Constructing literature review: e-tutors' feedback and concern

Abstract

Constructing literature review is an integral part of writing a proposal or research report. In order to conjure up literature review, student writers need to conduct readings on pertinent previous studies and situate their study among the previous studies. This paper aims at exploring the e-tutors' or content instructors' pedagogical practices in tutoring the student writers on improving their literature review via Google Docs. Google Docs was selected as the platform for the tutoring to take place because it allows both synchronous as well as asynchronous modes of networking. The participants involved are four pairs of e-tutor-student where one-on-one tutoring was conducted. The data collection instruments include the student writers' writing drafts, virtual observation, as well as interview with both the student writers and e-tutors. In analyzing the data, qualitative analysis was performed. Analysis of the data suggests that the e-tutors' pedagogical practices include frequent use of direct feedback, pointing out the strengths of the student writers, and asking for the expansion on certain subject matter. The findings are discussed in terms of e-tutors' concern and the issues pertaining to error correction and praises.