Effects of Peer Tutoring on Students’ Achievement in Statistics

Abstract

Peer tutoring is a system of instruction in which learners help each other to learn. In this study, peer means the classmate of the students in the statistics graduate class. This study made use of peer tutoring as an innovative strategy in teaching inferential statistics in the graduate school. Two classes of statistics were used, one experimental class and the other was the control class. The subjects were matched by the researcher based on their Otis Lennon Scholastic Ability Test (OLSAT) scores which were taken from the guidance office. Results show that the students’ achievement with peer tutoring and without peer tutoring was significantly different in favor of those groups with peer tutoring. Graduate students could freely express themselves and they found the activities enjoyable. Anxiety and attitude of students were significantly different when the subjects were grouped as those with peer teaching and without peer teaching. Both anxiety and attitude toward the subject greatly influenced the achievement of students in inferential statistics.  Keywords - Peer tutoring, students’ achievement, statistics