International Graduate Students’ Perceptions of Writing Center Support: A Qualitative Study of Academic Writing Development

Abstract

International graduate students often use university writing centers for support with advanced academic writing. Yet writing center philosophies do not always align with multilingual writers’ expectations, especially when students seek language-focused feedback alongside rhetorical and process-oriented support. This qualitative study examines how international graduate students perceive writing center visits as contributing to their academic writing development and what features of those visits shape these perceptions. Guided by a social constructionist perspective, the study draws on semi-structured interviews with seven international graduate students at a U.S. university who reported regular writing center use. Data were analyzed thematically through an iterative codebook approach. Participants viewed writing center visits as contributing to rhetorical awareness, process-oriented development, greater strategic awareness of writing, increased confidence, and reduced anxiety. At the same time, they described recurring tension between the writing center’s no-proofreading philosophy and their need for support with grammar, vocabulary, and sentence-level clarity. They also emphasized that the perceived value of a session depended not only on tutor feedback but also on continuity, appointment access, session structure, and the center’s non-evaluative environment. The study argues that writing center effectiveness for international graduate students is best understood holistically, as shaped by pedagogical, affective, and institutional factors rather than by tutor performance alone. Implications are offered for writing center policy communication, tutor education, and multilingual graduate writing support.