Introducing a curriculum-based tutoring model in the foundation English program at Qatar University

University writing centers play an essential role in helping L2 students tackle the challenges they face while writing. Despite their wide acceptance in academia, writing centers’ impact and status within their home institutions have been controversial. One aspect has to do with the mismatch of feedback received from the writing center’s tutors and class teachers. This mismatch, at least in the context of the present study, is due to the fact that the tutors in the writing center are not typically the teachers of the writing courses. This fact has led us to develop an in-house curriculum-based tutoring scheme, The Student Tutoring Scheme, where the tutors are the teachers of the writing courses themselves. This chapter reports on students’ perceptions and expectations of this tutoring model compared to the traditional university one. Results show that there were no major differences in terms of the stage and aspect of writing students seek help with. However, the majority of those who visited the university writing center reported that tutors should understand the content of their writing. Moreover, overall, students preferred the in-house tutoring service due to the fact that the tutors are their teachers and due to its convenience.