19 teaching is an authentic activity because learning, both inside and outside
school, advances through collaborative social interaction and the social construction of knowledge
Pallinscar and Brown in Ruddell 1994: 765-767 identify four basic strategies that help students recognize and react to signs of comprehension
breakdown: clarifying, predicting, questioning, and summarizing. In the beginning, reciprocal teaching is demonstrated to the students
by the teacher. The teachers role in this instructional procedure changes as the strategies are taught to the students. The teacher starts the instruction
of each strategy as ―the sage on the stage‖ and ends up as ―the guide on the side.‖ The teacher has to be proficient in modeling these strategies to the
students and then gradually fade away and let the students take over the control of their learning
And then the teacher introduces the four steps: predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing. In this model, students will
work as a team. Reciprocal teaching provides chances to explore the content to be learnt via classroom dialogue. At the centre of reciprocal
teaching are group discussions in which the teacher and the students take turn as leader in discussing the text.
1. Basic Strategy of Reciprocal Teaching
Pallinscar and Brown in Borich 1996: 397-398 describe four basic strategies in reciprocal teaching, as follows:
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a. Pr edicting
, discussion begins by generating prediction about the content to be learned from the text, based on: its title or subheading
in the text, the group prior knowledge or information pertaining to the topic, and experience with similar kind of information. Following
the group’s prediction about what they expect to learn from the text, the group reads and listens to the portion of it.
b. Questioning,
one individual is chosen to leads a discussion of each portion of the text that is read. Afterward, the discussion leader asks
questions about the information. Students respond the question and raise additional question.
c. Summar izing,
the discussion leader then summarizes the text and other students are invited to comment or elaborate on the summary.
d. Clar ifying,
if points in the text are unclear e.g. concept or vocabulary the students are discussed until clarity is achieved. In
this case more predictions may be made and portions of the t ext are reread for the text clarity.
2. Stages of Reciprocal Teaching
The following are the steps to use the reciprocal teaching model www.education.vic.gov.austudentlearningteachingresourcesesl:
a. At the beginning, teachers may want to hand out a poem or short piece of fiction or nonfiction that heshe has annotated that models
all four strategies.
21 b. One suggestion is to start with very short pieces of literature or short
sections of a larger work a chapter or section of a novel, biography, etc.. This allows students to practice and hone their skills before
moving on to longer readings. c. It is important that the role of teacher is rotated on a regular basis,
so that all students have a chance to be the leader of the group; this kind of validation is an important part of the process.
Pelinscar and Brown 1984: 175 state that the teacher hands out a passage of text to each student in the group. Each student reads the
passage and writes summarizing, clarifying, predicting questions related to what they have r
ead. The ―teacher‖ of the group asks one of the questions. The
―teacher‖ is leader of the group who starts off the questioning. One group member responds, using the text to sup port their
answer. The student, who answers the question, then asks a question and the process repeats.
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Figure 3. Stages of reciprocal teaching Adapted from: http:condor.admin.ccny.cuny.edu~ yq6048
T eacher modeling
T eacher models and explains the four
strategies: summarizing,
question generating, clarifying, and
predicting.
Students’ practice
Students practice the four strategies
and receive feedback from the
teacher.
Teacher-Student Groups
Students’ group
T eacher leads discussion with
students in small groups. Students
take turns leading and practicing the
strategies while getting teacher
feedback. Students take turns
leading the discussion by using the four
strategies in small groups. T he teacher
observes progress and offers feedback.
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3. Reciprocal Teaching Guidelines
