Using Literature Circles Instruction to Develop Reading Comprehension Skills

Introduction

In educational environments where there is a population of linguistically and culturally diverse children and young adults learning a majority language, educators are very likely to encounter learners who are at risk in terms of developing literacy skills that transfer well into workplace contexts in the 21st century. The prevalence of at-risk English learners is especially robust in BANA countries (Britain, Australasia, and North America) (see, for example, Ball, 2011; NCES, 2018) but is also prevalent in other countries that accept large numbers of immigrants and have a great deal of linguistic diversity within their public educational systems (e.g., Hernes, Martin, & Zadra, 2004; Krulatz, Dahl, & Flognfeldt, 2018). In response to the impact of demographic changes and large-scale migration on schools and educational systems, conceptions of literacy and how to teach it to linguistically and culturally diverse learners in the 21st century have been evolving and changing. Although reading and writing are essential components of literacy, these concepts alone are not sufficient to describe the complex practices that educators must embrace to foster its development. Literacy cannot be described simply as learning the letters in an alphabet, writing words and sentences, or reading a book and understanding what has been read. Rather, it must be conceived in terms of the development of a specific set of skills to communicate with others, to expand one’s knowledge of the world, and to foster mutual understanding across cultures and languages (LoBianco & Freebody, 2001; Lonsdale & McCurry, 2004; UNESCO Education Sector, 2004). To meet the needs of language learners, educators continue to look for effective ways to teach literacy to accomplish these goals.

Literature circles instruction is an interactive methodology that can be effective in helping language learners develop literacy skills, particularly reading comprehension skills. Even though the ways in which literature circles might be implemented vary depending on the age of the learners, it can be used with learners from as young as aged six to adults who are studying in postsecondary contexts and developing literacy skills in a second or foreign language (SFL). In literature circles instruction, learners are encouraged to read texts and work together in small groups to construct meaning cooperatively (Daniels, 2002). In these student-led discussion groups, each student is assigned a role that corresponds to a specific cognitive task and a reading strategy. In addition, learners are given specific information (in the form of teacher-prepared role sheets) to assist them in carrying out the and in developing language skills. To this end, the student-led discussions not only provide opportunities for group members to construct meaning from the text but also encourage them to develop the language skills related to the assigned roles. Although the student-led discussion groups have been a defining characteristic of the methodology for literature circles instruction, it is not the only important component. Literature circles pedagogy also includes explicit instruction provided by the teacher, which occurs at the beginning and end of each class (Daniels, 2002; Zhao, 2019). The teacher also plays an important role as a facilitator, supporting students in interacting with one another and with the text, particularly during times when learners are learning to work independently in groups (Daniels, 2002; Martinez-Roldan & Lopez-Robertson, 1999; McElvain, 2010). Because of the increase in the number of young language learners in multilinguistic and culturally diverse settings and in the number of young learners who are developing literacy skills in both their first language (L1) and in an SFL concurrently using different writing systems, there is a need for instructional pedagogies that address the development of literacy skills across different orthographies (Tse & Cheung, 2010).