In 2018 the Ministry of Education and Training in Vietnam (MOET) introduced the new General Education Curriculum for primary schools which focuses upon the development of students’ capacities. The new Vietnamese language curriculum emphasises the development of students’ language capacities including reading, writing, speaking and listening. This study focused on students reading comprehension skills and reading aloud. It investigated the way in which the Gradual Release of Responsibility (GRoR) model (Pearson & Gallagher, 1983) can be used to develop the reading comprehension of primary students. The study was conducted in two classrooms, one in an urban setting and the other in a rural setting. As a result of using the GRoR model students’ reading comprehension improved to a high degree. Students’ skills involving identifying the main idea, understanding the text structure, making inferences and developing summarising skills all improved. Students were able to read more independently. They were able to read aloud more fluently. Their level of cooperation inproved as a result of working in collaborative groups and their problem solving skills improved.