The perceptions of tutors and tutees regarding the effectiveness of tutoring in writing centers on second/foreign language learners' writing proficiency

النوع : Mémoire

The purpose of this study was to investigate tutors' and tutees' perceptions regarding the effectiveness of tutoring sessions in writing centers on second language learners' writing proficiency. The following issues were addressed: the English Language Curriculum in Lebanon, teaching methodologies in the writing classroom, second language learners' needs inside and outside the writing classroom, and the principles and practices of writing centers. Tutors' and tutees' perceptions were examined in one university writing center and one high school writing center in Lebanon. The Elise Geither questionnaire was administered to the tutors, through which they expressed their opinions concerning the effectiveness of conferencing sessions in the writing center they work in on their tutees' writing proficiency. The university was selected based on the fact that it held the only on campus university writing center in Lebanon. An identical questionnaire was also administered to the English teacher at the writing center at a school in Lebanon on the basis that this school encompassed a writing support class, referred to as a writing center, in its curriculum. The perceptions of the tutees' at both the university and high school writing centers were revealed according to two different sets of interviews designed by the researcher. Results were presented in descriptive tables indicating frequencies with collective totals and percentages. Results indicated that four out of five tutors at the university writing center and the tutor at the high school writing center perceived that tutoring sessions in writing centers positively affect second language learners' writing proficiency. In addition, all four interviewed tutees at the university writing center and four out of six tutees at the high school writing center perceived that visiting the writing center had helped improve their writing skills in the second language.