Establishing Peer Learning in an ESL Setting: Successes and Challendges

Abstract

Peer learning has long been adopted as a support service in higher education to improve cognitive, metacognitive and affective learning. In the areas of developing academic writing peer learning has more recently been employed as an effective strategy to promote writing across the curriculum through a model of either writing centre tutor schemes or by establishing links between faculty, courses and peer tutors. In these settings, where the tutors are recruited from across academic disciplines, peer learning can strengthen links between in and out-of-class learning, between the more expert and novice in writing and speaking and between faculty and students. However, little research has been conducted into how effective these initiatives are in settings where the learning is mediated through a second language. Drawing on the socio-cultural theories of Vygotsky (1978) and the situated learning theories of Lave & Wenger (1991), this presentation critically examines the successes and challenges of embedding peer learning at two Hong Kong universities, where the goals are to develop students’ ability to operate within a range of spoken and written texts in English and to promote independence in learning. Including data and reflections of tutors, tutees and the project investigators, the presentation also considers whether engagement in peer learning activity can contribute to the transition from higher education to the workplace for the tutors involved. Participants at this session will gain insights into the practicalities of setting up peer tutoring schemes for language development as well as the theories underpinning the pedagogy of peer learning.