Using cooperative learning in reading to promote academic talk with students aged 12 to 16 years old

The chapter will focus on structuring reading in post-primary, secondary, and high school classrooms to promote academic talk. The chapter will describe a form of cooperative learning, “peer tutoring”, in which an older student works with a younger student to help reading development. The older students monitors reading, correcting errors, praising the younger student, and asking questions to promote talk and understanding of the text. The processes of organising learning of this nature in the classroom will be described. Research findings will be drawn from a number of studies to show the benefits of talk and reading to learning in this manner.