RECIPROCAL TEACHING TECHNIQUE

RECIPROCAL TEACHING TECHNIQUE

A.    CONCEPT OF RECIPROCAL TEACHING TECHNIQUE

            Reciprocal Teaching is a technique used to develop comprehension of expository text in which teacher and students take turns leading a dialogue concerning sections of a text. Four activities are incorporated into the technique: prediction, questioning, summarizing and clarifying misleading or complex sections of the text.

            Similar with this, Palinscar, 1986 who introduced this technique, the formal definition of reciprocal teaching is follow: Reciprocal teaching refers to an instructional activity that takes place in the form of dialogue between teachers and students regarding segments of text. The teacher and students take turns assuming this role of teacher in leading this dialogue.

            Furthermore, Palincsar, 1986, explains the purpose of reciprocal teaching to facilitate a group effort between teacher and students as well as among students in the task bringing meaning to the text. Each strategy was selected for the following the purpose:

            Each strategy was selected for the following purpose:

1.      Summarizing provides the opportunity to identify and integrate the most important information in the text. Text can be summarized across sentences, across paragraphs, and across the passage as a whole. When the students first begin the reciprocal teaching procedure, their efforts are generally focused at the sentence and paragraph levels. As they become more proficient, they are able to integrate at the paragraph and passage levels.

2.      Questioning generating reinforces the summarizing strategy and carries the learner one more a step along in the comprehension activity. When students generate questions, the first identify the kind of information that is significant enough to provide the substance for a question. They then pose this information in question form and self-test to ascertain that they can indeed answer their own question. Question generating is flexible strategy to the extent that students can be taught and encourage to generate questions at many levels. For example, some school situations require that students master supporting detail information; others require that the students be able to infer or apply new information from text.

3.      Clarifying is an activity that is particularly important when working with students who have a history of comprehension difficulty. These students may believe that the purpose of reading is saying the words correctly; they may not be particularly uncomfortable that the words, and in fact the passage, are not making sense. When the students are asked to clarify, their attention is called to the fact that there may be many reasons why text is difficult to understand (e.g.  New vocabulary, unclear reference words, and unfamiliar and perhaps difficult concepts).

4.      Predicting occurs when students hypothesize what the author will discuss next in the text. In order to do this successfully, students must activate the relevant background knowledge that they already possess regarding the topic. The students have a purpose for reading: to confirm or disprove their hypotheses. The predicting strategy also facilitates use a text structure as students learn that headings, subheadings, and questions imbedded in the text are useful means of anticipating what might occur next. (Palinscar et al., 1986).

            Summary, each of these strategies was selected as a means of aiding students to construct meaning from text as well as means of monitoring their reading to ensure that they in fact understand what they read. Reciprocal reading was developed in the mid-1980s by reading researchers Ann Brown and Ann-Marie Palincsar.

            After explicit instruction from a knowledgeable teacher, students engage in the following sequence:

1.      Questioning, a student assumes the role of “teacher” and reads aloud a segment of a passage as group members follow along silently. The group members then pose questions that focus on main ideas.

2.      Summarizing, the “teacher” answers and summarizes the content.

3.      Clarifying, the group discusses and clarifies remaining difficulties in understanding.

4.      Predicting, the group then makes a prediction about future content. Next a second student takes on the role of teacher for a subsequent segment of text.

            A related whole class strategy is Request (Manzo, 1969) or reciprocal questioning, in which the teacher leads the whole class in silently reading together a segment of text. Students then question the teacher about the content. After a subsequent segment of text is read, the teacher questions the students. As the questioning process continues, students learn to imitate the teacher’s questioning behavior. Studies demonstrating the success of reciprocal reading with secondary students have used about 20 days for the intervention. Assessments in the form of observations, quizzes, and standardized tests were used to document student learning.

B.     Benefits of Reciprocal Teaching

            Learners can gain an improved understanding of complex text in content areas. This leads them on to greater knowledge of the topic and to improve skills and more positive attitudes when extracting, organizing, and recording information.

            Other benefits cab gain includes more self-confidence and motivation to read, improved leadership skills, increased co-operation and greater initiative.

            Research studies have shown that when reciprocal teaching is implemented, learners will make substantial gains in their comprehension skills.

C.    How to Implement Reciprocal Teaching

            It is recommended that the teacher introduce small groups of students to reciprocal teaching, one group at a time. However the strategies could be introduced to the whole class.

            It is important to select texts that are at an appropriate instructional level. Teachers should:

1.      Be familiar with the text.

2.      Provide a brief, focused on introduction.

3.      Where appropriate link the text being read to current content areas.

4.      Model the strategies and support learners in using them.

5.      Regularly monitor learners’ use of strategies.

       6.      Use the information gained through monitoring as a guide to the further support and practice needed by the learners.