Literature Circles

Findings from Plains Reading Council Literature Discussion Group Meetings on: The Research and Professional Literature on Literature Discussion/Response Groups, Circles, and Clubs

The research articles and/or summaries of research we found indicate that literature response groups, in various forms and by various names, produce the following results:

Students think of themselves as more competent, successful readers.
Students become risk takers and are more willing to communicate interpretations, thoughts, and feelings about books.
Students become metacognitive about their reading and writing and more actively monitor and question their strategies and processes of literacy.
Students become more reflective readers who continuously revise interpretations, apply text events and information to their own experiences, and explore implications that can be derived from the reading .
Students develop higher levels of critical thinking about literature and engage in more evaluation, synthesis, and comparisons to other genres or pieces of literature.
Students develop a more varied repertoire of responses to literature.
Students develop a greater appreciation and understanding of the elements of literature.
Students score well on standardized and other tests of reading skills and achievement.
Students say that literature circles make them more highly motivated to read than whole-group or ability-group reading instruction (Burns, 1998) because literature circles allow opportunities for:

            1. self-selection of books (from sets provided by the teacher);
            2. choices of roles within groups (such as Discussion Director,
                Vocabulary Enricher, Passage Picker, Illustrator, Quotation Chooser;
                See Daniels, 1994); and
            3. sharing interpretations and knowledge in social interactions with peers.

More elementary than middle or high school teachers report that they use book clubs and literature discussion groups in their classrooms, but the reverse is true for their reports about their own participation in adult book clubs. In fact, all literacy professionals surveyed (Commeyras & DeGroff, 1998) were far less interested in belonging to a book club than they were in using them in the classroom.

References
    Almasi, J. (1995). The nature of fourth graders’ sociocognitive conflicts in peer-led and teacher-led discussions of literature. Reading Research Quarterly, 30, 314-351.
    Anzul, M. (1993). Exploring literature with children within a transitional framework. In K. Holland, R. Hungerford, & S. Ernst (Eds.), Journeying: Children responding to literature (pp. 187-203).
    Atwell, Nancie. 1987. In the middle: Writing, reading, and learning
with adolescents. Portsmouth, NH: Boynton/Cook.
    Borders, S.G., & Naylor, A.P. (1993). Children talking about books. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx.
    Burns, B. (1998). Changing the classroom climate with literature circles. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy, 42, 124-129.
    Commeyras, M., & DeGroff, L. (1998) Literacy professionals’ perspectives on professional development and pedagogy: A United States survey. Reading Research Quarterly, 33, 434-472.
    Daniels, H. (1994). Literature circles: Voice and choice in the student-centered classroom. York, ME: Stenhouse.
    Encisco, P. (1992). Creating the story world: A case study of a young reader’s engagement strategies and stances. In J. Many & C. Cox (Eds.), Reader stance and literary understanding (pp. 75-102). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
    Galda, L. (1992) Evaluation as a spectator: Changes across time and genre. In J. Many & C. Cox (Eds.), Reader stance and literary understanding (pp. 127-142). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.
    Galda, L. (1993). How preferences and expectations influence evaluative response to literature. In K. Holland, R. Hungerford, & S. Ernst (Eds.), Journeying: Children responding to literature (pp. 302-315). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
    Gilles, C. (1990). Collaborative literacy strategies: "We don’t need to have a circle to have a group." In K. Short & K. Pierce (Eds.), Cycles of meaning (pp. 199-217). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
    Kletzien, S.B., & Hushion, B.C. (1992). Reading workshop: Reading, writing, thinking. Journal of Reading, 35, 444-451.
    Knoeller, C.P. (1994). Negotiating interpretations of text: The role of student-led discussions in understanding literature. Journal of Reading, 37, 572-580.
    Nystrand, M. & Gamoran, A. (1991).Instructional discourse, student engagement, and literature achievement. Research in the Teaching of English, 25, 261-290.
    Nystrand, M. & Gamoran, A. (1993). From discourse communities to interpretative communities: A study of ninth grade literature instruction. In G. Newell & R. Durst (Eds.), Exploring texts: The role of discussion and writing in the teaching and learning of literature (pp. 91-111). Norwood, MA: Christopher-Gordon.
    Protherough, R. (1987) The stories that readers tell. In B. Cocoran & E. Evans (Eds.), Readers, texts, teachers (pp. 75-92). Montclair, NJ: Boynton-Cook.
    Raphael, T.E. & McMahon, S.I. (1994). Book club: An alternative framework for reading instruction. The Reading Teacher, 48, 102-116.
    Samway, K., Whang, G., Cade, C., Gamil, M., Lubandina, M., & Phommachanh, K.. (1991). Reading the skeleton, the heart, and the brain of a book: Students' perspectives on literature study circles. The Reading Teacher, 45, 196-205.
    Short, K. (1993) Making connections across literature and life. In K. Holland, R. Hungerford, & S. Ernst (Eds.), Journeying: Children responding to literature (pp. 284-301). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
    Smith, K. (1990). Entertaining a text: A reciprocal process. In K. Short & K. Pierce (Eds.), Talking about books: Creating literate communities (pp. 17-31). Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
    Spiegle, D. (1998). Silver bullets, babies, and bath water: Literature response groups in a balanced literacy program. The Reading Teacher, 52, 114-124.
    Swift, K. (1993). Try reading workshop in your classroom. The Reading Teacher, 46, 366-371.
    Turner, J., & Paris, S.G. (1995). How literacy tasks influence children’s motivation for literacy. The Reading Teacher, 48, 662-673.
Additional teacher resources and support for literature response groups can be found in the theories, philosophies, and applications at the Literature Circles web site (http://www.sasked.gov.sk.ca/docs/mla/circle/resourct.html).