Pam Babbitt
Literature Review
I located seven articles and two books for my literature review. Out of these seven articles six were based on the "Book Club." My review focuses on three of the "Book Club" articles and the two books.
A study by Susan McMahon was of special interest to me because it was conducted in Laura Pardo's fifth grade classroom. Susan McMahon conducted this research because of the movement toward literature-based reading instruction and also because of the changing role of the teacher. The questions that were focused on were: How will elementary students respond to text in student-led discussion groups? What roles will students adopt as they interact in groups? What influence will instruction have on student interactions?
Although my research question, "Can students learn reading skills through literature circles?", is a different question, the questions Ms. McMahon asked play a part in my research. How the students respond to the text and the type of instruction have an impact on whether students learn reading skills through literature circles. The roles that students adopt would also impact students learning. If there are no leaders among the group it is possible that the students will go nowhere in their discussions. I have found that if there is a strong person in the group they not only lead, but also direct the other students.
In Ms. McMahon's study the students participated in an hour-long period which includes reading, instruction, writing, total class discussions and small, student-led groups called "Book Clubs." This is similar to the format I use in my "Literature Circles". Unfortunately, I do not have an hour long period everyday, so my students do some of their reading and writing at home. When they return to school they meet in their "Literature Circles" and discuss their novel. Another difference is that my students often do not read the same novel. Each "Literature Circle" reads a different novel. This makes it difficult to do a total class discussion. The more I read about the "Book Club" I realize that this is a vital component of the program. I am sure my students would benefit from total class discussion, but I was unsure how to do it with different novels until I received some ideas from another article which I will discuss later.
Two major findings emerged from McMahon's study. First, the students' interaction patterns changed as a result of the instructional focus, group composition, and the activities surrounding the reading. Second, the students I took on different roles on their own. What influenced the students9 interaction patterns the most was the instructional focus. The instruction varied depending on whether the teacher was concentrating on personal response or reading skills and strategies. When the teacher wanted personal response the prompts were more open-ended and when the focus was on reading skills the prompts were text based, such as asking students to predict or to summarize. McMahon found that the open-ended responses encouraged greater student interactions than those that were text based.
In my own research I found that my students were more comfortable with the text based prompts. The longer we do "Literature Circles", the more relaxed my students are with personal responses. They are beginning to value their own viewpoints and worry less on what they deem as the "correct" answer, which tend to be more text based.
The second factor that influenced the interaction pattern was group composition. The frequency and length of response depended on who took leadership. Another influential factor was the other contextual activities surrounding the reading period, such as schedule changes or substitute teachers. The reason these changes influenced was because the teacher resorted to more text based/traditional assignments. This resulted in the turn taking style of round robin reading. I still see this in some of my "Literature Circles." The students take turns reading from their logs rather than having a true conversation. After reading McMahon's observations I wonder if the reason I am seeing the "round robin" style is because I am focusing more on the reading skills and strategies rather than personal response.
A second major finding in McMahon's study revealed that students adopted roles on their own even when the teacher did not assign particular roles. I saw this within my own research. In the beginning I assigned roles, then moved towards students assigning the roles, then finally to no "official" roles at all. Even with no roles the student fell into the roles in which they were most comfortable.
An article entitled, "Book Club: An alternative framework for reading instruction" gave the background to the "Book Club" program. It highlighted the major changes in beliefs about how literacy is developed, goals for reading instruction, and the nature of curriculum materials. I particularly liked this article because it focused on the early "Book Club" experiences and this is where I am with my "Literature Circles." A challenge in early "Book Club" was that it was difficult to move students away from turn taking and the emphasis on individual work, which are very normal activities in school, but which hinder authentic conversations about books. Another challenge was the need to help students consider deeper meanings in the texts. I found the explanation of how to include reading skills, strategies, and instruction within the context of reading and writing about the literature very informative. The examples given included how students learn to develop sequence charts to enhance their understanding of the important events in the story. Book and chapter critiques teaches students how to analyze literary elements, such as plot and character. Since I have to be sure that I teach the strategies and skills within the district-adopted reading program these examples were very helpful.
As I mentioned earlier, total group discussion or Community Share has been difficult for me to do. This article gave some suggestions that I believe will work even if students are reading different novels. Although my students read different novels in their groups the novels are theme related so it would be possible to have total group discussion among genres, or a specific time period such as World War II, or as in this study the teachers used community share to model different ways of responding to texts and how to participate in discussions about text.
In the article "Promoting Meaningful Conversations in Student Led Book Clubs" I found helpful information on improving talk about books. For instance I still have groups that read their log and do not engage in conversation. This article suggests asking the students to listen to audiotapes of their book clubs and to identify positive features, having students dramatically reenact a book club from a transcript (using pseudonyms), with students discussing their reactions after the reenactment, and directing students to observe one another in book clubs and then talk about their observations.
