Students practice four basic reading skills and test their ideas against those of their peers. At the same time, they are listening and speaking in English in an authentic academic setting. Students' vocabulary needs are contextualized and clarified, and opportunities exist for using relevant vocabulary during discussion of the text. The reader's independence from the classroom teacher encourages autonomy in the reading process. A video of students engaged in reciprocal teaching provides data for the analysis of reading skills and group dynamics.
Skills are transferable to the reading of texts across the disciplines.
The reciprocal teaching reading group forms a natural study group. The possibility of misinformation being given during student discussions increases the need for monitoring and intervention by the teacher. The model requires competency in decoding. Feedback from my ESL students indicates that they share my enthusiasm because reciprocal teaching is easy to follow, reinforces skills that are basic to reading successfully in English, and provides a forum for the integration of communicative activities. Its potential for multilevel and cross-discipline application makes this model a valuable teaching tool in the ESL classroom.