutorials’ success, suggesting that WC practitioners may be placing an undue weight on “engagement.” We hope, most of all, to encourage further research that examines (and expands) institutional approaches to mandatory sessions and encourages a more welcoming stance toward the writers who visit WCs at the behest of their instructors.

Journal: Praxis: A Writing Center Journal
Published: 2025
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Open Access: OA PDF Gold
Topics: writing centers peer tutoring
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Reexamining “Attitudes of Resistance”: A Survey-based Investigation of Mandatory Writing Center Appointments

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