Reciprocal teaching

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By David Wray — Professor of Literacy Education and Deputy Director of the Institute of Education at the University of Warwick.

David Wray examines reciprocal teaching: an approach to teaching reading comprehension which, he feels, deserves to be more widely used in the UK.

What is reciprocal teaching?

Reciprocal teaching is an approach to teaching reading comprehension developed in the US by Annemarie Palincsar and Ann Brown. Their aim was to help teachers to actively teach understanding when reading.

Reciprocal teaching is best described as a dialogue between teachers and children in which participants take turns in assuming the role of teacher. It is interactive teaching in which the teacher, or a child, leads a group as they talk their way through a text to understand it. As they work together, group members monitor their understanding by stopping at regular intervals to ask questions, summarise, predict and clarify what they have read.

Published 3 September 2009

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Shannon
on 22 December 2009

Reciprocal Teaching Works

I have used reciprocal teaching for a number of years in my primary classroom. I teach the skills separately and then intertwine them throughout the lesson so it becomes a seamless way of comprehending a text. The dialogue in reciprocal teaching is focused and meaningful, thus enhancing student understanding and meaning-making. It is highly successful when done with integrity and on a consistent basis.

1 out of 5