Reciprocal Questioning (ReQuest) is a variation on theReciprocal Teachingstrategy. Here, students take on the role of the teacher by formulating their own list of questions about a reading selection. The teacher then answers the students' questions.Reciprocal questioning (Request procedure) was developed to teach students to independently set their own purpose for reading. Reciprocal questioning builds the student’s independence through instructional conversation, mental modeling, and teacher-student reciprocity. This exercise assists reading comprehension at two levels. Students deeply analyze the reading selection to extract their "teacher" questions. The teacher, in turn, reinforces learning by answering the questions and, if necessary, helping students to refine their work into more focused questions. The use of reciprocal teaching strategies has been proven to be effective with students with specific learning disabilities, SLI, ASD, and English language learners in elementary, secondary, and college settings.
Steps to ReQuest Procedure:
- Divide the class into small groups and provide each group with a reading selection or work with an individual student
- Explain the ReQuest process and state the types of questions that will be asked
about___?, What do you remember about___?)
-Relationships, Summarizing, Organizing, & Retelling: Questions connecting or associating with, making a summary of, forming into a
whole with relating or coordinating parts, or that re-translate (ex: How are these similar/different?, Tell me in your own words how___?,
Which ones do you think belong together and why?, What things/events led up to___?)
-Predicting/Inferring & Anticipating: Questions that foretell the future, ask information from evidence or reasoning, or that you
foresee/expect (ex: What feelings do you think made ___ act as he/she did?, Judging from the title/picture, what do you think is about/is
going to happen? If ___ were changed, what do you think would have happened/not have happened and why/why not?)
-Reflective Questioning: Questions that reflect on your knowledge/information (ex: What is the main idea of ___?, What conclusions can be drawn from___?)
- Hand students the reading material
- Read the text with the student(s)
- Have students ask you questions about the reading based on the four types of questions listed above
- Answer the questions and clarify how you know each answer
- Next, you ask students some questions from the same page/passage and make sure they clarify their answers just as you did above
***make note of the importance of clarifying your answers *** - Now on to the next page/passage. This time, both your students and you read the section silently
- After the next section is read silently, come back as a group and repeat steps 5-7 with the student leading the discussion
- Set the students free to finish reading the book silently.
Manzo, A. (1969). "The ReQuest procedure."Journal of Reading, 13, 123-127.
Lenski, Susan D., Wham, Mary Ann, & Johns, Jerry L. (1999).Reading and learning strategies for middle and high school students. Dubuque, IA: Kendall/Hunt.
Singer, H. (1978). "Active comprehension: From answering to asking questions."The Reading Teacher, 31, 901-908.
ReQuest (Reciprocal Questioning)