Reciprocal Teaching of Reading Comprehension Strategies for Students with Learning Disabilities Who Use English as a Second Language

In this study, we investigated the efficacy of 2 related interventions on the reading comprehension of seventh and eighth graders with learning disabilities who used English as a second language. All 26 students participated in reciprocal teaching for 15 days and then were randomly assigned for 12 days to 1 of 2 groups: reciprocal teaching with cooperative grouping (n = 13) or reciprocal teaching with cross-age tutoring (n = 13). Though there were no statistically significant differences between groups on 2 measures of comprehension, students in both groups made significant progress in reading comprehension. Analyses focused on understanding the performance of more and less successful students within groups. Findings revealed that initial reading ability and oral language proficiency seemed related to gains in comprehension, that a greater range of students benefited from strategy instruction than would have been predicted on the basis of previous research, and that students in both groups continued to show improvement in comprehension when provided minimal adult support.