Modified Reciprocal Teaching in a Regular Classroom
This study was designed to increase reading compre hension and academic achievement of students through the use of a modified reciprocal teaching program. Modified reciprocal teaching involved small groups of students working together to read and comprehend a portion of text. The students took turas "teaching" these groups by assisting the rest of the group in select ing key words and phrases, summarizing, questioning, clarifying, and predicting. Students were randomly as signed to one of three seventh-grade regular education social studies classes. One class used modified reciprocal teaching twice a week for 8 weeks. The other two classes received a traditional instructional program. All classes were taught by the same teacher. Significant differences included higher scores on comprehension tests and writ ing samples, improvement in second-quarter social studies grades, and better conduct records for students who par ticipated in modified reciprocal teaching. Several ex planations for the superior performance of the modified reciprocal teaching group are hypothesized.