English Language Learner Writing Center (ELLWC) student consultant Lorelyn Nolte presented at the 2023 East Central Writing Centers Association Annual Conference, April 21-23 at Purdue University.

Nolte is a senior with a double major in creative writing and professional writing, and is proficient in French. She has previously interned as a content writer and line/copy editor for Shilpa Panchmatia—a self-made entrepreneur who's been featured in Forbes. 

In her presentation “Vygostkyan Theory in Writing Consultations for Multilingual Writers,” Nolte examined two distinct writing center sessions: one with a graduate student from South Korea and the other with an undergraduate student from Sweden. In these sessions, Vygostkyan theory and the zone of proximal development (ZPD) was successfully used to augment the writers’ understanding of American English word choice issues, verb form errors, articles, citations, and argumentation. She discussed how instruction and cognitive and motivational scaffolding contribute to multilingual writers’ development within their individual ZPDs.

“This was a much more fulfilling experience than I could have guessed when I first agreed to present at the conference," said Nolte. "It progressed my data analysis, visual design, and communication skills in a way that I couldn’t have experienced in a traditional classroom setting. I would recommend this to anyone who wants to set themselves apart from their peers in their college or career development.”

After college, Nolte plans to become a freelance copy editor and writer.

Visit MiamiOH.edu/ELLWC to learn more about the work done by student consultants and the services offered to English Language Learners.