Effects of reciprocal teaching: A two-year intervention study among low achieving adolescents

Low achieving adolescents are known to have difficulties with reading comprehension. This presentation discusses how reciprocal teaching can improve low achieving adolescents' reading comprehension in natural classroom settings (as opposed to small-group settings) and to what extent intervention effects are dependent on teacher behavior. Over the course of two years, experimental teachers were given extensive training and coaching aimed at using principles of reciprocal teaching, while control teachers used their regular teaching method. Observations of teacher behavior were focused on instruction of reading strategies, modeling, and support of group work, and were performed in both experimental and control classes. Our study shows that reciprocal teaching contributed to adolescent low achievers' growth in reading comprehension only when experimental teachers provided adequate modeling. In addition, results suggest that the quality of implementation of reciprocal teaching in natural classroom settings should receive more research attention. Implications for educational practice are discussed