Improving Reading Comprehension through Reciprocal Teaching Method

This study is aimed at discovering the benefits of the Reciprocal Teaching Method (RTM) in the reading classroom, finding out the achievements of students after four comprehension training sessions of using RTM, and exploring the perceptions of students on the use of RTM. This method uses four comprehension strategies: predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing, to help learners monitor their development of reading comprehension by themselves. Students work in groups of four or five and the members are divided into five roles which are the leader, predictor, clarifier, questioner, and summarizer. The subjects were 24 students from the twelfth grade at a high school in Banda Aceh. Observations, tests, documents and interviews were collected to get the data. The results showed that the students were more active and productive in the reading classroom after RTM sessions and their reading proficiency improved. They learnt how to apply several of the strategies from RTM while reading. The results also showed that they preferred this method for teachinglearning reading compared to the conventional one. Therefore, teachers are suggested to consider using this method for teaching reading that instils the students on how to apply the four comprehension strategies used in reading.


INTRODUCTION
The optimism to solve reading dilemmas has resulted in the discovery of various approaches and methods for teaching reading.During the past decades, researchers of language teaching have carried out numerous research studies on the effectiveness of Feuerstein and Schcolnik (1995) state that new reading comprehension approaches recently emphasize the process of reading than the product after reading.The interaction of the reader with the texts in order to construct meaning is better to be viewed rather than the product of the reading (Carlile & Rice, 2002).However, it cannot be ignored that the development of reading instructions also plays an essential role in reading comprehension.The product of reading can be used to test the progress of students' understanding of written language through tests (Djiwandono, 1996).
Palinscar and Brown developed the Reciprocal Teaching Method (RTM) in 1984 due to their concern over comprehension issues.It was designed to improve students' reading comprehension at all levels and in all subjects (Blazer, 2007).Blazer (ibid,p.1)further explains that "Reciprocal Teaching is an instructional approach to encourage learning of reading comprehension skills by students.Students are taught cognitive strategies that help them construct meaning from texts and simultaneously monitor their reading comprehension." RTM uses four comprehension strategies: predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing (Brown &Palinscar, 1984).These strategies help learners monitor their development of reading comprehension by themselves (Hosenfeld, et al., 1993).Students work in groups of four or five.As Palinscar and Brown (1984) said, a group will be divided into five roles which are the leader, predictor, clarifier, questioner, and summarizer.Additionally, RTM can be applied not only in teaching English but also in other subjects such as Mathematics and Physics to help students from elementary school to university level (Quirk, 2010).This method was developed to train students to apply strategies which are needed in the process of comprehension.
A quantitative study using quasi-experimental design was conducted by Choo, Eng and Ahmad (2011) with 68 lower proficiency students in Malaysia from the fourth to sixth grades.The findings showed there was significant improvement in the experimental groups post-test results taught using RTM compared to those of the control groups.Freihat and Makhzoomi (2012) further studied the use of RTM on learners' reading behaviour.The research was done with 50 Jordanian students and it showed that RTM resulted in improvement in the reading comprehension abilities of the students.Similarly, Jafarigohar and Soelaimani (2013) studied the application of RTM with 45 Persian learners.Their findings proved that RTM significantly enhanced the reading comprehension of the students.Also, Rosenberger (2011) has reviewed the positive effects of the application of RTM.The participants were fourth grade learners from Camden County in the United States.Based on data from her study, she reported that RTM encouraged improvement and enhanced the reading comprehension abilities of her students.

Procedures Followed in Using the Reciprocal Teaching Method
Procedures for teaching reading using RTM as explained by Palinscar and Brown (1984) is quoted by the National Behavior Support Services (n.d.) as follows: Before the students learn how to apply this method in their own group discussions, the trainer should demonstrate the model first.The trainer first presents all the strategies during reading.The trainer reads a piece of the text aloud and models the four steps: summarizing, clarifying, questioning and predicting with the students.1.A group of four students is selected, and each is given a different role i.e.
summarizer, questioner, clarifier and predictor.2. Next, ask the group of students to read a paragraph of text.Recommend to them to do note taking such as underlining, coding, etc., while reading.3. The student who is chosen as predictor helps his peers to connect previous part of the text by making a prediction based on the clues given from the title or illustrations before reading.Then, the trainer asks them to discuss the results of their predictions with their team.They are asked to read the text again in order to confirm their predictions.Next, the questioner's job is to help his group ask questions and answer questions about the text discussed in order to find out detailed information.The task of the summarizer is to help his group to find the main ideas based on his and his peers' points of view.The clarifier helps the group find unclear parts (words and sentence) and ways to solve these difficulties.4. When the next part of the text is read, the students rotate their roles with their peers in their group.Again they repeat the process consistent with their new role.Then the whole discussion process is repeated until the whole text has been read.5.The trainer asks the students to keep on applying the four strategies until they have the ability to use these strategies independently.
The strategies above are included in reading strategies used by high proficiency readers to gain their understanding of a text.Moreover, the cognitive strategies (predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing) developed in RTM are used frequently by strategic readers (Kherzlou, 2012).

