Enhancing the ability of secondary students to read classical Chinese through a reciprocal teaching reading instruction program = 以相互教學法閱讀課程提升中學生文言文閱讀能力

Abstract

This study examines the effects of reciprocal teaching on secondary students’ basic and higher-order reading abilities in reading classical Chinese. The participants in this research were Hong Kong students from secondary 1 and secondary 4. In Study One, the participants were 124 secondary 1 Hong Kong students with an average age of 12.5. Students in reciprocal teaching group (69 secondary 1 students) were compared with their counterparts (55 secondary 1 students) in traditional instruction group. Comprehension tests were administered to assess their basic and higher-order reading abilities. Think-aloud tests were also developed to reveal the 12 selected high, medium, and low achievers’ reading comprehension processes in the reciprocal teaching group. ANCOVA (Analysis of covariance) showed a statistically significant difference between the two groups, reciprocal teaching group outperformed the traditional instruction group on basic and higher-order reading abilities. Analysis further indicated that the high, medium, and low achievers in basic and higher-order reading abilities in the reciprocal teaching group scored higher than their counterparts in the traditional instruction group. In Study Two, the participants were 144 secondary 4 Hong Kong students with an average age of 15.5. Students in reciprocal teaching group (57 secondary 4 students) were compared with their counterparts (87 secondary 4 students) in traditional instruction group. Comprehension tests were administered to assess their basic and higher-order reading abilities. The 10 selected high, medium, and low achievers in the reciprocal teaching group were also asked to think-aloud in order to reveal their reading comprehension processes. ANCOVA (Analysis of covariance) showed a statistically significant difference between the two groups, reciprocal teaching group outperformed the traditional instruction group on basic and higher-order reading abilities. Analysis also indicated that the high, medium, and low achievers in basic and higher-order reading abilities in the reciprocal teaching group scored higher than their counterparts in the traditional instruction group. The results revealed that both secondary one and four students’ basic and higher-order reading abilities in reading classical Chinese can be enhanced through this reciprocal teaching reading instruction program.