This study investigates cross-level peer tutoring in online and face-to-face (f2f) settings, focusing on the amount and target of feedback provided and on interaction patterns. Data was collected at a Flemish university during two in-class tutoring sessions taking place online via GoogleDoc and f2f, respectively. The tutors (n=42, third-year students) provided feedback to the tutees (n=64, first-year students) in small groups on a summarisation task in German as a foreign language. Their feedback behaviour differed substantially according to the setting, with online feedback provided and discussed via GoogleDoc being more extensive (+ 25%) and more focused on higher-order concerns, such as structure and content-related issues, than feedback provided on paper and f2f. With regard to interaction patterns, no substantial difference between the two settings was observed. Tutees produced more initiating conversational moves in the f2f setting, but their overall participation in the feedback dialogue was low in both settings, with 20% of the total amount of turns in the online setting and 13% in the f2f setting. Notwithstanding their lower participation rate, tutees declared a clear preference for the f2f setting.

Keywords: Cross-level peer tutoring; Second language writing; Online vs. face-to-face mode; Feedback behaviour; Interaction patterns