Does Collaborative Learning Support Literacy?

I believe collaborative learning supports literacy in many ways. While working in small groups, students can use strategies to engage in discussion and enhance one another’s understanding of text. Teacher and student collaboration is essential in the classroom and when constructed properly, literacy is supported. Reciprocal teaching for the primary grades involves three different phases and for example one of which requires students to engage in RTPG while the teacher participates through the role of facilitator/leader of the group. As they proceed onto the third phase, students participate in RTPG groups but report their responses to the teacher. Collaborative learning truly allows the teacher to continue to monitor and scaffold the students as they move to independent practice. Collaborative learning also has a positive impact when RTPG is used with the reading basal, content are textbooks, and trade books. For example, with the reading basal students can interact with their peers and collaborate in a manner where the teacher is not always the one they depend on. By instilling a sense of independence in children, the students can read the text with their assigned buddy and without any teacher assistance. I also find collaborative learning positively influencing literacy especially when it comes to choral reading, or when the class reads the text aloud together. This allows for students to develop fluency, but also the second reading in which the students encounter helps those who struggle with reading the text with their buddy or who were not able to finish reading the text on their own. Collaborative learning allows for students to participate and take on leadership skills as they lead in their reading groups. By giving students this opportunity, they can interact with others who may have a bit more experience with the RTPG routine, for example. Also, by collaborating in a manner where groups take turns to report their predictions and purposes for reading to the class (while the teacher records them), allows for the teacher to continue to monitor the students’ use of strategies and scaffold their progress when needed. Overall, I believe collaborative learning supports literacy and allows for whole-class discussion to occur while having students engaged in buddy reading and choral reading of text. Truly, students are capable of devoting more attention to discussing and comprehending the text they read through RTPG as well as learn to coordinate, and apply comprehension strategies while working in collaborative groups.