EFL Peer Advising at the SAC: Issues and Problems

Lindsay Mack Associate Professor

SALC English CoordinatorRitsumeikan Asia Pacific University

Peer Advisors in the SALC

The Need for this Research

• Research on peer writing tutoring in American context for ESL students

• Very little research on peer writing tutoring in an international context with EFL students

Research Questions

1. What types of problems do ESL writing tutors face when tutoring EFL students? 2. Are these problems unique to EFL language tutoring?

Research Design• Code and analyze the PAs reflective journals• 8 journal per tutor= 36 entries

Reflective Journals

• Please reflect on your experience tutoring. Was it difficult? Was it easy? What problems did you encounter?

• What did you do to solve the problems? • What concerns do you continue to have

about tutoring writing?

Total Amount of Problems

Procrastination= 14Plagiarism= 4No outline= 8Lack of Clarity= 7Grammar= 9Word usage=11Expect the tutor to fix everything= 7Lack of Knowledge about the assignment= 19

14

4

8

7

9

11

7

19

6 Emergent Themes for EFL Writing Tutoring

• Plagiarism• No outline • Lack of clarity• Grammar• Word Usage• Tutor Lack of knowledge about the

assignment

Analysis

• Six of the emergent themes are unique to EFL tutoring.

• PAs take on a more directive and authoritative role

• need to act more as “informants” and less as “collaborators.”

Conclusion: ESL Tutor’s Advantages

• L2 tutors are more likely to be able to draw on their experiences as successful language learners to aid in helping their tutee.

• L2 tutors can draw on their explicit grammar knowledge to help their tutee.