IATEFL Manchester 2015 - Academic Reading Circles

academicreadingcircles

By Tyson Seburn @seburnt

The context• Undergraduate students from the

Faculty of Arts & Science at the University of Toronto

• 1st year history credit course + 3 language & academic support courses (L&S, R&W, University skills)

• 16 students per class, mostly Chinese & Ecuadorian, and Russian

• 24 weeks over the academic year

The problem• Need to engage deeply with course

texts• Superficial reading occurs• Applied understanding quite rare

from most students• Inability to synthesis content from

course texts into written assignments

The solution?• Literature circles (Daniels, 2002)• Literature circles for ELT (Furr,

2004)

Genre Writing Robust

academicreadingcircles

academicreadingcircles

Common text given to groups of 4 or 5

Individually read outside of class for specific components

Group work in class

lensesThere are five lenses to ARC.1. leader2. contextualiser3. visualiser4. connector5. highlighter

Between 2010 and 2012, however, cyclists had their day, which proved quite costly. Attempting to improve Jarvis Street “as a cultural corridor with an emphasis on its historical significance,” the City approved new sidewalks, trees, and curbside bicycle lanes. To make way, its reversible lane was removed and the existing four lanes were redrawn. City cyclists declared victory even though the lanes themselves included mere painted borders and chevrons. Legally sharing the road between motorists and cyclists was in fact short-lived. Despite protests, just 18 months later, a new City council led by Mayor Rob “war on the car” Ford, passed a vote by a very close margin to remove the bike lanes to the sum of $272,000 (a $186,000 difference above the cost of installation).

The text

1. leader

• Purpose for reading this type of text• The target audience• Bibliographic information• Baseline comprehension

Situate text and gauge group

1. leaderWhich statements represent key points?1. Cyclists once influenced Jarvis Street’s lanes.2. Jarvis Street’s infrastructure was

reconfigured to allow for beautification.3. The bike lanes were not very safe.4. City council reversed its earlier decision,

which cost a lot of money.5. Mayor Rob Ford was an international joke.

Situate text and gauge group

2. contextualiserBetween 2010 and 2012, however, cyclists had their day, which proved quite costly. Attempting to improve Jarvis Street “as a cultural corridor with an emphasis on its historical significance,” the City approved new sidewalks, trees, and curbside bicycle lanes. To make way, its reversible lane was removed and the existing four lanes were redrawn. City cyclists declared victory even though the lanes themselves included mere painted borders and chevrons. Legally sharing the road between motorists and cyclists was in fact short-lived. Despite protests, just 18 months later, a new City council led by Mayor Rob “war on the car” Ford, passed a vote by a very close margin to remove the bike lanes to the sum of $272,000 (a $186,000 difference above the cost of installation).

Identify and research contextual references

2. contextualiserBetween 2010 and 2012, however, cyclists had their day, which proved quite costly. Attempting to improve Jarvis Street “as a cultural corridor with an emphasis on its historical significance,” the City approved new sidewalks, trees, and curbside bicycle lanes. To make way, its reversible lane was removed and the existing four lanes were redrawn. City cyclists declared victory even though the lanes themselves included mere painted borders and chevrons. Legally sharing the road between motorists and cyclists was in fact short-lived. Despite protests, just 18 months later, a new City council led by Mayor Rob “war on the car” Ford, passed a vote by a very close margin to remove the bike lanes to the sum of $272,000 (a $186,000 difference above the cost of installation).

Identify and research contextual references

3. visualiserBetween 2010 and 2012, however, cyclists had their day, which proved quite costly. Attempting to improve Jarvis Street “as a cultural corridor with an emphasis on its historical significance,” the City approved new sidewalks, trees, and curbside bicycle lanes. To make way, its reversible lane was removed and the existing four lanes were redrawn. City cyclists declared victory even though the lanes themselves included mere painted borders and chevrons. Legally sharing the road between motorists and cyclists was in fact short-lived. Despite protests, just 18 months later, a new City council led by Mayor Rob “war on the car” Ford, passed a vote by a very close margin to remove the bike lanes to the sum of $272,000 (a $186,000 difference above the cost of installation).

