English Subject Centre Mini Projects
WORK-IN-PROGRESS:
‘EXPLORING THE POTENTIAL OF PEER TUTORING
IN DEVELOPING STUDENT WRITING’
PROJECT REPORT
THIRD YEAR, 2003-2004
Authors:
Jonathan Worley
Matthew Martin
St. Mary’s University College, Belfast
October 2005
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The English Subject Centre
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham, Surrey TW20 0EX
Tel 01784 443221 Fax 01784 470684
Email esc@rhul.ac.uk
www.english.heacademy.ac.uk
English Subject Centre Departmental Projects
This report and the work it presents were funded by the English Subject
Centre under a scheme which funds projects run by departments in Higher
Education institutions (HEIs) in the UK. Some projects are run in collaboration
between departments in different HEIs. Projects run under the scheme are
concerned with developments in the teaching and learning of English
Language, Literature and Creative Writing. They may involve the production
of teaching materials, the piloting and evaluation of new methods or materials
or the production of research into teaching and learning. Project outcomes
are expected to be of benefit to the subject community as well as having a
positive influence on teaching and learning in the host department(s). For
this reason, project results are disseminated widely in print, electronic form
and via events, or a combination of these.
Details of ongoing projects can be found on the English Subject Centre
website at www.english.heacademy.ac.uk/deptprojects/index.htm . If you
would like to enquire about support for a project, please contact the English
Subject Centre:
The English Subject Centre
Royal Holloway, University of London
Egham, Surrey TW20 OEX
T. 01784 443221
esc@rhul.ac.uk
www.english.heacademy.ac.uk
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Introduction
This report covers the final, third phase of the Peer Tutor Project at St. Mary's,
supported by the university and by the English Subject Centre. The project
has been divided into three phases: the first phase was a 'pilot' scheme run in
the spring term of 2001. The second phase was a more complete, fully
functional running of peer tutoring for a full year. The final phase consolidated
the lessons learned from the first and second phases and included the most
comprehensive training of peer tutors and the greatest number of students
tutored. Our guest speaker, Dr. Susan Dinitz, director of the writing centre
from the University of Vermont, will review the project. With the completion of
the third phase, we will publish teaching materials on the web and in-house. It
should also be noted that due to the success of the project, St. Mary's has
given us financial support for another year's operation, and we are currently in
the process of applying for more substantial grants from the Department of
Education and Labour.
Achievements
The final, third year of the Peer Tutoring project was marked by several
achievements:
• Expansion of methods to advertise and attract students: visitation of all
induction sessions at commencement of academic year, visits to particular
classes with short presentations, creation of new advertising posters and a
pamphlet.
• Streamlining of administration and turnaround time for tutoring, esp. using
text messaging to contact peer tutors.
• Ten weeks of training for eight new tutors that included the incorporation of
new ideas for the training of tutors, including preparation for written exams.
This year's training solidified the final form of peer tutor training programme.
• A dependable cohort of 13 student tutors.
• Two peer tutors selected and funded by St. Mary's to attend the New
England Writing Association Centre conference at Merrimack College (April
16-17), accompanied by Dr. Matthew Martin. The students represented the
college well and returned with an excellent range of ideas for improving our
programme.
• Contact with the Royal Literary Fund through the auspices of the English
Subject Centre resulted in successful application to have Anne Rouse, poet
and literary fund fellow in residence for the 2004-05 academic year. Anne will
assist in the teaching of written communications.
• St. Mary's administration pleased with project and have given backing for
expansion.
Remaining Challenges.
• Number of students remains disappointingly small (30). This difficulty
turns out to have been experienced in American university writing centres at
their inception, as we learned at NEWCA conference. We have a series of
proposals to remedy this situation:
• A table manned by peer tutors outside the canteen, from time to
time.
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• Peer tutor presentations—rather than staff presentations—at
orientation.
• Development of 'tutor fellowships' whereby tutors are made
responsible for particular courses and meet with course tutor and
periodically attend lectures.
• Finding additional space for privacy in peer tutoring.
• Continuation of all previous methods of promoting the centre: open
door policy, advertising through poster, pamphlet, web and e-mail.
• Finding a way to negotiate our presence as a course with the BEd side of
institution. Currently the BEd does not fund any written communications
tuition and is dependent upon us for 'outreach' help. The solution to this
problem would appear to be through increased funding and staffing.
• To become more current in recent scholarship on peer tutoring and
teaching writing—especially as practised in the United States.
• To publish a book based experience of training peer tutors and
administering a peer-tutoring programme.
• To implement 'peer tutor fellowships': specially trained and supervised
peer tutors who tutor in a particular subject area.
• To implement 'live' web pages. Due to current work on implementing new
university web pages, web pages have not yet gone 'live'.
Training
Tutoring for new tutors was conducted in a series of ten, one-hour sessions
(with one additional session added on by special request).
• Introduction. Introduction to ideas behind peer tutoring (an explanation of
our project) and an explanation of procedures for tutoring.