Subject
The training processes of RTM, the achievements of students using RTM, and their perceptions of RTM were the subject matters of this study.The second author was an observer and was helped by an assistant observer.They recorded and observed all the activities of students.The sample population for this research was 24 students from a science class (grade XII) which had mixed levels of achievements in reading.

The Teaching
The second author observed the class in which the students were taught using RTM.The class met five times, with 90 minutes for each meeting.In the first meeting, the students were taught reading using a traditional method.The students were given reading texts which they had to comprehend individually.At the second meeting, they were taught using RTM.At this meeting, they were just asked to read the reading texts.At the third meeting, they used the controlled dialogues.Each student received a card which was relevant to his/her role (predictor, questioner, clarifier, and summarizer).At the fourth meeting, they were asked to apply RTM and they were asked to run and to control the discussions.At the fifth meeting, they were put into groups.They had to initiate the strategies and take turns to perform each role.Tests were given at the end of each meeting to measure the quantitative progress of students after each application of RTM.

Research Instruments
The second author and the voluntary observer noted and recorded everything that happened in the classroom.The two used an observation checklist to check the interactions and procedures in the reading classroom (refer to Appendix 3).In addition, a reading worksheet prepared by the students was collected after each of the group discussions ended.Moreover, these worksheets were used to figure out the progress made by the students in applying the cognitive strategies in RTM.The worksheet format was adopted from the one produced by FORPD (Florida Online Reading Professional Development) (refer to Appendix 2).The second author also interviewed 12 students as representatives of all of students.Seven questions were asked to each of them concerning their perceptions on the use of RTM.She asked the questions using the Indonesian language.These questions are based on the guideline by Clark (2003, p. 49) (numbers 1-6), plus an additional question (number 7) prepared by the authors to suit with the current context of the respondents (refer to Appendix 1).
The result of interviews was further transcribed using the transcription convention by Dresing, Pehl, and Schmieder (2012) as shown below: Additionally, the students' skills in defining the main idea, guessing word meaning, finding detailed information and making inferences were assessed in order to figure out their achievements after the application of RTM.

