Understanding Tutor Learning

Knowledge-Building and Knowledge-Telling in Peer Tutors’ Explanations and Questions

Bibliographic Data

ID23328386
AuthorsRod D Roscoe (0000-0001-8327-4012, University of Pittsburgh), Michelene T H Chi (University of Pittsburgh), T H Michelene (University of Pittsburgh)
Year2007
Volume77
Issue4
Pages534-574
Publication date2007-12-01
Peer ReviewedYes
Open AccessYes
TypeARTICLE
VenueReview of Educational Research (JOURNAL)
Journal identifiersISSN: 0034-6543 • E-ISSN: 1935-1046
PublisherAmerican Educational Research Association (AERA) (PUBLISHER)
DOI10.3102/0034654307309920
OpenAlexW2105507325
LanguageEN
Citations received74
References cited99

Prior research has established that peer tutors can benefit academically from their tutoring experiences. However, although tutor learning has been observed across diverse settings, the magnitude of these gains is often underwhelming. In this review, the authors consider how analyses of tutors’ actual behaviors may help to account for variation in learning outcomes and how typical tutoring behaviors may create or undermine opportunities for learning. The authors examine two tutoring activities that are commonly hypothesized to support tutor learning: explaining and questioning. These activities are hypothesized to support peer tutors’ learning via reflective knowledge-building, which includes self-monitoring of comprehension, integration of new and prior knowledge, and elaboration and construction of knowledge. The review supports these hypotheses but also finds that peer tutors tend to exhibit a pervasive knowledge-telling bias. Peer tutors, even when trained, focus more on delivering knowledge rather than developing it. As a result, the true potential for tutor learning may rarely be achieved. The review concludes by offering recommendations for how future research can utilize tutoring process data to understand how tutors learn and perhaps develop new training methods.

Comprehension · Mathematics education · Peer learning · Peer tutor · TUTOR · Computer Science · Innovative Teaching and Learning Methods · Intelligent Tutoring Systems and Adaptive Learning · Psychology · Student Assessment and Feedback