The Reciprocal Questioning as a Formative Assessment Strategy: EFL Learners' Reading Comprehension and Vocabulary Learning

Abstract

Implementing the mere product-oriented assessment techniques in public schools has exposed the Iranian EFL learners to interminable problems in reading comprehension and the use of the learnt vocabulary in written and spoken communication and language use. This study assessed reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge by practicing the reciprocal questioning (RQ) as an interactive and ongoing assessment strategy. Forty-eight male intermediate participants were recruited from a population of 60 high school students based on their scores on a Cambridge Preliminary English Test (PET). The study employed two intact classes from which the experimental group with 24 participants was assessed using the RQ, while the control group got summative assessment (SA). These two randomly assigned groups were studied for eight weeks. Then, the obtained pretest and posttest scores were analyzed and compared utilizing the Independent Samples T-test and the one-way ANCOVA. The results underscored the effective and contributive role of the RQ, as the process-oriented assessment, on reading comprehension and vocabulary learning of the learners. In general, the result of this study may be illuminative to the rapidly growing SLA research in practicing different formative assessment strategies. In particular, the findings may be pedagogically advantageous to learners, practitioners and theoreticians in SLA.

Keywords

• reciprocal questioning
• formative assessment
• reading comprehension
• vocabulary learning