3. visualiserRepresent text concepts in graphical formats

4. connector

1. Have there been other asinine government decisions?

2. Does this situation remind you of anything from your other classes?

3. Does the configuration of Jarvis Street remind you of a street you know?

Make connections to outside sources

5. highlighterBetween 2010 and 2012, however, cyclists had their day, which proved quite costly. Attempting to improve Jarvis Street “as a cultural corridor with an emphasis on its historical significance,” the City approved new sidewalks, trees, and curbside bicycle lanes. To make way, its reversible lane was removed and the existing four lanes were redrawn. City cyclists declared victory even though the lanes themselves included mere painted borders and chevrons. Legally sharing the road between motorists and cyclists was in fact short-lived. Despite protests, just 18 months later, a new City council led by Mayor Rob “war on the car” Ford, passed a vote by a very close margin to remove the bike lanes to the sum of $272,000 (a $186,000 difference above the cost of installation).

focus on vocabulary interference

5. highlighterBetween 2010 and 2012, however, cyclists had their day, which proved quite costly. Attempting to improve Jarvis Street “as a cultural corridor with an emphasis on its historical significance,” the City approved new sidewalks, trees, and curbside bicycle lanes. To make way, its reversible lane was removed and the existing four lanes were redrawn. City cyclists declared victory even though the lanes themselves included mere painted borders and chevrons. Legally sharing the road between motorists and cyclists was in fact short-lived. Despite protests, just 18 months later, a new City council led by Mayor Rob “war on the car” Ford, passed a vote by a very close margin to remove the bike lanes to the sum of $272,000 (a $186,000 difference above the cost of installation).

focus on vocabulary interference

5. highlighterBetween 2010 and 2012, however, cyclists had their day, which proved quite costly. Attempting to improve Jarvis Street “as a cultural corridor with an emphasis on its historical significance,” the City approved new sidewalks, trees, and curbside bicycle lanes. To make way, its reversible lane was removed and the existing four lanes were redrawn. City cyclists declared victory even though the lanes themselves included mere painted borders and chevrons. Legally sharing the road between motorists and cyclists was in fact short-lived. Despite protests, just 18 months later, a new City council led by Mayor Rob “war on the car” Ford, passed a vote by a very close margin to remove the bike lanes to the sum of $272,000 (a $186,000 difference above the cost of installation).

focus on vocabulary interference

5. highlighterBetween 2010 and 2012, however, cyclists had their day, which proved quite costly. Attempting to improve Jarvis Street “as a cultural corridor with an emphasis on its historical significance,” the City approved new sidewalks, trees, and curbside bicycle lanes. To make way, its reversible lane was removed and the existing four lanes were redrawn. City cyclists declared victory even though the lanes themselves included mere painted borders and chevrons. Legally sharing the road between motorists and cyclists was in fact short-lived. Despite protests, just 18 months later, a new City council led by Mayor Rob “war on the car” Ford, passed a vote by a very close margin to remove the bike lanes to the sum of $272,000 (a $186,000 difference above the cost of installation).

focus on vocabulary interference

specs• One common text• Individual + group work + whole class• Rotating lenses across the program• 1 per week max, often 5 per term• Deeper comprehension• Better use of text in writing

references• Daniels, H. 2002. Literature Circles: Voice and Choice in

Book Clubs and Reading Groups. (Second edition). Portland, ME: Stenhouse.

• De Chazal, E. 2014. English for Academic Purposes. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

• Furr, M. 2004. Literature Circles for the EFL Classroom. 2004. http://www.eflliteraturecircles.com/litcirclesforEFL.pdf.

• Academic Reading Circles by T. Seburn (forthcoming from the round) http://the-round.com/labs/academic-reading-circles/

• More info on ARC http://fourc.ca/arc• Visualiser – photo from http:

//www.blogto.com/city/2011/07/jarvis_bike_lanes_to_be_eliminated/

• Visualiser – satirical cartoon http://bit.ly/1Iij4RS

academicacademicreadingreadingcirclescircles

By Tyson Seburn @seburnt