Addressing Attitudes and Setting Goals in Consultations

Helping clients get the most out of every session

Attitudes• An attitude is an emotional

mindset that the client brings to the consultation.

• A client may be concerned about his/her ability with grammar or some specific skills.

• A client may also be concerned more generally about his/her ability or talent.

Goals

• A goal is what you or your client hope to accomplish in 30-45 minutes or over a series of consultations.

• Some clients come in with well-defined goals.

• Others just want an opinion or something vague or broad.

Begin by ascertaining attitudes

• So you can address the emotional aspects of learning, and you may need to calm fears, instill confidence, or overcome false ideas.

• You’ll have a better idea where to start and how much to explain if you start with attitudes.

After attitudes, set goals• We are motivated to learn when

we are accomplishing our goals.• Discuss long-term goals and how

to reach them through short-term goals set for each session.

• If you work on different aspects of punctuation for 4 sessions, you may achieve a long-term goal of improving proofreading skills.

Sometimes your sense of what the client needs doesn’t match his/her goals. The client’s instructor may also have somewhat different goals.

When goals conflict. . .

• Always respect the client’s goals. They are the source of his/her motivation.

• Your goals and the instructor’s goals are secondary.

• Let the client know what you think the goals should be. You can argue for you view, but don’t be pushy or insistent.

• If you can’t bring goals together, take care of the client’s first.

Client goals

Instructor goals

Consultant goals

Working on HOCs (Higher Order Concerns) or LOCs (Lower Order Concerns)

Higher order concerns are related to content, tone, organization, and audience.

Lower order concerns are features that affect the text on a line-by-line basis, including grammar, punctuation, mechanics, and format.

Higher order concerns generally should be taken care of first, not because they are more important, but because this is a more efficient use of writing time. Why fix errors if you may be radically cutting the text, or labor over word choice until you are sure of your audience and argument?

Lower order concerns are best attended to once the content and organization of the text are settled. Many students get caught up in correcting errors or making choices before they are ready. Many also associate writing with correcting a text. What they usually need to do is spend significant time revising for higher order concerns first.

LOWER ORDER CONCERNSSpelling FormattingGrammarMechanics

MID-LEVEL CONCERNSDiction ToneStyle

HIG

HER OR

DER CON

CER

NS FORM THE

FOUN

DATIONOrganizationResearch/Development (content)Rhetorical situation (audience, purpose)

When the client wants to discuss grades or an instructor . . .

• Refer to the Ground Rules.• Encourage discussing the grade directly with

the instructor.• Turn the client’s attention turned toward what

you can accomplish.• Don’t respond to

inappropriate comments.

When the client doesn’t want to talk to an instructor, but should . . .

• Remind the client that every department has a grade appeals process.

• Suggest that complaints about instructors be taken to department heads or academic advisors.

When the client wants editing or proofreading . . .

• Explain that you can't find every error, but you can help find some and show him/her how to correct them, then turn the task back to the client.• Remind the client you may miss some things.• Ask open-ended questions like “What do you

see in this paragraph?” or “How would you make that smoother?” or “What did we say a run-on was?”

?!@#%

When you end . . .

• At the end of the consultation, review the goals and discuss the next step (follow-up).

• Encourage the client to continue working by setting up another goal.