The book, Literature Circles, by Harvey Daniels discussed a study with another fifth grade classroom. The format is very similar to "Book Club." This study prepares the students for literature circles by having all students read the same short story. Then the entire class reads the same novel, and finally they move on to literature circles with six or seven different books. The students in this study have alternating roles they fulfill within their group. In the beginning, when they were reading the short story, the teacher used a transparency of the role sheet on the overhead projector. The entire class practices the same role, alternating roles each day, until each role has been practiced. I used this format in the fall when I was first beginning "Literature Circles" and found it very helpful. The students benefited from everyone learning the role together since many had the same questions. I also modeled the type of responses that could be made to each role on the overhead. This study also incorporates the reading, writing, small groups discussion and whole group discussion. The study said that the whole class is brought back together for discussion and questions, but did not go into any detail. This disappointed me since different novels were used in this study and I wanted more ideas on what was discussed in whole group.
The final book I read was Literature Groups, by Penny Strube. This was a great "how to" book. It consisted of a very good rationale on why to use literature groups, which was consistent with the "Book Club" and the social constructivist theory of reading instruction. Strube maintains that comprehension comes through the reader's link between his own experiences and the text. You need background knowledge to make sense of text and the way to broaden that knowledge is through interactions with adults and peers. Strube's book gives suggestions on selecting quality literature, management of literature groups, a transcript of a literature group, and ideas for assessment and evaluation. She also included her reflections at the end of each chapter that voiced her challenges, frustrations, and accomplishments while implementing literature groups. I found her reflections very helpful and inspiring. This book also provided a checklist that is helpful in organizing my research data.
I have always believed that children learn to read by reading. This literature review reinforces what I believe and also emphasizes that dialogue is the best means of understanding and explaining literature. Whether they are called Literature Circles, Book Clubs, or Literature Groups I am convinced that by encouraging teachers to incorporate reading1 writing, and discussion into their language arts program will increase not only reading comprehension, but also the enjoyment of reading.
Bibliography
Daniels, Harvey. (1994). Literature Circles. York, MN: Stenhouse.
McMahon, S.I. (1992). Book club: A case study of a group of fifth graders as they participate in a literature-based reading program. Reading Research Quarterly, 27 (4), 2920294. (Dissertation from MSU)
Raphael, TE., McMahon, S.I. (1994). Book Club: An alternative framework for reading instruction. The Reading Teacher, 48 (2), 102-116.
Raphael, T.E., Goatley, V.F., McMahon, S.I., & Woodman, D.A. Promoting meaningful conversations in student book clubs. In N. Roser & M. Martinex (Eds.), Book talk and beyond (pp.71-83). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Strube, Penny. (1996). Literature Groups. New York, NY: Scholastic.
Linda Fowler
Literature Review
Epstein, Ira. (1980). Measuring Attitudes Toward Reading Princeton, New Jersey: ERIC Clearinghouse on Tests, Measurement and Evaluation Educational Testing Service.
Although this book was written in 1980, it contains many surveys and questions for different grade levels, so one can pull appropriate questions to create an up-to-date reading attitude survey. The author stresses the difference in measuring attitude from that of intelligence and suggests questions to be used for this purpose. How one evaluates these tests and the validity of these tests are, also, discussed. The book stresses the importance a positive attitude has on one's success and how hard it is to change a negative attitude, along with defining attitude and examining how one is developed. The author feels that student's attitudes toward reading should be evaluated every year as a way to measure reading program success and to quickly alter any negative attitude. This book is a helpful base to start creating an attitude survey and understand the data collected.
Howard, Donald E. (1988). Modifying Negative Attitudes In Poor Readers Will Generate Increased Reading Growth and Interest. Reading Improvement, 25, 39-45.
This article discusses the importance of positive attitude and the success "poor" readers had when their negative attitudes were addressed in a summer reading program. Seventy-five fourth and fifth graders who tested one or more years below in reading level worked with twenty-four Reading Masters' students for six weeks. By focusing on reading experiences, not the usual reading skills and basal, the attitudes of these students toward reading changed to the positive and were displayed through their increased interest in reading. The author's theory was that with positive attitude toward reading, more reading would occur and improved reading ability would naturally follow. The author discusses the points involved in this program; creating positive-successful reading experiences, reading good literature and learning "skills" through literature, not worksheets. Howard suggests this program can work within the classroom with all students, especially those who do not advance using "usual" teaching methods and states that this program illustrates the relationship between negative attitude and one's success. This article did not follow students to track a change in performance, but did outline a program to alter student attitude through enjoyable and successful reading experiences. Howard suggest there is a "cure" for negative attitudes toward reading.
