BHES Tutoring Program
Improving Reading Competence
All students will learn to use Reciprocal Teaching strategies to construct meaning from text and from mathematical symbols using the format of a learning dialogue among the tutor and a small group of students.
What is Reciprocal Teaching?
Reciprocal Teaching is a venerable strategy that accelerates students’ learning competence as it teaches students to probe text in an effort to construct meaning from the same. Using Reciprocal Teaching strategies, students learn to mimic processes and procedures expert readers use. Most notable is the process becomes a habit of mind in as few as 20 consecutive days of practice. Learners engaging in Reciprocal Teaching use a group of four strategies when reading; these are predicting, summarizing, clarifying information that is not clearly understood, and questioning the text and what the text reveals.
By description, Reciprocal Teaching is a reading improvement strategy that mimics the processes that expert readers employ when they are engaged in reading or learning. As such, Reciprocal Teaching is a holistic reading (and learning) improvement strategy that is ideal for strengthening meta-cognitive skills and helping students learn how to read better. Students use four strategies as they read text and discuss the same in a focused effort to construct meaning.
Students engage in RT dialogues which are sessions of about 30 minutes where they
(1) raise questions about the text (and seek to answer these as self -checks on comprehension),
(2) clarify ambiguous vocabulary and elements of the text that are confusing to the students (using strategies taught to them explicitly),
(3) summarize main points as these emerge in the text (and thereby check for their emerging understanding), and
(4) predict what should logically come next in the text (or imagine based on the constructed meaning). These strategies inform them when they have wandered off, missed the point, are confused, cannot predict what is coming up, or are not following the gist of that to be learned. In short, the goal is to help them become more strategic as readers and learners as well.
4 Metacognitive Strategies That Improve Reading & Learning C
How does Reciprocal Teaching promote reading and learning comprehension? In Reciprocal Teaching dialogues, students are taught to use four strategies to construct meaning from text that they are reading at the same time that they are developing skill in strategic reading which requires readers to employ two ongoing mental activities consistently as they read: (a) they read and understand the content at the same time during the reading process; and (b) they remain alert for instances when they are not achieving full comprehension and take appropriate steps to remediate the situation.
Reciprocal Teaching involves the use of four strategies: summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. How each contributes to students’ ability to construct meaning from text is described below.
How Summarizing Improves Comprehension: Summarizing text provides the opportunity for readers to identify, paraphrase, and integrate important information in the text. It requires the reader to recall and state the gist he (or she) has constructed. Therefore, a reader who can summarize has activated background knowledge to integrate information appearing in the text, allocated attention to the main points, and evaluated the gist for consistency. The inability of the reader to summarize text indicates that comprehension is incomplete.
How Generating Questions Improves Comprehension: When readers generate questions, they first identify the kind of information that is significant enough that it could provide the substance for a question. Then they pose this information in a question form and self-test to ascertain that they can answer their own question. Generating questions about text, likewise, depends on the gist and the function needed for summarizing, but with one additional demand: that the reader monitor the gist to pick out the important points. To generate questions, the reader is required to re-process the information read into question format. The inability to formulate appropriate questions about text is another indicator that comprehension has not occurred.
How Clarifying Improves Comprehension: When readers clarify the text, their attention is called to the many reasons why text is difficult to understand due to new vocabulary, unclear references, and unfamiliar or difficult concepts. When a reader clarifies a point, he (or she) must allocate attention to the difficult points and engage in critical evaluation of the gist. In short, clarifying directs the reader to look for parts of the passage which are confusing and unclear. The reader must ask the question: “Is there anything in this segment that I don’t understand?” If there are unclear segments which block understanding, the reader is signaled to re-read, read ahead, or ask for help.
How Predicting Improves Comprehension: Predicting requires the reader to hypothesize about what the author might discuss next in the text. This provides a purpose for reading: to confirm or disapprove the hypothesis. Additionally, with predicting, an opportunity has been created for the reader to link the new knowledge they will encounter in the text to the knowledge they already possess. It also facilitates the use of text structure as students learn that headings, sub-headings, and questions imbedded in the text are useful means of anticipating what might occur next. To predict, the reader must read with anticipation and expectancy, watching for text clues indicating where the author is going next. The inability to predict may also be an indicator that comprehension is inadequate.
Reciprocal Teaching strategies used together helps students practice reading like experts read and as they strengthen their understanding and application of the strategies, their reading and learning competence improves.
