The benefits of cross-age tutoring in a supplementary writing class

The motivation for this capstone was to lend support to the practice of cross-age tutoring. The research questions addressed by this capstone project were the following: how do diverse, high school-age tutees benefit from cross-age tutoring, and what benefits do the older students experience by volunteering as writing tutors? This capstone provides a history of tutoring. In doing so, it summarizes the results of past studies on the effects of cross-age tutoring and provides a list of the benefits tutees and tutors can experience. The researcher used qualitative research methods, such as questionnaires, to record the benefits tutees and tutors experienced during a five-week creative writing class. Tutees reported multiple gains, such as improved writing skills, better attitudes toward writing, and more self-confidence. Tutors reported fewer benefits, for example improved editing skills. The author concluded that the practice of cross-age tutoring is beneficial and should be used by more instructors