Abstract:
The influence of peers and working with them is widely accepted as an effective mechanism for the better educational outcomes. The teaching and learning activities became more vibrant and interesting when taught and learnt in the group with peers. Taking into consideration of the growing importance of peer scaffolding, the present study was aimed to investigate its effect on students’ reading comprehension. Further, the participants’ evaluation of social validity of the intervention was also assessed. The intervention and study was carried out among first year medicine students in University of Gondar, which is one of prominent universities of Ethiopia. A non -equivalent pre-test post-test quasi-experimental design was employed. The experimental group was consists of 44 students in which seven were chosen as scaffolders and thirty seven was scaffoldees. The control group consists of seven group leaders and 36 learners. Both the groups were assessed for reading comprehension at the pre and post levels. Seven students from each group who have scored higher than their fellows in the pre-tests were selected as scaffolders and group leaders in respective groups. The experimental and control group were randomly divided into seven groups under these selected scaffolders and group leaders. Both experimental and control groups were involved in small group reading comprehension activities for six weeks. However, the scaffolders undergone scaffolding strategies training for 15 hours. The six techniques of scaffolding: feeding back, Hints, Instructing, Explaining, modeling, and questioning were employed in the training. The peer scaffolding model adopted in the study was based on Vygotsky’s socio cultural theory. The social validity questionnaires were administered at the post-intervention stage. The findings of the study revealed that the scaffolders and scaffoldees showed greater pre-to-post- intervention improvement in reading comprehension and rated the intervention as socially valid. Thus, the study assured the efficacy of peer scaffolding intervention as feasible tool to enhance reading comprehension achievement.
