Teacher education device: the case of peer tutoring

Abstract

This article presents findings of an ongoing research that sought to evaluate Peer Tutoring (PT) as a device and strategy for teacher training used in the subject Teaching Practice of English Teachers in a Tertiary Non-university Teacher Training Institute in Gualeguaychú, Argentina. An exploratory-descriptive study was developed through the inductive design of grounded theory. Interviews were conducted with the first year students participating in the PT. This article includes categories such as: encouragement to ask, balance between the personal and the academic, comparison between tutors and the tutor's own experience as a facilitating or hindering factor of the tutoring action. Participation in the PT, as an opportunity for peer-to-peer work, implies an active role for the tutor and the tutors in terms of the learning process, both in academic aspects and as regards their relationship to others and to the institution in which they study. The analysis of empirical information shows the value of PT as a device and strategy for teacher training. Further research needs to be carried out in order to know the voice of tutors, coordinators and teachers of first-year subjects.