Content Area Reading

Abstract

A study was conducted to examine the implementation of reciprocal teaching with fourth-and fifth-grade students as they read their social studies and science textbooks. A distinctive feature of the study was that reciprocal teaching procedures were used in a whole-class, rather than a small-group instructional setting. Three teachers and 67 students participated in the study. Observations revealed that as reciprocal teaching instruction proceeded, more responsibility for initiating and sustaining discussion was transferred from the teachers to the students. After 20 days most of the reciprocal teaching procedures were implemented flexibly and in an appropriate manner. A variety of assessment measures were administered at intervals throughout the study to evaluate the effects of the procedure on students' comprehension. (4 table of data and three figures are included; 14 references and appendixes contain scoring keys for strategy measures are attached.) OHUO

Students� Perception on Pre-reading Activities in Basic Reading II Class of the English Language Education Study Program of Sanata Dharma University

“…Pre-reading activities include the activities and discussions before reading which reduce the uncertainty that the students bring to the texts (Vacca and Vacca, 1989). Pre-reading activities are able to activate the students' background knowledge.…”

“…The teachers have the important roles to provide effective instructions in the pre-reading stage of the reading classroom. Vacca and Vacca (1989) address four purposes of prereading activities which teacher applies in pre-reading activities. They are motivating readers, building and activating background knowledge, introducing key vocabulary and concepts, and developing awareness of the task demands of the assignment and the strategies necessary for effective learning.…”

“…Besides providing the prequestions for the students, the teacher can ask them to create their own questions related to the reading text. Vacca and Vacca (1989) state, "Teaching students to generate their own questions about material to be read is one of the major instructional goals of prereading preparation." (p. 146).…”

“…Activating the students' background knowledge and building their frame of reference can also be achieved by giving multiple texts with the same topic to the students. Vacca and Vacca (1989) mention that the use of the multiple texts is a strategy which is able to build multiple perspectives and background knowledge for the concept development. There are many sources related can help the students to develop concepts of what they read.…”

“…In a reading classroom, the teacher has a responsibility to plan the instructions which make the students experience the satisfaction of learning from the text (Vacca and Vacca, 1989). The teachers need to help the students get along with the text since the beginning of the reading process.…”