Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Research in Psychology
Year: 2024
DOI:
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A Cluster Randomised Controlled Trial of Reciprocal Reading: A Reading Comprehension Intervention for Elementary School Aged Children
Liam O’Hare
ABSTRACT:
Teaching incorporating reciprocal reading theory and evidence is an internationally popular approach for improving comprehension. The FFT literacy Reciprocal Reading programme aims to improve reading comprehension in elementary school aged pupils. The intervention is delivered by teachers and teaching assistants who are trained on how to deliver the programme. The intervention can be delivered in a universal way (whole class) and in a targeted way (for pupils with poor comprehension, but good decoding skills). To evaluate the programme 98 schools in England were randomised (49 intervention, 49 control and n= 5222). The intervention schools did both versions of the programme in two separate year groups. A range of pre-post reading comprehension and attitude measures were used to identify effectiveness of the programme. Both versions showed a statistically significant effect for comprehension reading attitudes. Only the targeted intervention showed a statistically significant effects on reading comprehension ability (effect size g = .18). In conclusion, the evidence suggested that this reciprocal reading intervention worked best when implemented in small groups and targeted for pupils with specific comprehension difficulties and particularly for pupils in disadvantaged circumstances. This study demonstrates that implementation choices on targeting can have an influence on programme effectiveness regardless of the strength of theory and quality of delivery.
keywords: comprehension, implementation, literacy, randomized controlled trial, reciprocal reading