A Dissertation Submitted for the Ph.D. Degree in Education (Curriculum & Instruction: TEFL) By: Najib Abdulwahid Mohammed Al-Soufi Supervisor of English, Ministry of Education, Yemen

1. The Effect of Reciprocal Teaching Strategy
on Developing Yemeni Secondary Stage
Students' EFL Reading Comprehension
Skills and Self-Efficacy
A Dissertation
Submitted for the Ph.D. Degree in Education
(Curriculum & Instruction: TEFL)

2. Introduction
Teaching English in Yemen and its Problems
Reading Comprehension is one Major Problem
Reciprocal Teaching Strategy is Thought to
Improve Reading Comprehension Skills
 Reciprocal Teaching Strategy and Self-Efficacy

3. Statement of the problem
Based on the literature review, pilot study results
and experience of the researcher, Yemeni
secondary school students need to develop their
EFL reading comprehension skills. Therefore, the
Reciprocal Teaching Strategy's potential strength to
produce good Yemeni EFL readers was investigated.

4. Questions of the study
The following main question was: To what extent does the (RTS) have a bearing effect on
Yemeni EFL students' reading comprehension skills and self-efficacy?
From the above main question, the following sub-questions were derived:
 Is there a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level between the mean scores of the
Yemeni first year secondary stage students' performance of the experimental and the
control groups on EFL reading comprehension skills pre-posttest due to the teaching
strategy (reciprocal vs. conventional), gender (male vs. female) and the interaction among
them?
 Is there a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level between the mean scores of the
Yemeni EFL first year secondary stage students' performance of the experimental and the
control groups on self-efficacy pre-post questionnaire due to the teaching strategy
(reciprocal vs. conventional), gender (male vs. female) and the interaction among them?

5. Purpose of the Study
This study attempted to:
 Investigate the effectiveness of the reciprocal teaching strategy
on Yemeni EFL secondary stage students' reading
Comprehension skills.
 Examine the effects of the reciprocal teaching strategy on
Yemeni EFL secondary stage students' self-efficacy.
 Examine the interaction between the independent variables on
the performance of Yemeni EFL secondary stage students'
reading comprehension skills and self-efficacy.

6. Instruments of the study
For the purpose of the study, the researcher devised three
instruments:
 Reading comprehension skills questionnaire
 Reading comprehension skills pre-posttest
 Self-efficacy pre-post questionnaire

7. Participants of the study
The participants of the study consisted of (80)
Yemeni EFL students in four classes, two
male classes and two other female classes
from two schools in two cities.

8. Results of the Study
The following results were revealed:
1. There was a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level between the mean
scores of the Yemeni first year secondary stage students' performance on EFL reading
comprehension skills test experimental and control group in favor of the
experimental group due to using the reciprocal teaching strategy.
2. There was a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level between the mean
scores of the Yemeni first year secondary stage students' performance on EFL reading
comprehension skills test experimental group gender in favor of the female students
due to using the reciprocal teaching strategy.
3. There was a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level between the mean
scores of the Yemeni first year secondary stage students' performance on EFL reading
comprehension skills test experimental group due to the interaction between the
reciprocal teaching strategy and the gender in favor of the female students.

9. 4. There was a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level between
the mean scores of the Yemeni EFL first year secondary stage students'
self-efficacy questionnaire experimental and control group in favor of the
experimental group students due to the reciprocal teaching strategy.
5. There was a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level between
the mean scores of the Yemeni EFL first year secondary stage students'
self-efficacy in experimental group due to the gender in favor of the
female students.
6. There was a statistically significant difference at the 0.05 level between
the mean scores of the Yemeni EFL first year secondary stage students'
self-efficacy due to the interaction between the reciprocal teaching
strategy and the gender in favor of the female students.

10. Recommendations
 Reciprocal teaching strategy should be incorporated in teaching other skills in
different educational stages.
 The Ministry of Education should hold continuous training programs, workshops
and seminars for EFL teachers and supervisors in order to acquaint them with the
new strategies and procedures of teaching English as a foreign language.
 They should concentrate on the real-life situations tasks which are considered a
major component of reciprocal teaching strategy. This will encourage students to
understand English texts inside the classroom freely.
 They should be encouraged and motivated to freely communicate and interact with
their peers to practice reciprocal teaching strategy.

11. Suggestions for Further Research
Further research is needed to:
 Explore the effectiveness of reciprocal teaching strategy in developing
students' listening, speaking and writing skills in different stages.
 Explore the effectiveness of reciprocal teaching strategy in developing
students' different skills in other subjects like Math, Science and
other disciplines.
 Investigate and compare the effect of the reciprocal teaching strategy
and the technique described in the teacher's guide on Yemeni EFL
secondary stage students' writing Skills in English.

12. Acknowledgements
First and foremost, I thank Allah the
most Gracious for enabling me to
accomplish this piece of research. I owe
much of gratitude to my supervisors;
Prof. Badran Abdel-Hamead Hassan
for his constant assistance, endless
encouragement and never-ending
support throughout the study, and

13. Prof. Adel Abd AlHaliem
AlSheikh for his constant
positive feedback, brotherly
guidance and insightful
remarks during every step of
the research.

14. My appreciation goes to Prof. Eman
Mohammed Abdel-Haq and Prof.
Asmaa Abdel-Moneim Mostafa for
accepting to be my examiners. I owe
much to them for honoring my viva
committee. I would also like to thank
the jury members for their considerable
assistance in establishing the validity of
the study instruments.

15. Many thanks are due to the principal of Azal Al-Wadi School
Anisa Al-Salami, English language supervisor, Fatema
Hamza and English language teachers; Sumai Al-Aghbari,
Bassam Al-Mekhlafi, Abdullah Qaid for their valuable
participation in the application phase of the study.
Finally, I dedicate this humble work to my late father. May
Allah rest and bless his soul. Words cannot express my love
and gratitude to my mother, beloved wife, my children; Elyas,
Mohamed, Maram and Magd and to everybody in my family
whose encouragement enabled me to accomplish this piece of
research. May Allah bless them and you all.