Reciprocal Teaching: Analysing Interactive Dynamics in the Co-construction of a Text’s Meaning

Reciprocal Teaching is one of the most successfully implemented Cooperative Learning practices, yet many aspects of process it follows are still unclear. This study has a twofold aim: to analyse whether Reciprocal Teaching activates diversity in discourse moves, communicative functions and interaction sequences; and to determine whether Reciprocal Teaching needs to be based on prior work on student collaboration and cooperation skills in order to be effective (context dependency versus context independency). Two groups with a different pedagogical background were compared: one with a teacher-centred and one with a student-centred approach. Forty-three grade-three students were led through a Reciprocal Teaching reading activity. Video recordings of each group were transcribed and analysed at the micro-level. Frequencies for each category were described and interpreted. The two groups did not differ significantly in the processes followed, indicating that Reciprocal Teaching is context-independent and able to create interaction-rich and -diverse environment.