Peer tutor
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A peer tutor is anyone who is of a similar status as the person being tutored. In an undergraduate institution this would usually be other undergraduates, as distinct from the graduate students who may be teaching the writing classes.
Peer tutoring is usually considered less threatening and intimidating. One aspect of this is that the tutor can establish a rapport with the tutee in a way that a teacher cannot. A peer tutor may have taken the same class recently, or have taken similar classes.
Because the peer tutor is seen by the tutee as being more at their own level, advice given by the tutor may be accepted more readily than advice from a teacher. Another key reason for this is that a peer tutor does not give any grade on the paper, whereas a teacher serving in a tutor role may still be perceived as someone who grades papers.
Peer tutors can be trained through on-the-job training, as well as through formal workshops. New tutors can be paired with more experienced tutors for their first few tutorials, and after the tutors are satisfied that the new tutors can operate alone they can give one-on-one tutoring. A key aspect of tutor training is the reflection on tutorials with other tutors. This reflection looks at what could have gone better as well as the tutor's progress in giving tutorials.
ESL training can be separated from regular tutor training as a subject that contains special difficulties that must be dealt with on their own. Tutoring in an Online Writing Lab can also be separated from normal training.
External links
- [PeerCentered] a blog for peer writing tutors.
- [Peer tutors find that help cuts both ways], the story of a peer English tutoring program showing how much teenagers can learn from and help each other.
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