A Discourse Analysis of Writing Tutorials: with Reference to the Dominance in Nonnative Tutors and Nonnative Tutees

Abstract

This study examines the writing tutorial discourse, analyzing its characteristics which show dominance. The current study situates itself with the line of research, i.e., examination of NNSNNS tutorial discourse in EFL setting. It aims to provide a detailed description of the NNS-NNS EFL tutorial discourse, following the former studies on NSNNS ESL tutoring sessions. This study tries to analyze the purely quantitative, topical and interactional dominance of the NNS tutor within the NNSNNS tutorial discourse. Quantitative dominance is conducted by simply measuring the turn length of the tutor and the tutee. Topical dominance is investigated by analyzing how tutors take charge and hold the floor. Interactional dominance is deeply examined in three subjects: directiveness (mitigation), refusal of advice and small talk. After a thorough examination on these three different aspects of dominance in NNS-NNS EFL tutorial discourse, the result will be compared and contrasted with those of NSNNS tutorial discourse.