Reinforcing Writing in the Disciplines Courses with Collaborative Instructional Mode: An Exploratory Study

Abstract

This study examines the effectiveness of classroom-based student writing tutors with discipline-specific backgrounds as adjunct collaborators in supporting non-native English-speaking writing teachers in the disciplines. In this qualitative study, the participants’ perceptions of this collaborative instructional model were evaluated through a thematic analysis of semi-structured interviews with the participating students, in-class writing tutors, and writing instructors from two discipline-specific writing courses. The findings highlighted the perceived benefits of this collaborative teaching with discipline-specific tutors and their involvement as the “pedagogical bridge” to overcome language teachers’ insufficiency of disciplinary content knowledge. The findings also pointed to pedagogical challenges concerning writing variations within the same discipline and students’ need for linguistic knowledge rather than discipline-specific content knowledge. Based on these findings, this study concludes with a discussion of the pedagogical implications for the effective training of discipline-based tutor collaboration and the future implementation of discipline-based writing curricula across disciplines.