Contemporary psychology, Vol. 7 No. 1, 2004.
Original scientific paper
Evaluation of reciprocal teaching strategies in reader training
Svjetlana Kolić-Vehovec
Emina Muranović
Abstract
Comprehension is not always an automatic process, it is often necessary to use reading strategies, actively control understanding and regulate the use of strategies. Reciprocal teaching is one of the methods for advancing the control of comprehension while reading (Palinscar & Brown, 1984). Four reading strategies are practiced using this method: questioning, summarizing, explaining and predicting. The aim of this study was to examine the influence of reciprocal teaching of (meta )cognitive strategies on comprehension and on accepting new strategies of summarizing and questioning. The study was conducted on 57 students of three fifth grade classes, who were divided into one experimental and two control groups. The three groups were initially similar in understanding the read text, summarizing and questioning. Reciprocal teaching was practiced in 12 sessions over a 4 week period. Work with one experimental group entailed reading the same texts as in the experimental group and answering questions about them. The second control group did not receive any practice, only the initial and final tests were conducted. The second testing, conducted after practice, revealed significantly better results in the experimental group than in both control groups. The experimental group was the only one with significant improvements in summarizing abilities between the two testing periods.
Keywords
Comprehension; reading strategies; metacognition; reciprocal teaching
Hrčak ID:
3244
URI
Publication date:
30.6.2004.
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