Who are we?
The PAL-programme is coordinated by Dr. Sarah Haas (expert of the Writing Strand) and Mr. Thijs Gillioen (expert of the Speaking Strand); both founders of the programme and teaching fellows at Ghent University (English Studies Group, Linguistics section).
Over the years, they expanded their expert team with Dr. Debora Van Durme (expert of the Literature Strand), Mx. Liisa Buelens (expert of the Grammar Strand) and Mr. Alexander De Soete (expert of the Heuristics Strand) to ensure optimal support for our PALs.
They cooperate with a number of students, ranging from undergraduate to postgraduate level, who dedicate some of their free time to the programme. A number of these students are part of the Task Force. Their tasks include preparing and hosting weekly PAL training sessions, gathering and developing mentoring/tutoring tools and resources, and much more. Furthermore, they coordinate student feedback and update this website and its booking system.
All PALs in this programme have received additional instruction, and mentoring/tutoring training to prepare them for guiding their peers.
What do we do?
Mission
We aim to assist aspiring writers and speakers by providing them with support and guidance during their creative process. This is done in two ways: by meeting writers and speakers in personal mentoring/tutoring sessions to discuss their ideas or their product, and by meeting writers and speakers in their classes.
Mentoring sessions
A mentoring session is a 30-minute dialogue between a PAL and a mentee or tutee. This session can cover a broad range of writing/speaking-related topics, from finding a topic or focus for an upcoming project, to a discussion on how a given draft or structure could be improved.
The PAL will not “tell” their mentee how to fix a given issue in a text or presentation. PALs do not provide concrete line-by-line instructions on how to make a text “perfect”. First of all, such a thing does not exist. Secondly, our aim is to help the peer foster their reflective and critical thinking skills, meaning we focus on the long-term growth of the peer as a speaker, as an academic writer, or even as a creative writer. To that end, we enter into a conversation, discussing any potential issues in a text.
A mentoring session usually focuses on higher-order concerns related to the structure, cohesion, or readability of a text. Please note that PALs are not copywriters or editors: as such, issues related to grammar or spelling may or may not be pointed out, but this is not focused upon in any case.
Tutoring sessions
A tutoring session is (similar to the mentoring session) a 30-minute conversation between a tutor and their peer. It is similar to a mentoring session in that it can cover the same range of writing/speaking-related topics or problems a student might encounter, and in that its goal is also to help the peer improve their text, their writing skills or their speaking skills.
Contrary to mentoring PALs, tutoring PALs will give direct feedback on a text or idea. They will point out issues in regard to structure or argumentation. This still does not mean that they will edit a student’s text, nor will a tutor dive into the content of a text, but they will help the student come up with their own solutions to the problems they’re encountering.
Contrary to a mentoring session, a tutoring session focuses on short-term outcomes; on the product rather than the thinking process. The goal of these sessions is to help students determine how they can improve the text or structure in front of them in order to pass the specific assignment they are coming in for. Note that it is still the peer’s own responsibility to actually write and edit their work since seeing a PAL does not guarantee you’ll pass an assignment.
Where can you find us?
We are affiliated with Ghent University, and, as such, can be found there, primarily in the Faculty of Arts & Philosophy department. For details on where and how to find us, please consult this page.
How can you meet us?
Please refer to this page to schedule an appointment.