Student perceptions of classroom-based English retention tutoring

The emerging trend to shift the location of tutoring from the writing center to the classroom and align tutors with other support services warrants research that revisits how students perceive the help they receive and how tutors negotiate their roles. My research examines the social relationship that develops between a tutor and student working together and how that relationship affects the tutor???s ability to provide academic support. Using qualitative, case-study methodology, I interviewed and observed students and tutors involved with retention programs at City College of San Francisco. Across the data, I traced three major themes: students were academically and socially motivated to seek tutoring; students perceived their classroom-based tutors to be at once experts, mentors, and collaborators; and classroom-based English retention tutors used their knowledge of the classroom context and relationships with students to inform their tutoring practice