International Teacher Education Conference 2014 1

International Teacher Education Conference 2014
Enrolled Student Service: Tutoring Support Program as a Safety Net
During the spring/summer partnership between ACW and international students at Bellevue College, students
benefited from more individualized tutoring efforts. While this produced mixed results largely due to time
management issues, it was an effective assessment of learning progress and also highlighted core differences
between previous student success in their home countries as opposed to the different styles and expectations of
the U.S. college classroom.
First, students were paired with the instructor. ACW tutors and international students worked together to set
up weekly contact times, negotiated based on the students’ schedules. Students were given tutor contact
information before the start of their English 101 course. Alternately, ACW personnel collected student emails
and Skype addresses so that ACW tutors could contact their students prior to the start of the English 101 course
to introduce themselves and discuss with the students reciprocal expectations for the quarter.
Interaction between the student and instructor followed a consistent schedule. For of each week of the
quarter, tutors contacted students once per week, conducting a ‘check-in’: inquiring about current essays and
upcoming writing assignments, inquiring about any difficulties focused on the elements of English 101 writing,
and establishing a friendly, trust-based rapport with students.
Once the tutor and student ‘met’ over email, the tutor sent the student a ‘get started questionnaire’, asking the
student to provide a brief writing sample focused on what the student believed were his or her strengths and
weaknesses when writing, and the student’s goals for their writing. This writing sample served as first
assessment for the tutor. From this, the tutor and student outlined a plan of action for the quarter to meet the
student’s goals and address problem areas. The plan was in writing and submitted to the ACW administrator. As
the quarter moved forward, the plan was updated as needed and used to assess student progress at the 5 th week
mark.
By week 2, students were expected to have worked with their tutor on at least one piece of writing from their
English 101 course. This ensured tutors actually annotated and diagnosed a student’s work early in the quarter to
assess it for problem areas, to work on continuing difficulties in skill-building, and to use this first piece of
writing as an assessment tool for progress benchmarks.
Instructional Sessions
Students received 45 minutes per week of focused time with their tutor, to work on issues identified for that
week. Students and tutors negotiated how writing support sessions occur. Options included: email; Skype; phone
contact. As an example, an ideal student/tutor contact looked like this:
• Prior to as scheduled Skype session, a tutor reviewed a student’s essay and prepared his/her comments
on diagnosed areas of improvement (for example, identifying and repairing run-on sentences).
• Based on session diagnostics, a tutor prescribed ACW specialized support resources for the student,
such as written practice modules and video vignettes that focus on problem areas and remedies. When
ACW tutors reported that many students are struggling with the same problem area(s), ACW provided
brief instructional webinars for student groups to access at the convenience of their schedules.
• The student then contacted the tutor again, to discuss progress and remaining questions.
Before, During, and After Each Program: Summative and Formative Assessment
AWC created a standardized Writing Feedback Form that allowed tutors to streamline their work with
students to diagnose problems areas in writing. The directive form identifies areas of student strengths (e.g.,
comma usage) and areas needing improvement (e.g., articles usage). These forms accompanied all annotated
drafts returned to students, and American College Writing administrators also received the feedback forms.
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