Peer Interaction in Reading comprehension Instruction

There is considerable interest in peer interaction during learning tasks. Numerous studies have supported the academic, social, and affective gains that accrue from peer tutoring and cooperative learning arrangements; however, little attention has been paid to the process by which these changes occur. This article reports on an exploratory study of peer tutoring in which the focus was on modeling a process of interaction to promote learning from text. Seventh-grade, remedial reading students were prepared to engage their same-age tutees in the reciprocal teaching procedure, a dialogue that is structured by the use of four comprehension-monitoring strategies. The success of this intervention, as measured by improvements on comprehension assessments, is investigated by examining transcripts of the dialogue that occurred between the tutors and their tutees. The transcripts indicate that the tutors successfully modeled and provided practice in the use of these strategies.