Until recently, many languages were taught in a mechanistic manner, which stresses a prescriptive way of teaching. However, lately the prescriptive has been eliminated from the teaching of language, and the trend that has emerged incorporates a compromise between the prescriptive and descriptive methods. More specifically, academic, written English tends to be highly linear in its development. At the same time, the tutor must help the student master the logical process that accompanies writing in English. While it has been determined that cultural variations can significantly affect a tutorial for an ESL student, logic is also a cultural phenomenon that affects conferencing strategies.
Logic is the basis of all rhetoric and evolves within a culture.
Therefore, it is not universal. Many people assume that because a student can read and write an essay in his or her native language, he or she will have the same success in any other language. With the introduction of more ESL courses in American colleges and universities, this fallacy has become more and more apparent and thus, writing center tutors or fellow must learn how to more effectively assist those for whom English is a second language.