Talking about the language of the writing conference: a lot is said during a writing conference, but very little is done in terms of revision. Or perhaps I never noticed that talking about language changes requires a lot of, well, talking.
In the conference I am transcribing now (with 30) there is a lot talk about the lab procedures, the particular tasks they carried out and the correct way to report those results. The tutor is experienced and provides a lot of guidance about what the correct way to to this is. So much about a conference is correctness, the desire to bring things in line, not to push things out of line. At this stage, though, this is what they wanted. And the conversation is about how to bring ideas into alignment with what is expected of them.
I can't think of a time when they reject the advice, except for a time when an idea was expressed and the consultant was suggesting a different phrasing for that idea. Sometimes the consultant stays out of the process of re-phrasing and lets the students figure it out for themselves.
