Free Tutoring Second Language Writers by Shanti Bruce

her role as English tutor, or simply because she just chose to speak in English. Yessica’s tension appears to have dissipated a bit, as she continues in English: “Yes, I can’t wait.” Ashley concludes this portion of their conversation, using English to move the session forward: “Okay, good.” Yessica begins reading the text Ashley has started, and they refocus on Yessica’s work.
    In this particular case, Yessica provides us with an example of what Hudson refers to as “metaphorical code switching.” The physical situation where Yessica and Ashley are engaged does not change—they are both sitting and talking in the writing center. However, the metaphorical situation does change. Yessica’s use of Spanish changes their roles momentarily from tutor and tutee to one that is less formal and more casual in that moment. In this moment of tension, Yessica removes herself momentarily from her work mode. Ashley’s laughter signals an acknowledgment of Yessica’s comment, but Ashley quickly refocuses the conversation back to English and, thus, back to working on the assignment.
    This was the only time Spanish was used by either during the session. Yessica initiated the usage during a moment of solidarity when she appeared to be trusting Ashley’s judgment about her feelings toward her instructor.
    Roberta and Stephanie: Code-Mixing—Session 1
    Originally from Honduras, Stephanie moved to Miami after graduating high school so she could attend college in the United States. Stephanie had been in the United States for only a few months before enrolling in her first college classes. Stephanie was one of the writing center’s most frequent visitors during her first three years at the university. She worked with almost every tutor at least once and formed regular working relationships with several of them. Stephanie worked with Roberta several times during the course of two years, and the two often code-mixed during sessions.
    The following excerpt is from a session during which Stephanie needed help writing a research paper for one of her psychology classes. During the session, Stephanie uses Spanish mainly for questions and instructions, while she uses English mainly for reading, keywords, and some communication. Stephanie initiates Spanish frequently, but Roberta primarily uses English to respond.
    About five minutes into the session, Stephanie and Roberta were using the Purdue OWL to determine the correct format for adding the date to a blog citation.
    ROBERTA: Here we go. Blog post.
    STEPHANIE: Espérate, pues, creo que ya abrí aquí . [Wait, then, I think I opened (it) here.]
    ROBERTA: Okay, we need to include the title of the blog in the URL. Please, note that the title is online . . . Okay, so you’re going to write March .
    STEPHANIE: March, ¿ qué ? [March, what?]
    ROBERTA: March el cinco . [March the fifth.] What’s the day that you got it?
    STEPHANIE: August 10, 2009.
    ROBERTA: No, that you got it.
    STEPHANIE: Ah, que yo . . . [Ah, that I . . .]
    ROBERTA: Que viste el comercial . [That you saw the commercial.]
    STEPHANIE: Ayer . [Yesterday.]
    ROBERTA: So put yesterday’s date.
    STEPHANIE: ¿Qué fue ayer? ¿El veintitrés? [What was yesterday? The twenty-third?]
    ROBERTA: ’Cause we don’t know when it was put up, right?
    STEPHANIE: Bueno, allí sale . [Well, it comes out there.]
    ROBERTA: No dice el . . . pero does it say when that commercial was put up? [It doesn’t say the . . . but does it say when that commercial was put up?]
    STEPHANIE: No, no dice nada . [No, no, it doesn’t say anything.] It doesn’t say. Entonces sería así . [Then it would be like this.] March 2010 y ¿ qué más ? [March 2010 and what else?]
    ROBERTA: Espérate . [Wait.] Put the other date—August 10. Eso en paréntesis . [That in parentheses.] There, start writing. Pon el año primero . [Put the year first.]
    This is an example of Roberta using a code-mixing pedagogy to instruct Stephanie. Roberta code-mixes English to