HINTING AS A TACTIC IN ONE-ON-ONE TUTORING

One-on-one tutoring is a particularly effective mode of instruction, a nd we have studied the behavior of expert tutors in such a setting. A tactic commonly used by our expert tutors is hinting, that is, the pro mpting of a student to recollect information presumed to be known to h im or her, or the prompting of a student to make an inference needed t o solve a problem or answer a question, or both. Hints may directly co nvey information or may point to information the student already posse sses. Another tactic prompts the student in a step-by-step manner (in a directed line of reasoning) to an answer. Our tutors generated 315 h ints and directed lines of reasoning in 30 hr of tutoring. The surface structure of hints is complex and varied, reflecting, in part, the fa ct that the utterances making up hints often serve multiple functions. Hinting is triggered by student errors but ceases when it appears tha t the student is unable to respond appropriately. Hints encourage the student to engage in active cognitive processes that are thought to pr omote deeper understanding and long-term retention. It is our intentio n to apply our knowledge of tutorial dialogue generation to the buildi ng of an intelligent tutoring system (ITS).