• Writing as Process. Lecture / discussion: models of the writing process.
'Writing as Process' from Write to Learn by Donald Murray (1984 edition)
'Writing Without Teachers' (57-59). Peter Elbow, 'A Two Step Writing Process'
(see Appendices 2-3)
• Models of the Peer Tutoring Process: Readings: 'Conference Teaching,
the Individual Response' from A Writer Teaches Writing (147-186) by Don
Murray. Reading of a sample student essay.
• Reading Student Essays for 'Focus'. Reading from Zen and the Art of
Motorcycle Maintenance and 'The Poisoned Fish' by Kenneth Macrorie.
• Reading Student Essays for 'Content'. Reading / discussion: an
'advanced' student essay. 'Writing as a Way of Knowing' by James
McCrimmon from Rhetoric and Composition: A Sourcebook for Teachers and
Writers (1984).
• Reading for Structure. Reading / Discussion of 'The Paragraph' from
The Right Handbook by Pat Belanoff, et. al (1986). Discussion of a student
essay with emphasis on problems of structuring.
• Assessing 'Grammar'. Grammar Lectures: Sixteen grammar errors.
Students were required to prepare the 'top eight' grammar errors as
presentations to other tutors. Reading from The Right Handbook by Pat
Belanoff, et. al. Review of six common grammatical errors, plus the addition of
ten new points of grammar. Reading / discussion: a 'basic writing' student
essay. Exercises in spotting grammar errors from sample student paragraphs.
• Practical Tutoring: Student tutors exchange essays, take them home to
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read and prepare and then take turns tutoring each other. Discussion of
experience follows.
• Presentation and Form: Writing and Presenting Across the
Curriculum. Forms of Documentation, esp. documenting the Internet. Internet
handouts. Excerpts: MLA Handbook. Oxford Manual of Style. Chicago
Manual of Style. Styles of different disciplines
• Writing Theory and the Student Essay. Lecture / discussion: 'Writing
Theory: Writing as Ideology' Power Point presentation and Spellmeyer,
'Could Teaching, of All Things, Prove to be our Salvation' (241-247) from
Arts of Living: Reinventing the Humanities for the Twenty-First Century
(2003). Reading a student essay 'theoretically'. Review discussion: 'What
Kind of Tutor Will You Be?'
• Extra Session: Revising for Essay Exams. Power Point presentation on
how to prepare exams, with question and answer session.
This series of training sessions will become the basis for chapters in our
proposed book. Materials will also be posted on the web to assist lecturers
and tutors interested in teaching a similar course.
Student Tutor Feedback —All Years of Project — Divided into
Categories
(1) New Ways of Active Learning: Mutually Beneficial Learning through
Peer Tutoring:
• ‘The sessions were helpful for myself and the students.’
• ‘I enjoyed putting what I had learned into practice and found that the
student appreciated what I had to say.’
• ‘It was very positive (as a tutor I learnt about things I could develop, for
example, forms of advice given.) I also felt the student found the session
quite helpful – it alerted her to consistent errors that had been made.’
• ‘I felt confident dealing with another student and I was able to critically
analyse her essay.’
• ‘I feel confident both the tutee and myself benefited from the experience.
My tutees stated that they appreciated the help and I now feel more confident
in tutoring again.’
• ‘I felt the tutoring session I had went very well and my student has decided
to make another appointment.’
• 'I found the peer tutoring very helpful, I found that it not only prepared me
for becoming a peer tutor but also helped to brush up my own skills.’
(2) Acquisition of Key Skills in Written Communications:
• ‘The peer tutor training helped me to develop my own writing skills as well
as help others with their skills.’
• ‘I believe that the training provided excellent guidance on essay writing.’
• ‘I found the training excellent with regard to . . . my own written work.’
• ‘I have really enjoyed the peer tutor training and feel that my own writing
has benefited from the experience.’
• ‘I felt the training was both interesting and useful.’
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• ‘The training not only suggested ways in which I could help other students
improve their writing, it helped me consider ways in which I could improve my
own. I’ve been using some of the issues raised during training sessions to
enhance my essay-writing skills and techniques.’
(3) Acquisition of Transferable Skills:
• ‘I feel that my own work has benefited greatly as a result.’
• ‘I enjoyed the experience and felt the session went well. I felt the student
received some key points in improving their essay writing.’
• ‘It was very useful for my own writing development.’
• ‘It has also ‘programmed’ me to use the knowledge I have gained as
second nature in all written work in and out of college.’
(4) Personal Development of the Individual Tutor:
• ‘I found all the information presented very interesting and am glad that I
signed up for the project.’
• ‘It has been very helpful and informative on a personal level.’
• ‘It was very useful for my own writing development.’
• ‘I feel that I have benefited greatly from the training sessions.’
• ‘I feel confident both the tutee and myself benefited from the experience.
My tutee stated that they appreciated the help and I now feel more confident
in tutoring again.’
