The effects of a peer-tutoring strategy on children’s e-book reading comprehension

Reading competence is one of the most critical skills for children’s academic success. In the study reported on here we proposed an integrated peer-tutoring strategy for reading comprehension that employs e-books for elementary school students. The effects of this strategy on children’s reading comprehension were investigated using a quasi-experimental design. Three classes of 11–12-year-old students (n = 73) participated in the study for 12 weeks. Compared to the control group, students in the experimental group, who engaged in peer tutoring with e-book reading, showed significant gains in reading comprehension. Students’ perceptions of the benefits of the peer-tutoring resources to their reading are discussed. The findings demonstrate that the integration of peer tutoring in e-book reading results in an effective instructional model for the enhancement of elementary school students’ reading. Keywords: e-book; elementary school children; mobile learning; peer tutoring; reading comprehensio

Developing the scales on evaluation beliefs of student teachers

The purpose of the study reported in this paper was to investigate the validity and the reliability of a newly developed questionnaire named ‘Teacher Evaluation Beliefs’ (TEB). The framework for developing items was provided by the two models. The first model focuses on Student-Centered and Teacher-Centered beliefs about evaluation while the other centers on five dimensions (what/ who/ when/ why/ how). The validity and reliability of the new instrument was investigated using both exploratory and confirmatory factor analysis study (n=446). Overall results indicate that the two-factor structure is more reasonable than the five-factor one. Further research needs additional items about the latent dimensions “what” ”who” ”when” ”why” “how” for each existing factor based on Student-centered and Teacher-centered approaches

Speaking in english shoulder to shoulder : a reciprocal peer tutoring strategy

1 recurso en línea (105 páginas) : ilustraciones color.Este documento reseña los hallazgos de una estrategia de tutoría recíproca entre compañeros aplicada con treinta y cuatro estudiantes de grado décimo en un colegio público en Tunja, Boyacá. Aunque al principio del estudio estos estudiantes no parecían estar interesados ni tampoco conscientes de los beneficios que tiene el hablar inglés, los estudiantes cambiaron sus actitudes hacia el inglés cuando trabajaron con un compañero para mejorar su aprendizaje como tal, y desarrollar su aprendizaje autónomo también. La interacción generada demostró que los estudiantes no solo trabajaron con otra persona, quien no era cercano a ellos, con el fin de alcanzar objetivos académicos, sino también para ganar habilidades sociales para sensibilizarse de cómo deben tratar a alguien usando sus valores (respeto, comprensión, paciencia, entre otros), y ser conscientes de la existencia del otro para pedir ayuda y apoyar sus necesidades. Estos objetivos individuales fueron reunidos en un logro principal el cual fue reforzar la identidad del grupo.This paper reports the findings of the reciprocal peer tutoring strategy applied with thirty-four tenth graders in a public school in Tunja, Boyacá. Though at the very beginning of the study these students did not seem to be neither interested in nor aware of the benefits that speaking English has, the participants changed their attitudes forward English as they worked with a partner to improve their learning and to develop their autonomous learning as well. The interaction generated demonstrated that students not only worked with another person, who was not close to them, to achieve the academic goals, but also to gain social skills to realize the way they had to treat someone else making use of their values (respect, understanding, patience, etc.) and to be more aware of the other’s existence for asking help and supporting their needs. These individual goals were gathered in one main achievement which was to reinforce the identity of the group.Bibliografía y webgrafía: páginas 83-84PregradoLicenciado en Idiomas Modernos Español - Inglé

Peer tutoring and mathematics in secondary education: literature review, effect sizes, moderators, and implications for practice

A literature review was undertaken to compile all data on peer tutoring in secondary education (7th to 12th grade) mathematics from existing articles. Data from 42 independent studies were included in this research. All data regarding participants' roles (fixed vs. reciprocal), participants' ages (same-age vs. cross-age), the methodological approach taken (quantitative or qualitative), the type of design for those studies that involved a quantitative approach, the variables analyzed, and the organizational matters (number of participants, duration of the program, sessions per week, and duration of the sessions) are included in the article. The effect sizes of the 42 studies were calculated and examined. The main goal of the study was to determine those variables that were moderators of effect size, that is, the variables that significantly influenced students' academic achievement outcomes. Inferential statistical analyses (Student's t-test and ANOVAs) were carried out for the variables. Of the 42 studies examined, 88% showed positive effect sizes with the means being close to medium (Cohen's d ¼ 0.38). Conclusions suggest the implementation of same-age over cross-age tutoring, during programs of fewer than 8 weeks, in sessions of less than 30 minutes is optimal for improving students' academic outcomes. Inclusion of control groups in similar future studies is recommended so effect sizes are not overestimated