Reciprocal Teaching Improves Standardized Reading-Comprehension Performance in Poor Comprehenders

Grade 4 and 7 poor comprehenders (N = 72) participated in 13 sessions of reading-strategy instruction or reading practice (control condition). Trained students were instructed to make predictions when reading, to generate questions about text, to summarize what was read, and to clarify points that were hard to understand. The strategies were taught using the reciprocal instruction approach developed by Palincsar and Brown (1984), involving provision of support to students as they needed it and peer teaching of strategies. Control subjects were exposed to the same materials as reciprocally trained students but were given no strategy instruction. The most important finding was a greater increase from before to after training on a standardized test of reading comprehension in the reciprocally trained than in the control condition. This effect is important since standardized comprehension tests measure important reading skills and are used extensively in making curriculum and instruction decisions. The importance of additional research on reciprocal instruction or revised versions of it is considered briefly.