This paper contains the scripts of five skits illustrating conspicuous errors on the part of writing tutors trying to assist undergraduate writers. Although the dialogue is fictitious and the situations slightly exaggerated, the skits delineate real problems that have been observed by the directors in actual tutoring sessions. The skits are…

Characterizes successful writing tutorials by employing a hybrid methodology, interactional sociolinguistics, combining conversation-analytic and ethnographic techniques. Notes that associated with perceived success were conversational turn structure, tutor mitigation of directives, simultaneous laughter, affiliative overlaps, and small talk.…

This study evaluates the impact of minimally trained tutors on the pass/fail ratio of middle school students in core subjects such as English, reading, math, or science. Because a traditional experimental design comparing students who receive a treatment with those who do not was not financially feasible, the study employed an alternative that has…

Of the 39 millions Americans with learning disabilities, 60-80% have reading disabilities. Describes techniques that libraries can use in literacy programs: screening of phonological awareness and skills; tutor training with the Orten-Gillingham method, a structured, systematic, multisensory program developing the ability to hear phonemes; and the…

Describes how writing centers train their tutors to understand two important aspects of teaching composition: (1) the need for viewing writing as a process; and (2) the need for individualized and respectful attention to students' papers and ideas. Argues that the writing center is an effective training ground for composition teachers. (RS)

The development and implementation of a tutor training program designed to eliminate adult illiteracy in one area of North Carolina are described in this paper. Various sections of the paper provide information about (1) the history of the program, which was initiated by staff members at the learning center of the Blue Ridge Technical College in…

Describes the implementation of a writing across the curriculum program at one university's writing center. Discusses solutions to counter the strains placed on the center by this additional program. (MM)

Describes a training framework which used active listening to introduce volunteer adult literacy tutors to student-centered learning, expanding from active listening into group and learner observations. (SR)

Examines an established student tutoring program at the University of Surrey. Investigates methods to assess skill development in tutors and examines procedures to accredit student tutoring programs. Encourages administrators to take the tutoring framework a step further, giving selected tutors the opportunity to gain management experience by…

Many learning and instructional approaches that manipulate the environment in which learners work and cooperate with each other have illustrated growth in cognitive, intellectual, social, and affective areas. To date, however, uncertainty still exists as to the mechanism by which various types of peer tutoring facilitate learning. This study seeks…

While online teaching in post-compulsory education is the focus of much research today, the training of online tutors has largely been neglected. Most papers do not go beyond dealing with the technical skills that are needed to teach in an online environment. This article outlines a framework for tutor training, starting with a brief overview of…

The literature on peer tutoring indicates that gains for tutors often outdistance those of the students receiving help. Learning through teaching is a significant mechanism that provides an opportunity to reformulate and extend the use of peer tutoring. This digest discusses a new tutor-centered, peer tutoring model being designed at the Peer…

New readers must be taught a variety of decoding skills to allow them to increase fluency and get on with the process of meaning making. Four of the most important strategies of decoding are: (1) using context clues; (2) developing a sight vocabulary of whole words; (3) analyzing the parts of words; and (4) attending to the letter-sound (phonics)…

This article describes a viable alternative to hiring full-time certified teachers or to using lay volunteers to provide children at risk of failing in school with academic coaches (tutors). The Academic Coaching Program described herein recruited and trained students enrolled in a university's school of education programs to serve as academic…

In its recent report on the Graduate Teacher Programme (GTP), an employment-based route to Qualified Teacher Status (QTS) in England, the Government's Office for Standards in Education found that, although almost all trainees meet the standards required to qualify, too often they do so at an adequate level, rather than achieving the high levels of…