Writing to Learn: The Effect of Peer Tutoring on Critical Thinking and Writing Skills of First-Year Engineering Students

摘要

In an effort to study the writing and critical thinking skills of first-year engineering students, the authors have engaged in a research study which asks whether critical thinking and writing of first-year (FY) students can be improved by linking engineering with English courses. One intervention developed for this study was the use of Writing Fellows (undergraduate peer tutors) in the engineering course. Writing Fellows (WF) have been found to be effective at enhancing the writing abilities of students in courses across the curriculum The specific sub-questions for this segment of the larger study are the focus of this paper: Does the WF experience improve writing and critical thinking? Do the FY students perceive the WF experience as helpful? Can the Writing Fellow experience help improve scores on reports in the engineering course? How does the experience have an impact on the Writing Fellows who are also Engineering students? Four undergraduate engineering students and one undergraduate English student were chosen as WFs. There were 71 students enrolled in Engineering 1111, a one-credit introduction to engineering course. The FY students in the class wrote two reports based on design activities: one was written at the beginning of the semester and the other at the end in order to compare scores and the effectiveness of the interventions. Results of grades on assignments, student evaluation of the tutor experience and reflective experiences of the WFs themselves were positive. These initial results confirm and extend work done with Writing Fellows across the curriculum: WFs do enhance the writing skills of students in the disciplines; the students perceive them to be helpful; and they do help content-based writing scores. In addition, the WFs' writing and communication skills benefit from the experience.