Writing Center Journal 2025 web Open Access

Writing Confidence: Tutoring, Identity, and Race—A Mixed-Methods Approach

Daniel Messier University of Massachusetts Boston ; Hadi Riad Banat

Abstract

This mixed-methods study sought to better understand how confidence in writing and race interact as factors within writing centers. Students utilizing our writing center were asked to provide data about racial identity and writing confidence both when registering with the writing center and when completing postsession surveys. From this data, we interviewed a racially representative pool of respondents to better understand their definitions of confidence and the identity factors that have shaped their confidence in writing. Our survey data showed that students’ confidence increased significantly as a result of a writing center session, replicating previous writing center research. Furthermore, we found that improvements in confidence were consistent across racial identities, with students from different racial backgrounds reporting comparable gains. Our qualitative interview results revealed how students struggle with both identity-and non-identity- based factors that lower their confidence in academic writing. Results offer a more nuanced picture of how student identity impacts writing confidence both within and outside the writing center.

Journal
Writing Center Journal
Published
2025
DOI
10.7771/2832-9414.2045
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Topics
writing centers race and writing affect and writing
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