Institute/Session Summary:

This presentation will focus on the Gibbs Communication Model, which emphasizes supportive rather than prescriptive-based communication, and will then discuss how that model is a useful training strategy. Learning Assistance Administrators and Peer Education Specialists will come away with an understanding of the theoretical model and strategies for implementing the Gibbs model in training sessions.

The presentation will

• Introduce the model (10 minute Powerpoint)
• Discuss uses of the model in training peer educators (10 minute Powerpoint)
• Demonstrate implementation of training strategies (30 minute small group work)
• Report demonstration strategy back to large group (10 minutes)

I will first provide an overview of the Gibbs Communication Model, focusing on how this model has been used in educational settings, especially writing center work that emphasizes inquiry-based learning. The Gibbs model as theorized by Diane Gibbs, presents six parameters that emphasize supportive behaviors and communicative strategies over prescriptive ones. The chart below lists the areas of discussion.

Prescriptive	Supportive
Evaluative	Descriptive
Controlling	Assisting
Manipulative	Facilitative
Superior	Equal
Certain	Possible
Indifferent	Engaged

The presentation will briefly discuss each of these pairings and provide examples of the kind of communication illustrated by the terms. For example, in the first pairing, evaluative language, which often uses the word “you,” creates a destructive paradigm in which the receiver of the message (here it would be the student) can become defensive. An example for a peer mentor might be “Look at your midterm grades. You are not demonstrating good work habits and you need to work more on your time management.” Instead, the Gibbs model would advise the mentor to use more descriptive language. For example, a mentor might revise the statement by saying, “Midterm grades often reflect the work habits of students during the first half of the class. Sometimes something as simple as completing a Time Management Worksheet makes a huge difference during the next part of the semester. How about we carve out some time to talk about this?” Here, the Gibbs model helps the peer educator separate the student from the problem to create the opportunity for constructive collaboration between the peer leader and the student.

Having used this model for 15 years in my writing center training with peer tutors, I understand the importance of coaching peer leaders in their communication patterns to help create an atmosphere of inquiry-based learning. Peer leaders create rapport by collaborating with students to create a space for problem-solving, rather than by being directive in their communicative patterns. In Pedagogy of the Oppressed, Paulo Friere emphasizes “critical and liberating dialogue, which presupposes action” as the catalyst for self-knowledge and independent learning (47). Peer leaders must understand that they are working with students not on them, and that this kind of rapport can only exist when their language patterns reflect that collaborative attitude. Likewise [B]ell [H]ooks explains that “just the physical experience of hearing, of listening intently, to each particular voice strengthens our capacity to learn together” (186).

Preparing peer educators to work effectively with students includes taking a close look at language issues and communicative strategies that best facilitate collaborative learning. The Gibbs model demonstrates one way to enact a theory of communication that helps peer educators monitor their language patterns in a productive and useful way, one that emphasizes the collaborative and egalitarian space through which both students and their peer educators can learn and thrive.

Presenter1 Name: Diana Calhoun Bell
Presenter1 Institution: University of Alabama in Huntsville
Presenter1 Bio:  Diana Calhoun Bell is the Director of the Academic Resource Center at the University of Alabama in Huntsville. Her research focuses on pedagogy and peer education. Her publications include articles in the Writing Center Journal, Computers and Composition, Readerly/Writerly Texts, Radical Pedagogy and the Writing Center Newsletter. Her recent book, Deprivatized Pedagogy, is published through Hampton Press.