Reciprocal Teaching

Let’s start with a basic definition for Reciprocal Teaching. “Reciprocal teaching refers to an instructional activity in which students become the teacher in small group reading sessions. Teachers model, then help students learn to guide group discussions using four strategies: summarizing, question generating, clarifying, and predicting.”  Source

It is a reading technique by which we aim to improve reading comprehension of a student

Here’s an example of what reciprocal teaching is NOT. A lot of times, the activity illustrated below is mistaken for reciprocal teaching.

Your teacher prepared a list of topics and assigned one for each student in your class. You were given about a week’s time to prepare for the topic. You were also told that you could take up to 5 minutes to explain the topic to the class. If you were like most students, you would have first been filled with apprehension or fear. This fear would usually be a fear of public speaking or a fear of lack of knowledge of the subject. Normally, you’ll realize your audience is people you know and so there’s not much to fear. You also know that this ‘seminar’ is mandatory, so you read up on the topic, and actually try to understand it so when you’re in front of others you’re actually able to explain it. You end up learning the concept because to teach anyone anything, you should be able to understand it first. You notice that the audience is usually more receptive. While the class may not pay full attention to the regular teacher, there’s a high chance they’ll pay more attention to a peer who is explaining a concept.

The above illustration is not reciprocal teaching. Reciprocal teaching is actually about helping students understand challenging text they are reading. Challenging text includes poetry, literary novels, unstructured writing and even scientific publications.

In reciprocal approach to teaching, the instructor instills four clearly defined reading strategies that are simultaneously and actively used to support comprehension: The four reading strategies are Questioning, Clarifying, Summarizing, and Predicting. Students are taught to alternatively take the role of Questioner, Clarifier, Summarizer and Predictor while analyzing a text. The Clarifier tries to answer questions raised. The Summarizer tries to succinctly capture the meaning of the text and the predictor attempts to predict what the author intends to reveal in the next sequence. The instructor invariably helps out the Clarifier by answering the bulk of the questions, particularly when the text is very challenging. This technique is effective for small groups of students. There is a wide body of research supporting the effectiveness of this method in novel situations.

Here’s an excellent summary of how to use this method summarized from an article written by Donna Dyer of the North West Regional Education Service Agency in North Carolina)

1.      Divide your learners in sets containing four learners each

2.      Give a small placard to every learner in the set naming each learner's role:

·         Summarizer

·         Questioner

·         Clarifier

·         Predictor

3.      Make your learners read a page or so of the reading material. Motivate them to use note-taking methods. Ask them to underline things they want clarification for. If necessary, get them to use sticky-notes to prepare themselves for the discussion to follow.

4.      When they read the assigned text, the Summarizer first points out the major ideas up to where they’ve read.

5.      The Questioner then steps up and asks questions of the parts they require assistance in:

·         Confusing information

·         Unclear sections

·         Linkages to pre-learned concepts

6.      The Clarifier then tries to clear up the confusing parts and also tries to answer the questions asked by the Questioner.

7.      The Predictor speaks up next. He/She tries to predict what the author will reveal next or, in the case of a passage from literature, the predictor might suggest upcoming events or plotline.

8.      The learners then pass their role to the person on their right, and then the next passage is read. Learners keep repeating this step in their new roles. This alternation of roles is carried out till the complete passage is read.

9.      The instructor is required to guide the learners’ in using the four strategies successfully in their set. When the learner’s improve skills, the instructor’s role reduces.