Reciprocal Teaching

I have never heard of a reading strategy called "reciprocal teaching".  Based on the video in EPSY 6600, I am going to make the following observations.  First, reciprocal teaching must be an instructinal strategy that takes place in the form of a dialogue between teachers and students who are reading text for meaning/comprehension.  It uses the four comprehension strategies: summarizing, question generating, clarifying, and predicting.  The teacher and students take turns assuming the role of the teacher and leading the dialogue.  Second, it appears this teaching strategy is intended for small group discussion such as a literature circle, as the video showed the strategy being administered in this way.  Finally, it appears that all the readers in the group are probably reading at the same level.  I'm wondering if struggling readers would benefit from this comprehension strategy.  It has been my experience that struggling readers need a set structure for reading comprehension and retell such as: who are the main characters, where does this story take place, what was the problem in the story, and how was the problem solved.  I can understand how for some students this would greatly improve meta-cognition, but I believe the students would have to be adequate decoders before engaging in this reading strategy.