McKenna, Michael C., Kear, Dennis J., & Ellsworth, Randolph A. (1995). Children's Attitudes Toward Reading: A National Survey. Reading Research Quarterly, 30, 934-954.
This national survey included 18,185 United States children in Grades 1-6. It surveyed children's attitudes toward recreational and academic reading. The survey displayed results on charts and graphs, and divided the students in various ways to determine if certain groups were effected more by attitude and then compared reasons for attitudes. The survey charts how one's reading ability, gender and ethnicity, and type of reading instruction may effect one's attitude. Some interesting findings: all reading ability students start with a positive attitude and then both fall throughout the years, girls are found to have more positive attitudes toward reading from the beginning (cultural) but their attitude still declines as does the boys, and that Hispanics began with a higher attitude toward both recreational and academic reading but then, by grade six, are lower than both White and African American. This article includes not only findings but, also, discussions resulting from these findings. Models of what attitudes are comprised of are discussed and displayed, especially McKenna's who's factors include; beliefs about the outcome of reading, beliefs about the expectations of others, and the outcomes of specific incidents of reading. These stress the importance that teachers, family and reading experiences have on one's literacy. Main causes of negative attitudes include frequent frustrating reading experiences, cultural influences (peers) and alternative leisure outlets. These are not held by low ability students only. The importance attitude has on recreational and academic reading and the need for further study is supported by results.
Smith, M. Cecil. (1990). The Relationship of Adults' Reading Attitude to Actual Reading Behavior. Reading Improvement, 27, 116-121.
This survey, completed by eighty-four adults, examined attitudes toward reading and the effect it had on the amount of time spent on recreational reading. Smith states that many studies have been done to access the relationship between children's attitude and time spent reading, but not concerning adults. With increased demands on time, and the difference between knowing one should read and wanting to read, and actually reading, or having to read for job purposes, makes adult data difficult to access. Questions asked included how much time do you read, what do you read and your method of obtaining books. The author felt buying books would show value put on reading. Positive attitude adults bought more books and read more varied material, not just job related. High attitude-behavior connection was found by survey. Time to read was found by positive attitude adult, while negative attitude adult made time excuses, although time was not seen as a major factor.. Survey felt that findings reinforced the importance of developing positive attitudes toward reading by adults and children and that this would promote more reading.
Julie M. Bellinger
RESEARCH LITERATURE REVIEW
I stated in my second technical memo that I felt like I was just scratching the surface of a "literature iceberg," with the small amount of research that I had done. I couldn't have been more right. I found a tremendous amount of interesting information on my two-day expedition through ERIC and the library, especially in the area of reader-response. After all of my reading, I found that so much of what I am doing is interrelated to so many other ideas and theories. Truly mind-boggling. If anything, I found it hard to choose which articles and studies to actually photo-copy.
For purposes of this paper, I chose only to write about the new articles that I had found on my literature search. However, as I read the articles that I had brought home, I found myself wading into each reference section to find other pieces related to my research. It seems as though it is a never-ending process, and I am sure that my search will continue even after this literature review is handed in.
The review itself is set up as an annotated bibliography of the literature that I found helpful. Each article summary is followed by a brief paragraph about how the article relates to my research.
McMahon, S. I. (1994). A student-led book club: Transversing a river of interpretation. New Advocate, 7 (2), 109-125.
This article described in detail, the discussions of one fifth grade group and their book club. It provided a description of each component necessary to carry out this literature based reading program and related events that occurred within the group and how these written and oral interactions helped the students to construct meaning from the literature.
The section that helped me the most was the conclusions that McMahon made about the written and oral interactions the students shared. This helped me to look at my overall research question and put things into perspective. McMahon states, "These opportunities allowed students time and means through which to record, review, and revise their developing thoughts and emotions evoked by literature, thus making reading more personal, more meaningful, and more enlightening." These concluding remarks will definitely help in framing the information that I gain from analyzing my data, but more importantly it reinforces my notions about the meaningfulness that this type of reading program has.
Barone, D. (1990). The written responses of young children: Beyond comprehension to story understanding. New Advocate, 3 (1), 49-56.
This study looked at a mixed grade, mixed ability classroom and how they used dialogue journals (with their teacher) to integrate reading and writing. Through the various student responses (i.e. retelling, clarification of ideas, personal response, interpretive comments and questions), this article reinforced that dialogue journals are an effective tool to use to integrate reading and writing, and they add to a student's reading experience and understanding of the story. Although this study primarily dealt with dialogue journals with a teacher response, I chose just to look at this from a reader response perspective. The students in this study were responding with personal feelings, interpretations, questions/comments, experiences, and opinions, much like what my students did in their response logs using the book club prompts. The results were very similar in that as they progressed their understanding of the text involved more than literal comprehension, instead it lead to a more complete understanding of the story. In essence it is a more personal and meaningful experience with a text, much like those found using a response log followed by student discourse.
