Classroom-based projects in Reciprocal Teaching :
Promoting Dialogue in Guided Reading Sessions
Promoting Effective Talk in Classrooms Conference
5-11-10
Learning Development Services - University of East London - www.uel.ac.uk
Learning Development Services - University of East London - www.uel.ac.uk
Learning Development Services - University of East London - www.uel.ac.uk
Comprehension
monitoring
Semantics
Syntax
Inferences
Linguistic process
Memory
Cognitive processes
Understanding written texts
Knowledge bases
General
knowledge
Domain
knowledge
Pragmatic
knowledge
Further factors
Reading
goals
Fluency
Standards for
coherence
Age
Motivation
Learning Development Services - University of East London - www.uel.ac.uk
Reciprocal Teaching (RT): Why bother?
It works!....
In different contexts…..
• 14-15 year old poor comprehenders (Alfassi, 1998)
• Year 6 poor comprehenders (Greenway, 2002)
• Year 4/ 5 average comprehenders (Kelly, Moore and Tuck,
1994)
• Science teaching with 10 year olds (King & Parent Johnson,
1999)
• Narrative teaching with 6 year olds (Hacker & Tenent,
2002)
• Year 7/8 ESL students (Fung, Wilkinson, & Moore, 2003)
Reciprocal Teaching Addresses 4 important
comprehension strategies
• Predicting
What?
Where?
Why?
• Questioning
• Clarifying
• Summarising
Teacher-led sessions
Student-led sessions
• Predicting
• Predicting
• Questioning
• Clarifying
• Clarifying
• Questioning
• Summarising
• Summarising
Learning Development Services - University of East London - www.uel.ac.uk
Planning for Reciprocal Teaching
Prior to the session
1. Select reading material at the appropriate level for
instructional teaching and learning (90-95% accuracy)
2. Divide text into sections
3. Devise 2-3 questions for each section and make them
visible
Question types
• “on the surface of the text” - literal
• “between the lines” - deductive inferences
• “beyond the text” - prior knowledge, inductive inferences,
evaluations