The Effectiveness of Using Reciprocal Teaching in Improving Reading Comprehension Skills of Preparatory Stage Pupils

This study explored the effects of a reciprocal teaching as an approach to improve reading comprehension skills of preparatory stage pupils. Sample of the study comprised sixty-seven pupils who were divided to a control group (37) and an experimental group (39). The study tools consists of a Reading Comprehension checklist (RCC), and a Reading Comprehension Test (RCT). The ‘t’ test was used to analyze the study sample’s scores and to compare their responses in the pre- and post test. Results showed the effectiveness of the reciprocal teaching technique in improving second preparatory stage pupils’ reading comprehension skills.
Introduction:
Reading is a receptive language process which involves an interaction between language and idea. The purpose of reading is to make meaning from the words that are presented. The writer encodes ideas as language and the reader decodes language as an idea. Hence, the main objective of reading instruction is to help students become good readers who can use strategies effectively to construct and extract meaning. Reading is not only considered as a means of information and enjoyment, but also as a means of extending one’s knowledge of the language. Thus, reading comprehension is much more than decoding. Reading comprehension happens when the reader himself realizes which skills and strategies are suitable for the type of text, and understands how to apply them to accomplish the reading purpose (Sheir, 2008:143).
Accordingly, the overall aim of teaching reading is to develop in the readers the attitudes, abilities and skills needed for securing information, reinforcing the reaction to ideas developing interests and tasks and finally devising pleasure by reading through understanding or “comprehension” (Abdel Hack, 2006).
Successful Reading comprehension needs the efficient coordination and integration of a number of significant processes. These processes include not only word decoding and sentences, but also integrating information within a text and with prior world knowledge (Torky, 2002 &MCNamara, et al., 2011:230).
Thus, readers have to coordinate multiple strategies to understand or comprehend a text. Consequently, students should demonstrate overall understanding, provide inferential as well as literal information, draw conclusion, draw on background knowledge, judge text critically and give thorough responses that indicate careful thought (Brown, et al., 1995& Hardin, 2001).  Accordingly, reciprocal teaching is considered as an essential method to foster and enhance reading comprehension. Reciprocal teaching method requires students to monitor their own progress in reading comprehension.
Problem of the study:
The research problem can be identified in the pupils’ poor mastery of the reading comprehension skills that should be developed in the preparatory stage. This problem might be due to the methods of teaching used to achieve the required objectives. Therefore, the current study is an attempt to investigate the effectiveness of reciprocal teaching as a means to achieve the target objective. Accordingly, the study attempted to address the following questions:

What are the reading comprehension skills required to the second preparatory grade pupils?
To what extent do the second preparatory grade pupils have these skills?
What is the form of the reciprocal teaching strategy that can be used to develop the second preparatory grade pupils’ reading comprehension skills?
What is the effectiveness of the reciprocal teaching strategy in developing the second preparatory grade pupils’ reading comprehension skills?