Learning Development Services - University of East London - www.uel.ac.uk

Classroom-based projects in Reciprocal Teaching : Promoting Dialogue in Guided Reading Sessions

Promoting Effective Talk in Classrooms Conference

5-11-10

Developing

reading comprehension

skills

Theory How do we comprehend?

Pedagogy What works?

PracticeHow can we

make it happen?

Learning Development Services - University of East London - www.uel.ac.uk

Key aim Key questions

Key elements

Developing

reading comprehension

skills

Theory How do we comprehend?

Learning Development Services - University of East London - www.uel.ac.uk

Key aim Key questions

Key elements

Understanding written texts

Linguistic process

Knowledge bases

Cognitive processes

Domain knowledge

Pragmaticknowledge

General knowledge

Memory

Semantics

InferencesSyntax

Comprehension monitoring

Further factors

Fluency Age

Reading goals

Motivation

Standards for coherence

Developing

reading comprehension

skills

Theory How do we comprehend?

Pedagogy What works?

Learning Development Services - University of East London - www.uel.ac.uk

Key aim Key elements

Key questions

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

• Questioning

• Clarifying

• Summarising

What?

Where?

Why?

Teacher-led sessions

• Predicting

• Questioning

• Clarifying

• Summarising

Student-led sessions

• Predicting

• Clarifying

• Questioning

• Summarising

Developing

reading comprehension

skills

Theory How do we comprehend?

Pedagogy What works?

PracticeHow can we

make it happen?

Learning Development Services - University of East London - www.uel.ac.uk

Key aim Key elements

Key questions

Planning for Reciprocal Teaching

Prior to the session1. 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 visibleQuestion types

• “on the surface of the text” - literal • “between the lines” - deductive inferences• “beyond the text” - prior knowledge, inductive

inferences, evaluations