Psychology students’ experiences of peer tutoring in academic writing European Congress of Psychology, Oslo, July 2009 Kathy Harrington, Savita Bakhshi.

Psychology students’ experiences of peer tutoring in academic writing

European Congress of Psychology, Oslo, July 2009

Kathy Harrington, Savita Bakhshi and Peter O’NeillLondon Metropolitan University

BackgroundInitiative of Write Now Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning

(CETL)Collaborating institutions: Liverpool Hope University and Aston

University; strong links with Psychology at all three universitiesAims of Write Now:

Enrich students' learning experiences through development of innovative, evidence-based provision focused on writing for assessment

Celebrate and promote student writing in the disciplines, enabling students to develop academic and disciplinary identities as empowered, confident writers

5 years funding from Higher Education Funding Council for England (HEFCE): 2005-2010.

2

University Writing Centre opened and Student Writing Mentor Scheme implemented Oct 2006

Open to all students across disciplines, including Psychology

Objectives:1. Offer something innovative in context of UK writing development

where peer tutoring in writing is rare2. Evaluate a model of student-led writing support that could be

implemented in other Higher Education institutions

Peer tutorials at London Met

3

Peer tutorials at London MetThe focus of the scheme:

Non-directive, non-hierarchical collaboration “I’ll be somebody to chat to and to ask questions. Somebody that’s on a par

with them and not a lecturer, somebody that’s been through it…” (Hill and Reddy, 2007)

Not explicitly on subject content (however, strong link between thinking and writing)

Enabling students to gain confidence and competence as writers in their disciplines

In first year and a half of operation, over 1300 tutorials conducted; 20% with students of Psychology

5

Peer mentoring in PsychologyBenefits for learning (Rae & Baillie, 2005) and development of critical

thinking skills (Anderson & Soden, 2001)Aids transition to Higher Education (Hill & Reddy, 2007)Social integration and enhanced retention through peer e-mentoring

(Hixenbaugh et al., 2005)Improved student achievement when combined with other

nontraditional approaches to teaching (e.g., problem-based learning) (Helman & Horswill, 2002)

Benefits for:StudentsMentorsLecturers

6

We suggest there is a need because: Psychology is a writing-intensive subject (i.e. essays, scientific

reports, dissertations, case studies, etc) Writing in an academically literate way according to the

expectations of the discipline (including use of APA style) is essential to doing well as a student in Psychology

Students may also need help with general writing (i.e. grammar, punctuation, etc), as identified by Psychology lecturers (see Newman, 2007)

The collaborative approach provides a low-stakes environment where students can talk about and get feedback on their writing

A need for peer mentoring in writing for Psychology students?

7

Study aimsInvestigate undergraduate and postgraduate Psychology student

experiences of participating in peer tutoring in academic writing during the first year and a half of operation

Specifically, we aimed to:Assess the degree to which students felt that the peer tutors

provided an environment supportive of their own writing development

Identify the key factors that shaped the students’ experiences of this new form of writing support

8

9

Online survey developed through focus groups, comprising open-ended and closed questions

All students who attended peer tutorials between Oct 2006 and Jan 2008 invited to participate (n=622)

99 students participated (16%)25% of participants studying PsychologyDescriptive statistics, and comparison of Psychology student

responses with total sample where appropriate

Method

Our sampleGender distribution: Females (81%), Males (19%)Native languages other than English = 71% Studying a variety of subjects, including

Psychology (26%) Art and Design (14%)IT, Media and Communications (10%)IR and Politics (7%)

Undergraduate (75%), postgraduate (21%)This sample is largely representative of the students who

visited the Writing Centre in 2006-07

10

ResultsFindings are reported in relation to:

a. Student motivations for attending peer tutorials in writing b. Specific writing concerns, actual experiences, and post-

tutorial views of the tutorialsc. Relationship between student and peer mentord. Students’ attitudes towards their own writing before and

after participating in the tutorials

a. Motivations for using the Scheme

12

Figure 1: Importance of factors influencing Psychology students' decisions to book their first tutorial (n= 15)

