Reading comprehension: a collaborative task? : A qualitative study on collaboration between 3rd grade teachers and school librarians in order to advance students’ achievements in reading comprehension

In this study, a total of five teachers were interviewed in grade three from four different schools in Stockholm. Three of these schools are located in different suburbs and one school is located in the central part of Stockholm. The starting point of the study is statistics that show a negative development with, in particular, the students who have Swedish as a second language. This study provides an insight into how teachers in grade three of elementary school in Stockholm work with their students to develop reading comprehension. In the study of reading comprehension, this study focuses on the Reciprocal Teaching (RT) method. RT is a well-established reading comprehension strategy designed to bridge the difference between poor readers and good readers. The study shows that not all teachers are familiar with the RT method and also that teachers do not work consistently with all parts of this method. Furthermore, the study also gives an insight into the question of whether the teachers see the librarian as a possible partner in the process. To measure the level at which the teachers collaborate with school librarians, Montiel-Overall's (2005) Teacher Librarian Collaboration (TLC) theory was chosen. TLC theory is an attempt to make practical use of Loertscher’s taxonomy by grouping the low, medium and high levels of collaboration into four models (Model A: coordination, Model B: cooperation, Model C: integrated instruction and Model D: integrated curriculum.) that help define and measure the effect of each model on students’ achievements. This study concludes that the teachers so far haven’t thought about their school librarian as a potential partner with the stated purpose of increasing the students' reading comprehension. The levels of collaboration are predominantly on the low end of the TLC models (Model A: coordination, Model B: cooperation), meaning that teachers and librarians help each other for mutual benefit but no conscious effort is made to plan, teach and evaluate together