Results from Observations and Documents
From the observations, the second author discovered that all the activities from the three sessions of training ran smoothly and effectively.In the opening lesson, the school teacher greeted the students.Then, he checked the attendance of students.He further controlled the next activity.He asked some questions to the students about their background knowledge of analytical exposition.Based on the responses of students, he explained in detail about the text.In the next activity, he introduced the strategies of RTM clearly.He showed examples by modelling some activities.The importance of the four comprehension strategies for reading comprehension were explained to the students.
Having modelled the strategies (predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing), the teacher put the students into groups of four.Then each student was given a task card that gave them their role and directions as to what they had to do.Then he gave the students the reading material.The students discussed the text amongst their team.He monitored the group work of the students and assisted them when they had problems.
Most of the reading activities during the first training was still directed and instructed by the teacher.The students were introduced and taught on how to apply the four comprehension strategies whilst reading.They needed to be told on what they should do in the group.Additionally, he had to ensure that all students work based on their roles and tasks.Since this was the first time for these learners to apply the four comprehension strategies, they still had very low capability in predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing.
Furthermore, the students also took a long time to figure out the text given to them.At this meeting, they were still not competent to make predictions about the text entitled "Circuses Should Not Use Animals".Their predictions were unclear and did not show their own ideas since they tended to copy the title for their predictions.This indicated that they had no idea on how to guess even though the teacher had already modelled this strategy and had given them an explanation on how to predict based on the title and the pictures available.Some of the predictions of the students are below.
On the contrary, there were three students who made a good start in applying the prediction strategy.They used their own words and opinions for predicting.Their words from the worksheets are as follows: After the discussions had finished, the students were given a reading test.They had to answer the questions in the reading test individually.Finally, the teacher asked "I think the text will us about the circuses should not use animas."(S 16 ) "The writer disagree that animals being used in circus."(S 1 ) "I think the text telling us about the circus animals is not allowed."(S 23 ) "I predict the animals live in circus."(S 4 ) "I think the story about circuses not use animals."(S 14 ) the students about the difficulty that they had had during the discussions.He discussed the text together with the students.He corrected the answers and added some notes that they missed in their discussions.He helped them to summarize the topic lesson of the day.When the lesson was finished, he closed the lesson.All the activities for the first training took two meetings to be completed.This occurred due to the time limitations for the first meeting.
At the second training session, the teacher gave the students new material to read.He only explained what they should do before, while and after the group discussion.He reminded them about the application of the four comprehension strategies in reading (predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing) while reading a text.Once again, they were asked to discuss the text and take notes of the results from discussions on their worksheets.After that they were given the reading exercise which they had to do individually.At the end of the lesson, he and the students discussed the results together.The students gave their reasons for predicting logically and discussed important information about the text.Following that, he gave them feedback about their work.Together, they summarized the lesson before he closed the lesson.
In this second meeting, the reading activities of the students were partly led by the teacher.Some of them knew what they had to do in their own group.Moreover, they were able to make predictions about the text "Is Smoking Good for Us?" by using their own words and ideas without copying the title of the text.Some of their words are as follows.
The last training had no significant different activities than the first and the second meetings.All the activities were done.However, as in the second meeting, the students still depended on and asked for the teacher's opinion or help.Meanwhile, during the last meeting, they already knew what their job was and how to apply the strategy independently.They directly rotated their roles in their group.They were able to discuss the reading material without the help of their teacher.In this last meeting, students were able to apply the prediction strategy independently.This can be seen from their worksheets on the text "Laptop as Students' Friend".Following are some of the words of the students.
Aside from the reading activities, it was discovered through observations that the students felt comfortable in the classroom environment.They freely discussed the texts and shared their opinions without being afraid of being mocked or feeling threatened.They made sure they were all working actively in their groups.Whenever they had problems in deciding on certain points in their discussions, they asked for the teacher's opinion or suggestions.This showed that the application of RTM can build a positive environment in the reading classroom.Their reading comprehension ability also "I guess this text tell us about the danger of smoking."(S 12 ) "In the first paragraph, we can predict that is smoking is not good for human health."(S 15 ) "I think this story is told of smoking can kill.Smoking is not good for healthy."(S 18 ) "I think this text will be about, students need laptop to finish the job and to share anything that they had not known before."(S 19 ) "This text about, in this era, we need laptop as our friends to help us in learning process."(S 21 )

E. Komariah, P. A. R. Ramadhona & T. M. Silviyanti, Improving Reading Comprehension through
Reciprocal Teaching Method | 94 improved, where 58% of the students were at an advanced (high) level in defining the main idea, 33% of students were not proficient (low), and 8% of students were proficient (intermediate).Also 46% or eleven students were at an advanced level in guessing word meanings.In addition, 25% or six students were still not proficient in the vocabulary area.However, there were about 29% or seven students who reached the proficient level of achievement.Moreover, 96% of students reached advanced level in understanding detailed information, 0% of students were not proficient and 4% of the students were in the proficient category.There was also improvement in understanding inferences, 67% of students reached the advanced level, 13% were not proficient, and 21% reached the proficient level.
Additionally, from the first to the last meeting, the students could practice using RTM comprehension strategies without having problems.They took turns performing the roles and led the discussions easily and actively.At the end of the training, the students were able to apply the four comprehension strategies of RTM independently.Moreover, from the worksheets of students, their capabilities in using the four RTM comprehension strategies were discovered.Even though they had already been trained to read texts using the four comprehension strategies, the results showed they can only apply some of the comprehension strategies.They were still not able to do all four comprehension strategies (predicting, questioning, clarifying, and summarizing) at one time while reading.

