Teachers’ relationship to writing and their stance when guiding university students through the development of a certification portfolio
This study deals with the context of university instruction and more specifically the Higher Education Teaching Certificate (CAPAES) awarded in Francophone Belgium. The intent is to shed light on how and why university educators’ relationship to writing shapes their stance when guiding their students, whether during certification portfolio writing seminars or the supervisory interviews they conduct face-to-face with students. The goal is to identify these educators’ relationships to texts and writing and to look at how these relationships translate into their guidance of students. To this end, the study draws on several theoretical frameworks including that of Leclercq and Oudart (2011), who have brought attention to and documented three stances of guidance: normative, dialogical and speculative. In terms of relationships to writing, the study is based on Blaser (2011) and Barré-de Miniac (2008). The data collection took place in stages: semi-directed interviews with ten seminar facilitators, selection of four profiles representative of the entire team in the context of an assignment completed via seminar observation, one recording of an interview with a supervisor, the reading of written comments, and final interviews. The study reveals that each supervisor, even in a common context, exhibits specificities connected to his or her own approaches to guidance.