This essay aims to continue a conversation initiated in the 1980s about the contrasting terms "peer" and "tutor." This essay begins with a brief history of the terms, and applies Kenneth Burke's concept of identification to peer tutoring to attempt to explain these contradicting terms. Burke's theory of identification…

Federal service academy students participated in this transcendental phenomenological study regarding their experiences as peer tutors at military federal service academies. Outcomes from this article differ from those presented in the literature regarding civilian higher education peer tutors. The following research question provided the…

Many students visit writing centers to become better writers in the English language. One issue of considerable debate is whether students visiting writing centers along the border should be assisted in Spanish or English. This pilot study examined writing center tutors' and students' perceptions of speaking Spanish at the writing center. Most…

While peer-assisted (PAL) learning strategies have been successful in K-12 programs, such practices are used less commonly at the college level. In addition, PAL programs are aimed largely at student populations who are struggling (for example, learning disabled students) or in topics where many students encounter difficulty (for example, math and…

Much scholarship about writing centers addresses benefits to students; this article instead explores the gains inherent in tutoring for the tutors themselves. Using a phenomenological methodology, this study analyzes reflective narratives from eight former writing center tutors in order to identify commonalities in their experiences. Although they…

Many institutions struggle to develop a meaningful way to assess the effectiveness of drop-in tutorial services provided to students. This article discusses the development of a data collection system based on a visitor sign-in system that proved to be an efficient method of gathering assessment data, including frequency of visits, end-of-course…

This study considers how communication patterns shape the university tutor role. A combination of ethnographic observations and interviews were used to determine the communication behaviors of university tutors and tutees, which help to define what is, otherwise, an ambiguous role. Specifically, the communicative behaviors engaged in by tutors are…

The Learning Resource Center at Lincoln University, Pennsylvania, provides tutoring laboratories that are required for developmental reading, writing, and math courses. This article reviews the processes used to plan and determine the effectiveness of the tutoring laboratories, including logic models, student learning outcomes, and the results of…

Maximizing student potential requires explicit (yet flexible) guidelines for tutors and advisors. Many tutors enhance student potential by utilizing an effective process known as the "The Tutoring Cycle," which promotes content knowledge and facilitates independent success (MacDonald, 2000). Similarly, when students attend advising sessions in…

A cohort of first-time, full-time, degree-seeking undeclared freshmen at a medium-sized university in Pennsylvania was used to study the relationship between tutoring and the retention rates and decision paths of undeclared students. Undeclared students who did and did not receive tutoring were tracked over four years to determine rate and…

While tutoring as a whole has been demonstrated to improve student learning across a variety of subjects and age groups, there is little published evidence for the effectiveness of drop-in tutoring at the undergraduate level. This type of tutoring can be derided as homework help; however, it is clear from this study that students who made use of…

This article summarizes the use of SWOT (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities, and Threats) analysis and subsequent action planning as a tool of self-assessment to meet CAS (Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education) requirements for systematic assessment. The use of the evaluation results to devise improvements to increase the…

Presents a case study in which an undergraduate student brings into a writing center a poor and partial draft of a research paper due the next morning. Gives an analysis of the case study "It's Due Tomorrow: Tutoring Under a Deadline" and presents a case study response entitled "Oh What a Difference a Deadline Makes - Or Does…

Notes that the effectiveness of tutoring as an intervention is controversial. Reviews research on college tutoring practices. Concludes that existing research provides some support for tutoring but does not address the issue of whether tutored students are eventually able to perform as independent learners. (RS)

Demonstrates that tutorial assistance, independent of variables of gender, Scholastic Aptitude Test (SAT) score, math placement level, and high school grade point average (GPA), had a significant effect on students' final examination scores in a mathematics course. Finds that math performance of the selected sample had a positive relationship to…