Responses of the Students
The second author asked the interviewees seven questions.The first question was what the students had learned from using RTM.The students confirmed that they generally knew what the strategies of RTM were.The reasons (R) from the students (S) were as follows: (R 1 ): "Mhm (.)I have learned from (.) Reciprocal Teaching Method/the Reciprocal Teaching Method, first is predicting, second is questioning, third is clarifying and fourth is summarizing."(S 1 ) (R 2 ): "The obvious things that I learned are four.Firstly,predicting,questioning,mhm,summarizing and clarifying." (S 4 ) (R 3 ): "There is summarizing, then (…) [thinking].Yes, there are like questioning, summarizing, and predicting."(S 5 ) (R 4 ): "So, in the learning process, we learn how to analyze a text by using four strategies.First, by predicting, then we define the main idea.We made questions.Then, we summarize.Lastly, we define the tricky words."(S 9 ) From the interview result, we also discovered that after being trained using RTM, students were able to define a main idea, topic and detail information from the text.The followings are statements from the students.Question number six was about the students' point of view on whether the teacher should use RTM in the reading classroom or not.The responses were various.Nine students agreed that the teacher should use this method but not often.However, a few students claimed that the teacher should not use this method, such as said by: (R 1 ): "[thinking](.).I think hm-mm do not too often because [thinking] students will be difficult to understand." (S 6 ) (R 2 ): "No.Because if teacher uses this method, even if it's modern but teacher won't be active to teach anymore and students will be left with their own ability."(S 11 ) The last question was directed to students about their ability in using four comprehension strategies in RTM if they read independently.The positive answers from the students can be seen in the following statements: (R 1 ): "Of course yes." (S 1 ) (R 2 ): "Maybe, I can." (S 3 ) (R 3 ): "[thinking] Mhm-mhm.I can." (S 5 ) Meanwhile, there were also some students who considered that they cannot apply those strategies independently.Two of these negative responses are as follows.

(R 1 ): "If I read individually [thinking], it will be more difficult." (S 2 ) (R 2 ): "[thinking] (…) If independently I cannot. But, if in group, I can." (S 11 )
The transcriptions above implied that most students prefer this method to be used in the reading classroom to the conventional one.Additionally, they claimed that RTM helped them understand the text easier through the group discussions.They can discuss or share their opinions of the text amongst their peers.They also felt that they can use the strategies in RTM independently.Nonetheless, a few students also had some negative opinions towards RTM.These students thought that if the teacher uses this method during teaching reading, they are afraid that he or she will not be active in teaching anymore.Besides, they consider this method to be boring if used frequently.

Discussion
The observations and results from this study show that the students had a positive experience.They became active and cooperative during the classroom reading activities.At the end of the day, they were able to apply the RTM strategies.The three sessions of training of RTM helped made some of them to be independent readers.Thus, the reading process of RTM did not only enhanced their reading comprehension but also influenced them to become strategic readers.Moreover, the data findings from the documents showed that of the four comprehension strategies, the students had become competent to apply two to three of the strategies.They, however, could not apply all four reading strategies at once.This result is similar to the findings of Choo, Eng & Ahmad (2011) who claims that RTM encourages better reading comprehension abilities amongst students.
Furthermore, from the interview results, it can be concluded that most students preferred their teacher to use RTM during reading classes.This is because RTM makes students active, cooperative and confident in group work.The other finding from the interviews was that the students found the summarizing strategy to be the most difficult strategy for them to do, and thus, predicting and questioning were the easiest strategies to be applied.Most even believed they might be able to use this method while reading independently.They anticipated the possibility of using the RTM and being able to apply the training by themselves to use the four comprehension strategies regularly whilst reading.

Conclusions
In comparison to previous studies conducted by Choo, Eng & Ahmad (2011), Frehat and Makhazorni (2012) and Soelaimani (2013), the findings of this study focused more on the processes of RTM training in addition to the reading comprehension achievements of the students.Based on the data findings, some conclusions can be drawn.Firstly, using RTM on the processes of reading activities are more productive, active and cooperative.Students were participative during the reading lessons.They were more eager to read by applying the four comprehension strategies in order to understand the texts.Secondly, the use of RTM trains learners to apply strategies while reading independently and to be strategic readers.Lastly, students think that this method should be used by their teachers in teaching reading as an alternative method.

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R 5 ): "Mhm (…) learn (.)There are many things.I can define the main idea individually.I can define topic from the text by looking at the pictures and the title."(S 10 )