Social constructivist learning theory and reciprocal teaching to teach reading comprehension

Abstract

English teachers who teach reading comprehension course surely often give their students reading assignments, for example reading articles, popular press books and/or internet publications. Unfortunately, the results were not satisfying and made English teachers disappointed. This lack of good reading comprehension skills is exacerbated by the central role of reading comprehension required for the success in higher education. One solution to overcome this problem of poor reading comprehension skills is the explicit teaching of reading comprehension strategies to students, specifically, reciprocal teaching (RT). The philosophical root of RT itself is social constructivism which explains how students might acquire knowledge and learn; then, this concept is accumulated with the use of RT strategy to teach reading comprehension course at school. All are clearly discussed, so that the RT could be an alternative reading comprehension strategic choice for all English teachers to teach reading comprehension course at Polytechnic.

Keywords: Social constructivism, reciprocal teaching, learning evaluation.