Peer Tutoring in Reading

Peer tutoring can help children read.

Peer tutoring is an instructional strategy that partners students to help one another learn material, reinforce skills or practice a learned task. Peer tutoring often results in academic, emotional and social gains for the students involved. Through a structured program supervised, planned and monitored by a teacher, peer tutoring can help those struggling readers receive individualized and targeted instruction that they may not otherwise receive.

Tutoring Arrangement

There are a variety of peer tutoring arrangements, but most commonly teachers pair a high achieving student with a lower achieving student. According to the National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities, peer tutoring is most successful when students of different ability levels partner together. Usually the high-achieving student acts as the tutor, and the lower achieving student acts as the tutee. Some reading programs recommend cross-age peer tutors, where an older child will assist a younger child.

Structured Peer Tutoring Programs

There are three peer-tutoring reading programs that involve research-based strategies and methods, according to Readingrockets.org, a website dedicated to promoting literacy. Classwide peer tutoring (CWPT), peer-assisted learning strategies (PALS) and reciprocal peer tutoring (RPT) are approaches that share common traits and techniques.

Tutor Benefits

Peer tutoring has many benefits for everyone involved--the tutor, tutee and the teacher. Not only does peer tutoring improve the tutee's academic achievement but also the tutor's as well. When teaching a subject or concept, tutors gain more understanding of the subject they are explaining. Peer tutoring causes students tutors to develop communication and leadership skills, which can lead to a boost in the student's self-esteem

Benefits for Struggling Students and Classroom Environment

According to Readingrockets.com, peer tutoring is an effective strategy for struggling readers, even for students with disabilities. Readingrockets also reports that peer tutoring is especially effective for students from low socio-economic backgrounds, minority students and students in the primary grades.

The cooperative efforts of the students also promote a classroom attitude of shared goals and a sense of teamwork. This increases student motivation, and cuts down on student behavior problems.

Teacher Benefits

Teachers are too busy and have too many demands to spend one on one time with each student. Teachers lack the instructional time to meet every student's needs on an individual basis. Peer tutoring allows teachers to reach all diverse learners and offer extra support. Peer tutoring is also economically advantageous because it doesn't cost the school money to get low-achieving students help.

Importance of Student Training and Teacher Monitoring

In order for peer tutoring to be successful, it's imperative that the teacher trains students in their roles as a tutor and tutee. The teacher must provide clear instructions and model what is expected from each student. The teacher must make the tutoring sessions as structured as possible and have materials and lessons ready. To keep students focused and motivated, teachers should monitor and provide feedback about student progress.

References

• National Dissemination Center for Children with Disabilities: Peer Tutoring
• Readingrockets.org:Using Peer Tutoring to Facilitate Access