Effects of reciprocal teaching on reading and oral language proficiency and reader self-perception of sixth-grade ESL students
Abstract
Reciprocal teaching, a powerful comprehension monitoring strategy, has been used extensively to enhance reading comprehension in native English speakers. Few studies, however, have examined the effects of reciprocal teaching on reading achievement in second-language learners. In the present experimental study, English-as-a-second-language (ESL) students were trained to summarize, question, predict, and clarify, within the context of reading discussions conducted in collaborative groups. The impact of explicit teaching-reciprocal teaching (ET-RT) on reading achievement, oral language proficiency, and reader self-perception of sixth-grade second-language learners was tested. Forty-eight ethnically diverse students were randomly assigned to experimental and control groups, 25 and 23. While the experimental group was receiving 20 days of reciprocal teaching treatment, the control group received traditional ESL reading instruction. Traditional ESL instruction involved teacher-oriented, whole-group discussions of similar reading materials with pre-, during, and post-reading strategies. Reading achievement was assessed through experimenter-developed passage comprehension tests and the Language Assessment Scales (LAS) Standardized Reading Test. Oral language proficiency was measured by the LAS-O Test, and reader self-perception by the Reader Self-Perception Scale (RSPS). Each instrument was administered as pre- and posttests. Four separate analyses of variance were applied to examine the between-group effects on each major variable. The overall difference between groups in reading comprehension, oral language proficiency, and reader self-perception reached statistical significance at.05 level. In addition, effect size data supported the magnitude and importance that reciprocal teaching exercised on reading achievement, oral language proficiency, and reader self-perception. While previous research supports the positive effects of reciprocal teaching on reading comprehension of native speakers of English, this study extends these positive results to second-language learners. Furthermore, it was found that reciprocal teaching had a significant impact on oral language proficiency and reader self-perception. A major recommendation of the study was that additional research is needed to confirm the impact reciprocal teaching has on oral language proficiency and reader self-perception of students from different grade levels.
Subject Area
Curricula|Teaching|Literacy|Reading instruction|Bilingual education|Multicultural education
Recommended Citation
Russell, Virginia Marie, "Effects of reciprocal teaching on reading and oral language proficiency and reader self-perception of sixth-grade ESL students" (1997). ETD Collection for Fordham University. AAI9809016.
https://research.library.fordham.edu/dissertations/AAI9809016