0 20 40 60 80 100

Wantingencouragement to

help me staymotivated

Being able to talkabout my writing

with someone else

Wanting assurancethat I'm on the right

track

A lecturer'srecommendation

Very or fairly importantNeither important nor unimportantOnly a little important or not important at all

Being able to talk about their writing with someone else and wanting encouragement to stay motivated were the most important reasons for Psychology students in booking their first tutorial

13

b. Specific writing concerns, actual experiences, and post-tutorial views

Figure 2: Students' reasons for booking their first tutorial (n= 25

0 5 10 15 20 25 30 35 40 45

Structure

Writing in an academic style

Content

Developing an argument

Spelling, punctuation and grammar

Addressing the question

Critical evaluation/analysis

Writing paragraphs

Using evidence

Subject- specific writing

Motivation to write

Referencing

Other

%

14

b. Specific writing concerns, actual experiences, and post-tutorial views

90%

10%

Figure 3: Degree to which Psychology students felt the reasons for booking their first tutorial were

addressed in that tutorial

Very or fairly well

Not sure

15

c. Relationship between student and Mentor

Figure 6: Degree to which Psychology students found it helpful to have a Writing Mentor from A DIFFERENT/THE SAME subject area

(total sample n=20/19)

10.5

21.126.3

42.1

90

05 5

0

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

Very or fairly helpful Neither helpful norunhelpful

Only a little helpful ornot helpful at all

N/A

different subject- psychology students same subject- psychology students

Overall, Psychology students found it very or fairly helpful to have a peer mentor from the same subject area (90%), compared to the total sample (68.8%)

26.3% found it little or not at all helpful having a peer mentor from a subject area other than Psychology, similar to the total sample (23.8%)

16

d. Students’ attitudes towards their own writing before and after participating in the Scheme

95%

5%

Figure 7: Degree to which students felt the Writing Centre helped them to develop their writing

generally

Very or fairly helpful

Neither helpful nor unhelpful

17

d. Students’ attitudes towards their own writing before and after participating in the Scheme

Figure 8: Students' self-ratings of confidence about their own writing before/after coming to the Writing Centre (n=

68/69)

0

5

10

15

20

Extr

em

ely

con

fid

en

t

Extr

em

ely

un

con

fid

en

t

AFTER BEFORE

Figure 8 shows that students’ confidence levels rose after participating in peer tutorials

Conclusions

18

We found that: Students attended peer tutorials looking for general support and

encouragement and someone to talk to about their writingPsychology students generally preferred to work with peer mentors in their

own subject Students felt that participating in peer tutorials helped them develop their

writingStudents were highly satisfied overall Students’ confidence about their own writing increased following a peer

tutorial

These results suggest that peer mentoring in academic writing can be a useful aid in supporting students’ academic writing development

Where do we go from here?Research into…

The relationship between participation in peer tutoring in academic writing and student achievement and progression – for both peer mentors and mentees

Using quantitative and qualitative methodsObservation and recording of tutorialsCorrelation with essay and examination grades

Any other ideas?

19

References

20

Anderson, T., and Soden, R. (2001). Peer interaction and the learning for critical thinking skills. Psychology Learning and Teaching, 1 (1), 37-40.

Helman, S. and Horswill, M. S. (2002). Does the introduction of non-traditional teaching techniques improve psychology undergraduates' performance in statistics? Psychology Learning and Teaching, 2 (1), 12-16.

Hill, R., and Reddy, P. (2007). Undergraduate peer mentoring: an investigation into processes, activities and outcomes. Psychology Learning and Teaching, 6 (2), 98- 103.

Hixenbaugh, P., Dewart, H., Drees, D., and Williams, D. (2005). Peer e-mentoring: enhancement of the first year experience. Psychology Learning and Teaching, 5 (1), 8-14.

Newman, M. (2007). ‘Appalling’ writing skills drive tutors to seek help. Times Higher Education, 07 May 2007.

Rae, J. & Baillie, A. (2005). Peer tutoring and the study of psychology: tutoring experience as a learning method. Psychology Teaching Review, 11 (1), 53.

21

www.writenow.ac.uk

Centre for Excellence in Teaching & Learning

Kathy Harrington [email protected]