• ‘I had a second-year Business Studies student who was having a lot of
problems with essay writing. I looked over some of her essays and identified
what I thought were the greatest problems. We met up and discussed these
points and she said she would be interested in having another meeting so I
could see if she was making progress. I would be interested in tutoring again.
I feel that it is a good experience for me and I would be glad to help someone
if I can.’
(5) Professional Development
• ‘The advantages of the programme have proved an excellent means of my
own professional development.’
• ‘I found the training excellent with regard to my own professional
development.’
Feedback from Students Tutored
Comment from students indicated that a wide range of subjects had been
treated during their tutorials: grammar, style, content, structure, exam
techniques.
(1) Key Skill: Grammatically Correct Writing
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• ‘The main focus of the session was use of the comma. I was given sound
advice on using commas, semi-colons and colons. I knew I was very weak in
this area. The session was very helpful indeed. The tutor was very helpful
and encouraging.’
• ‘I learned a number of practical steps to take in laying out my work,
focusing on my grammar and the use of a variety of words and terms.
Reading aloud to myself was suggested. I now find myself being more
conscious of the way I phrase sentences, when they should stop and so on. I
found this very worthwhile and would definitely like to meet my tutor again.’
• ‘The feedback was very constructive. My tutor took a lot of time reading
my work and the comments were quite positive. Structure, grammar and runon sentences were discussed. The session was helpful as I felt the tutor had
prepared well and was able to guide me. I would like to meet this tutor again
just so I can put into practice what we discussed.’
• ‘Issues of diction, structure and style were discussed. Grammar was also
mentioned and a handout was given. All advice was helpful. Very useful tips
as regards structure were given. Really helpful.’
(2) Key Skills: Exam Preparation, Dissertation Research, Critical Thinking,
Essay Structure
• ‘We reviewed exam technique and discussed my dissertation literature
review – extremely helpful and I would like this tutor to help me again.’
• ‘I feel the session has helped me greatly regarding content.’
• ‘I learned how to plan constructively.’
• ‘The point was raised about writing a good introduction and conclusion
which I found very interesting and I will certainly learn from it.’
Staff Feedback
We solicited feedback from the lecturers on the BA degree, receiving
confirmation that both the Written Communications Seminars and the
Individualized Tutoring were achieving results.
‘The peer tutor project is an excellent provision for the development of student
writing skills. Good writing skills are essential for a successful degree; I
therefore encourage all students to avail of the facilities, and I regularly refer
weaker students to the Centre. Students who participated in the peer tutor
project have greatly improved their writing skills and, by extension, the quality
of their essays.’
(Lecturer in Politics)
‘I'd like you to know that our first batch of final year BA students in Geography
have really progressed in their writing skills since they were first years. They
were 'not so hot' when they started here; indeed, I started to run tutorials
alongside their reading tutorials for a short while in their first year. I just don't
have the expertise nor do I have the time…. This group has really improved. I
am especially pleased that your tutoring has really made a difference to the
work of one student whose papers are now much more structured. I've a
feeling that you've been able to boost his confidence along the way! The job
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prospects for all of them will surely be improved, too.’
(Lecturer in Geography)
‘This year I referred a couple of BEd students to you and I have to say that I
feel that the dissertation work of one of them moved up a class as a result.
Not only did her punctuation improve but she made a far better job of
communicating her ideas.’ (Lecturer in Geography)
‘It is clear that some students arrive at third level at a disadvantage in relation
to their writing skills. It is also apparent that those involved in the current
writing centre programme here at St Mary's have benefited enormously from
the advice and coaching that has been made available to them. In addition,
the fact that many of these students have trained as peer tutors has
contributed greatly to the development of their self-esteem and oral
communications. On occasion, I have referred students to the centre and
have observed the excellent progress that they have made. I have also noted
the highly positive comments that the students have made about the work of
the centre.’
(Lecturer in Religious Studies)
‘While mentioning the Writing Skills Programme in general, a number of BA2
and BA3 students are open and comment on how their level of confidence
has been enhanced by participating on the Peer Tutor Project.
‘During placement at Barnardos NI, Joanne became involved in the 'Education
in the Community Programme' and openly admits that her time as a Peer
Tutor enhanced her confidence level and contributed to her effective level of
communication with children. The combination of experiences has confirmed
her decision to pursue teaching as a career.
‘Nicola also merits the Peer Tutor Project and her involvement has enhanced
her writing and speed reading skills. Her placement was spent with the
Andersonstown News, Classified Advertisements Department. Her manager
remarked how Nicola's ability to create effective prose and speed-read proofs
made her one of the better Placement Students she ever had and indicated
that Nicola had potential in news business. Since, Nicola has secured a
summer position with the paper, established her BA3 placement and has a
focus on a related career.
‘Students do value the Peer Tutor Project and, apart from the two girls
mentioned who have acted a Peer Tutors, other participants find the
experience invaluable and I consider their participation has enhanced
assignment grades.’ (Work-Based Learning co-ordinator)
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