Collaborative Learning of International Undergraduate English Language Learner Students in Small-Group Learning Communities

• In Event: Roundtable Session 20
  In Roundtable Session: Learning Environments: Collaboration and Living-Learning Communities

Abstract

This proposal reports a study on how international English language learner (ELL) students participated in a collaborative writing tutoring program comprised of peers and peer tutors. This study was grounded in the idea of community of practice (CoP). Using qualitative methods, the investigator followed 11 ELL undergraduate students in three groups and interviewed six of them and the six tutors. The results indicated that the three groups represented three types of CoPs as indicated by the participation patterns of both the students and the writing tutors: co-led highly active community, student-led active community, and tutor-directed community. Implications for writing center and other institutional support programs were provided.

Author

• Yiting Chu, University of Washington