McKenna, M.C., & Kear, D.J. (1990). Measuring attitude toward reading: A new tool for teachers. The Reading Teacher, 43 (9), 626-639.
This article discussed the recent emphasis on students' attitude towards reading and their developing literacy. The authors of this research developed a 20 question survey (which is included in the article) that a teacher could use to collect reliable and efficient data about the attitude levels of his/her students in reading. It also contains information about how to interpret my students' results.
Much to my surprise, this article is about the exact survey that I administered to my class to measure their reading attitude before and after my data collection. The background information about the development of the survey and the information that McKenna and Kear offer about reading the results will be most helpful as I begin to analyze the data I have collected about their attitude.
Fitzgerald, S. (1975). Teaching discussion skills and attitudes. Language Arts, 52, 1094-1096.
This article discusses the ability of students to have a discussion in both formal and informal situations. She notes that discussions skills need to be taught. The article offers several types of seating arrangements for group discussions to take place and it explains the teacher's role in each group, as well as his or her role overall. It concludes by offering several types of group evaluation techniques that will encourage thoughtful change.
There are two points that I focused on within this article. First, I like how she listed the subskills and related skills that are needed if students are going to be a successful in an informal or formal group discussion. I think that the seven characteristics that she listed will be helpful when analyzing the success of a certain fishbowl discussion and more importantly when analyzing my three focus students within these discussions. I also found her description of the fishbowl discussion technique (and its variations) helpful As I reflect, I think that this article would have been most helpful at the beginning of my research because it offers a perspective of both the students' and the teacher's role in a discussion group, however it was reassuring to know (from the teacher's perspective) that I carried out the group discussions appropriately.
Flood, J. & Lapp, D. (1988). A reader response approach to the teaching of literature. Reading Research and Instruction, 27 (4), 61-66.
Flood and Lapp summarize the history, theory, and the research in the reader-response based method to teaching literature. They contrast it to the traditional New Criticism theory of reading. They conclude the article with a six-step teaching plan for establishing the reading-response based method in a classroom.
I liked this article especially because it provided some additional theory (for me) about why it is important to use the reading response logs and why they are such a critical component to book club. The six-step format that Flood and Lapp provided at the end, especially the response questions themselves, mirrored much of what I carried out when doing my research. This was reassuring to read. Additionally, this meshes with the theory that we discussed and learned in fall semester and adds to my literacy perspective.
Pantaleo, S. (1995). What do response journals reveal about children's understandings of the workings of literary texts? Reading Horizons, 36 (1), 76-93.
Pantaleo examined the written responses of 8 fifth and sixth grade students to various literature books. She applied the theory of the reader-response method of reading to demonstrate that the students' personal response to literature provided valuable information about their comprehension and their understandings of how literary texts work.
This study made me think about how I am going to analyze the responses of my three focus students. It was amazing how much information Pantaleo would glean from one response, it made me realize what a tremendous amount of information those responses hold. I also like how she tied in the reader-response theory to her work, again it helps me to put my research into perspective. The discussion at the end of her article was super valuable. It explains all of the benefits of writing about literature in response logs and reinforced (especially for me) the meaningfulness of it all.
WolIman-Bonilla, J.E. (1989). Reading journals: Invitations to participate in literature. The Reading Teacher, 43 (1), 112-120.
This article focuses the use of reading journals in a literature based fourth grade classroom. The journals described in the study were primarily a written dialogue between the teacher and the student, and the contents of the entries were shared and discussed in class meetings. Although the entire class participated in the activity, three low readers were the focus of the study and their growth over time was discussed at length within the article. Overall Wollman-Bonilla, found that the journals were tailored to each child's interests, concerns, and needs; children's reading strategies and comprehension of stories were developed more fully; they helped to develop their knowledge of literature; they helped the students grow in communicating and refining their ideas; and finally their growth in confidence and motivation to read increased.
Many aspects of this study reminded me of the book club format, the only part that was uniquely different was the fact the responses were in a dialogue journal format between the teacher and the student. The conclusions that she formed are related to those found by other researchers in the field of the reader-response theory. Although I found all of the information and her research interesting, I was hoping that she would have shared more of her findings in relation to the class meetings. I was left wondering if the discussions were more meaningful and interesting as a result of these personal responses.
Holbrook, H. T. (1987). Reader response m the classroom. Journal of Reading, 30 (6), 556-559.
This article gave a very broad framework of the reader-response and transactional theory, as compared to the New Criticism theory. It gives classroom applications of the reader-response theory, as well as other places to search for more information on the subject.
I found this article is good for giving my research a framework/theory that it falls into. It's background information is great, but what was even better was the other sources that were listed about the subject that one could find on ERIC.