Thoughts on Peer Tutoring

*The following is a response to a reading assaignment for my class Honors 300r: Writing and Pedagogy, which is attached to the writing peer tutoring system (Writting Fellows) at BYU. Enjoy!*

                As a recent addition to Brigham Young University’s Writing Fellows program I found Margot Soven’s “Curriculum-Based Peer Tutors and WAC”, an exceptionally interesting read. Particularly, Soven offers an interesting analysis of the effect of attaching Writing Fellows (WFs) to courses in their own major. (A position I find myself in!)

                “They [Kiedaisch and Dinitz] concluded that only those tutors familiar with the discipline in which the student was writing could ask questions that would improve the quality of the analysis in a paper”. (207) On the other hand, “Hubbuch argues that the tutor’s ability to motivate the tutee to take charge of her own writing is more apt to be compromised by the knowledge able tutor”. (209) After reflecting on several programs that generally assign WF to courses in their programs Soven goes on to conclude that, “perhaps we have exaggerated the influence of knowledge in the major as the factor most responsible for shaping the role of the peer tutor and determining his success.”

                After reading all that was said on the subject, and more about the special balancing act that is the role of the peer tutor, I think that the trick to tutoring will involve more convincing the tutees that I have sufficient knowledge to help them convey their ideas more effectively. Knowing ME students we frequently believe we are speaking different language from others.  An interesting activity would be to then tutor students in a discipline I am unfamiliar with, and reflect on the differences. (For another time!)

                In general I found Soven’s comments on other aspects of the WF program interesting including:

• ·         The role, and controversies of a WF attached to a course v. in a writing center
• ·         The development of WF programs, including practical aspects such as what types of students to hire, how to find and train them, and most importantly how to evaluate the effectiveness of WF programs, in general and by course.