Using online Literature Circles to encourage extensive reading

 

Photo by Brooke Cagle on Unsplash

Many of you will be aware that I was running an online book club during the first lockdown, here in the UK, and that this continued afterwards.

Recently, I have been looking again at the research that I completed into extensive reading as part of one of my assignments for the DipTESOL, as I sometimes feel that the students are initially needing a more structured approach to their reading, to avoid them becoming overwhelmed and demotivated.  I looked in particular at my research on Literature Circles. I have used these successfully in the past with Primary School aged children (aged about 9 -11 years old in the UK), and I decided that I would try this approach to lessen some of the barriers to reading that my students have been encountering.

Literature Circles are defined as, ‘a group of students gather together to discuss in depth and share ideas about a piece of literature they read’ (Hill 2007, p. 1). Harvey Daniels was instrumental in the development of literature circles for L1 learners in the 1990s, and this idea was subsequently adapted for the L2 context by Furr (2004). Additional adaptations have been made by others. However, the principles remain the same, with the central idea being the role cards which, ‘break academic reading down into smaller sub-skills’ (Furr 2004, p. 6). He states the benefits as being, ‘the role sheets give ...a set of clear, yet complex tasks...are able to have a discussion at a level far deeper ...’ (Furr 2004, p. 9).  In his study at the University of Tsukuba, Stout (2018) reported that literature circles were, ‘an adaptable and effective way to teach reading to English language learners...encourage students to look at a text from different angles...help each other to work out the meaning...students find them enjoyable too’ (Stout 2018, p. 53).

This is how I set up my Literature Circles, aimed at B1+ level adults. (It's easy to adapt it for other levels, using the same resources) 

The source I selected for the graded readers this time was English e-Reader  The students can go to the main sign up page and easily create a free account. I absolutely love the extensive range of books available on this website. It ranges from A1 – C2 (which is unabridged), and there is definitely something for everyone, with many different genres included. 

Students then go to the main library from the menu and look at the books suitable for their level.

It really depends on your particular context and your own students, as well as the number in your group, but I think that if you have a relatively small group, it’s quite good to let the students look at the covers of all the books and come to a unanimous decision, by discussion, about which one they think looks interesting. On the other hand, a book can simply be selected for the students to read if their interests are known to the teacher. Another way of running it, if there is an extended group of students, is to split them up into groups of six and they work in these groups to select a book for their group. One thing that I would say however, is that my learners were overwhelmed by the choice of books, and the teacher should be ready to guide and advise them by having had a look through the books beforehand and be ready to steer them in a particular direction if required. 

Before we do any actual reading, it's important to set the context. I get the students to just look at the cover - the picture and the title- and predict, from their own background knowledge and the clues they can see, what they think it will be about. For example, where and when the action is taking place, the characters that might be involved and the genre. Only after this will we start to read anything.

The English e-Reader website provides a useful introduction to each book and this is read together in class. The students will then be able to confirm if their predictions were accurate and if they actually still wish to read this book. 

 We then look at the ‘hard words’ which are listed. The students are encouraged to work either on their own, or with a partner, to take several of these words each and do some research to be able to peer teach the other students. This process will lessen the barrier of encountering ‘hard words’ which may slow down the reading process and make the students want to stop and look up each word. This is against the principles of extensive reading.

The final step in the setting up of the Literature Circles is to introduce the students to the idea of the role cards. The names of the roles are displayed on the screen and I elicit, and then we discuss what each of the roles may involve. Finally the role cards are displayed, and each student is given a role, which includes specific tasks to complete as they read the first chapter. 

The best idea, I find, is to create a shared Google folded to share with the students. This enables them to quickly and easily locate the role cards and also an individual Google doc which has been set up for them to record their own answers each time.

There are many role cards available online and a quick search of ‘Literature circles role cards’ will bring up many to choose from. Personally, I have found that Literacy Solutions role cards are amazing Literature Circle Role Cards: Literacy Solutions and they come in different levels too. I highly recommend having a look at this website.

Finally the students are instructed to read a chapter of the book and prepare their answer to share with the group at the next meeting.

The point of the role cards is to allow the students to each focus on one aspect, in depth, and not be overwhelmed. At the meeting they will be able to share their own ideas and to benefit from, and enter into discussion with, the contributions of their peers. The usual roles that are included are: summarizer; word detective; predictor; clarifier; question master; literary observer. There are additional roles that are sometimes included if you feel these will add more depth to your discussions. For each chapter read, the idea is that the roles are rotated, so that everyone has a chance of doing each one.

If you have ever used Literature circles, I would love to hear your experiences of this! The concept works well online and could also be used in a face to face class, as long as each student had access to a mobile phone in class. 

I have found it to be an excellent way of encouraging extensive reading online, as the role cards facilitate cooperation and communication. 

After an entire book has been completed, we are going to use Flipgrid to record our book reviews. Watch out soon for a Blog post about this! 

Here are the references for my quotes, in case you are interested to read further:

Furr, M., (2004). Literature circles for the EFL classroom. Proceedings of the 2003 TESOL Arabia Conference. Dubai, UAE: TESOL Arabia

Hill, B.C., (2007). Literature circles and response. In: NESA Conference Athens 2007. pp. 1-37. [Viewed 28^th March 2020]. Available from: https://www.bonniecampbellhill.com/Handouts/CEESA/CEESA  

Stout, M., (2018). Reading circles in the English language classroom. Studies in Foreign Language Education. 40, 49-59.