ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the keywords of the 2000 and 2017 tutors' talk to explore how the tutor talk of the Wisconsin-Superior Writing Center (UWSWC) changed as the place itself changed, particularly in its tutor training. The most salient differences between the 2000 tutors' talk and the 2017 tutors' talk were their use of minimal responses and their use of the multifunctional word "like." Comparing the keyness of the 2000 and 2017 tutors' most-key minimal responses presents a complex picture of how they responded to student writers. A salient finding in the comparison of 2000 and 2017 tutors' keywords was the sharp increase in the keyness of "like" in the 2017 tutors' talk. Another salient difference between the 2000 and 2017 tutors' keywords was the greater keyness of the conjunction "so" in 2017. The 2017 tutors' more substantial and systematic training manifested in the keyness of words such as "comma," "maybe," and "so" and indicate the efficacy of tutor training.
