Vygotskian sociocultural theory proposes that learning occurs in our collaborative and interactive relationships with others. People individually shape, reconstruct, and transform the words, ideas, and concepts they appropriate in these interactive relationships; thus, learning is both socially dependent and unique to the individual learner. This idea is embodied in the Russian word obuchenie which translates as the reciprocal activity of teaching and learning, whereby knowledge is produced in the dialectic exchanges between the teacher(s) and learner(s). Informed by sociocultural theory this paper presents insights gained through qualitative study of writing centre tutorials in an undergraduate writing centre in a Japanese university. Data from writing centre tutor interviews, tutee interviews, and video recordings of writing centre tutorials are analysed to establish how obuchenie was enacted in the tutorials. Excerpts from the tutor and tutee interviews and writing centre tutorials are used to illustrate how obuchenie was perceived by tutors and characterized in the tutorials. Specifically, what ideas, concepts, and assumptions informed the tutors attempts to scaffold a student’s understanding of how to improve their writing. The analysis informs our understanding of how writing centre tutors are also positioned as learners, endeavouring to understand how to support their tutees with their writing. This paper adds to this emerging literature employing the concept of obuchenie by examining how writing centre tutors understand their interactions in writing centre tutorials.

Authors:
Chris Harwood, Sophia University, Japan

About the Presenter(s)
Associate professor in the Faculty of Liberal Arts, Sophia University, Japan. Research interests include critical thinking pedagogy, sociocultural theory, academic discourse socialization, digital literacy, academic writing, and educational policy.

Connect on Linkedin
https://www.linkedin.com/in/cjharwood/

Connect on ResearchGate
https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Chris-Harwood-4

Additional website of interest
https://chrisharwood.com/

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