Cross-age tutors: English as a Second Language students tutoring

• Main Author: Syvanen, Carlyn
• Format: Others
• Published: Scholarly Commons 1997
• Subjects: Elementary education; Literacy; Reading instruction; Education
• Online Access: https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/uop_etds/2481; https://scholarlycommons.pacific.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=3480&context=uop_etds

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of participation in a cross-age tutoring program on fourth and fifth grade English as a second language (ESL) students. The sixteen intermediate ESL students tutored first grade and kindergarten students in reading two days a week, for twenty minutes over a nineteen week period. It was hypothesized that tutors would improve their attitudes toward school and toward reading, that their perceptions of control would increase in the area of self control, and that they would make greater gains in reading achievement than other ESL students in their school. Tutors were interviewed to ascertain their attitudes toward school and toward school and toward reading. Classroom teachers completed surveys assessing their perceptions of the tutors' attitudes toward school and toward reading. These measures and The Multidimensional Measure of Children's Perceptions of Control were administered in both the fall and spring. The district annual achievement test was used to measure gains in reading achievement. The tutors in the study made gains in their perceptions of self control in the cognitive domain. Their attitudes toward reading improved, also. There was no change in the students' perceptions of control in the social domain. Their attitudes toward school improved, but the gain was not statistically significant. The students did not make greater gains in reading achievement than the control greater gains in reading achievement.