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Reciprocal Teaching
Reciprocal teaching refers to an instructional activity that takes place in the form of a dialogue between teachers and students regarding text. The dialogue is structured by the use of four strategies: summarizing, question generating, clarifying, and predicting. The teacher and students take turns assuming the role of teacher in leading this dialogue.
Why use reciprocal teaching?
- It encourages students to think about their own thought process during reading.
- It helps students learn to be actively involved and monitor their comprehension as they read.
- It teaches students to ask questions during reading and helps make the text more comprehensible.
| When to use: | Before reading | During reading | After reading |
|---|---|---|---|
| How to use: | Individually | With small groups | Whole class setting |
How to use reciprocal teaching
Before Reciprocal Teaching can be used successfully by your students, they need to have been taught and had time to practice the four strategies that are used in reciprocal teaching (summarizing, questioning, predicting, clarifying).
One way to get students prepared to use reciprocal teaching: (from Donna Dyer of the North West Regional Education Service Agency in North Carolina)
- Put students in groups of four.
- Distribute one note card to each member of the group identifying each person's unique role:
- Summarizer
- Questioner
- Clarifier
- Predictor
- Have students read a few paragraphs of the assigned text selection. Encourage them to use note-taking strategies such as selective underlining or sticky-notes to help them better prepare for their role in the discussion.
- At the given stopping point, the Summarizer will highlight the key ideas up to this point in the reading.
- The Questioner will then pose questions about the selection:
- Unclear parts
- Puzzling information
- Connections to other concepts already learned
The Clarifier will address confusing parts and attempt to answer the questions that were just posed.
The Predictor can offer predictions about what the author will tell the group next or, if it's a literary selection, the predictor might suggest what the next events in the story will be.
The roles in the group then switch one person to the right, and the next selection is read. Students repeat the process using their new roles. This continues until the entire selection is read. (Source: ReadingQuest)
Download blank templates
- Here's a bookmark for students to use that prompts them about each of the four strategies used in reciprocal teaching.
- This worksheet incorporates all four strategies into one page that students can fill out.
- Similar to the bookmark above, this four-column handout prompts students with questions and statements related to the four strategies.
Examples
Language Arts
The following website shows an example of the Reciprocal Teaching strategy for the book The Man Who Walked Between the Towers.
Differentiated instruction
for second language learners, students of varying reading skill, and for younger learners
- Pair a student with lower reading skills with one who is more advanced to work together.
- Ask student to write out questions about parts of the story that doesn't make sense to them.
See the research that supports this strategy
Oczuks, L. (2003). Reciprocal teaching at work: Strategies for improving reading comprehension. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Palincsar, A. S. & Brown, A. (1984). Reciprocal Teaching of Comprehension-Fostering and Comprehension Monitoring Activities. Cognition and Instruction, 1(2), pp. 117-175.
