Free Tutoring Second Language Writers by Shanti Bruce Page B

both of these situations, Roberta recognizes a Spanish construction written in English. Both of the clauses (“This web page I always use” and “reminds me of birthdays from others”) are understandable, but they produce an accented English that may be labeled as problematic by an instructor reading Stephanie’s work. For the first clause, Roberta quickly explains to Stephanie how the word order she used in Englishreflects a Spanish construction, and Roberta suggests a way to reorder it in a way that reads more like Standard American English. For the second clause, Roberta explains to Stephanie how the Spanish de otros can translate to either “from others” or “of others” in English, and that Stephanie was selecting the one that would sound awkward to her audience. Transfer errors, which occur when a speaker’s L1 influences their L2, can be difficult to overcome, but the goal now is for Stephanie to incorporate these new English words and phrases into her own lexicon and apply them in the future.
    The Code-Switching/Code-Mixing Debate—Students’ and Tutors’ Opinions
    In addition to learning about how and when code-switching and code-mixing might occur during sessions, Aileen and I wanted to gauge our bilingual students’ and tutors’ attitudes about these approaches. During the first discussions I had with Alezka and other staff members, there were mixed opinions about code-switching and code-mixing. As we continued to discuss this approach over the course of a few semesters, more tutors began feeling comfortable using Spanish in the center for sessions and general conversation. If the writing center was gradually becoming more multilingual, would that encourage more students to work there, or might it make some students feel apprehensive about our tutors? Did the tutors think this approach was appropriate, or did they find that students were not comfortable speaking a second language in an environment dominated by English? To find answers to these questions, Aileen and I conducted formal interviews with thirteen bilingual students who frequented the writing center and five bilingual tutors who claimed they had used Spanish during tutoring sessions.
    For each interview, Aileen and I met the participant(s) in my office. While most of the interviews were with individuals, one was with a pair of students and another was with a group of three students. The interviews were designed to be less a formal question-and-answer process and more of a discussion. Since we knew many of our students and tutors came from different areas of the United States and Central and South America, we began each interview by asking the participants to talk a bit about their backgrounds and learning both Spanish and English. We then asked about (1) their experiences in the writing center, (2) about specific times they may have experienced code-switching in educational settings, including the writing center, and (3) their opinions regarding code-switching during tutoring sessions. During each interview, weasked many follow-up questions as topics emerged during our discussions. The following sections provide examples of what were consistent opinions among the students and tutors we interviewed.
    Yessica (student)
    One of the first students I interviewed was Yessica, the student who had worked frequently with Ashley. Yessica immigrated to the United States from Cuba when she was four, and she lived at home with her parents, both of whom spoke little English. During her interview, Yessica stated that she spoke more Spanish than English during her time away from campus and university work.
    I met Yessica several weeks into her freshman year when she stopped by my office to ask about the writing center. During our first discussion, she told me her writing professor had said he thought her English was not strong enough to pass his class and that she was better off dropping out of college. I explained to her that the writing center would