Supporting and assessment of students' preparation and learning process in problem-based learning (PBL) tutorials has long been a challenge. We present a modified PBL model focussing on the specific critical phase in the PBL process, the self-directed learning phase in between tutorial meetings. The modified seven step PBL model including an…

For students new to higher education, the task of developing their academic writing skills, and particularly the principles and practices of source-referencing, can be daunting. Although institutions and teachers can and do provide positive guidance on this score, all too often students veer into inadvertent plagiarism through lack of confidence…

Non-native English speaking (NNES) students in higher educational settings face difficulties writing academic papers and, in response to these difficulties, often seek assistance in understanding cultural, rhetorical, linguistic aspect of writing in English (Harris & Silva, 1993; Powers & Nelson, 1995). One resource available to them is…

Discusses discoveries about the ways writing is being taught in one university, based on student attitudes toward writing as they were revealed in a tutorial writing program. (DD)

The development of a full-credit peer tutor training course for college freshmen is based on the assumption that respect for the writing student and respect for writing as a process are essential attitudes for peer tutors to acquire. Training begins with assigning tutors writing activities to make them more aware of themselves as writers and…

Describes how a writing center was established at Oak Knoll School in New Jersey which used honors English students as its staff and how it helped relieve students' negative attitudes towards writing. (CRH)

No significant differences in attrition rates were found between groups of students enrolled in conventional and individualized remedial freshman English courses. (JH)

Many college students, unaware of how their writing strikes others and unaccustomed to an audience of college teachers, try to write with sophistication or profundity with little success. These students need the experience of writing for an audience that talks back; one that is diverse, has a strong reason to be frank in its criticism and praise,…

Recounts a program that organized composition students into writing teams to overcome (1) too much reliance on a teacher, (2) lack of student cooperation, (3) excessive individual competition, and (4) an overall negative atmosphere concerning writing. (CRH)

Carleton University's writing tutorial service is staffed by trained graduate students and provides free individual instruction for students having problems writing academic English. The students submit writing samples before the first session at which both student and tutor map out a strategy for improvement. Analysis of the tutors' perceptions…