Academic Reading Circles by The Round

Academic reading circles, by Tyson Seburn for the round

Academic reading circles Academic reading circles (ARC) is an intensive reading program whose components work on the basis that deep textual comprehension for language learners is developed better through initial collaboration among many than if tackled alone. It has had a significant impact on my students’ demonstration of reading ability and incorporation of textual information in writing assignments (hopefully this will become evident as we travel through the book). It also can bring out a passion you didn’t know you had, for the many aspects of a text that combine together for meaning we take for granted, but learners do not. ARC is the result of adaptations to an existing reading skills framework, research-based underpinnings, and a great deal of trial and error (a big, but silent thank you to the hundreds of learners involved over the past four years of ARC use). Down to its core, it is what it claims to be: readers circled around a common text, used for an academic purpose. But through this book, I hope its rationale becomes clear, its methodology inspires you, and the samples provide insight into teaching textual comprehension in a way you hadn’t had before. This book exists for language teachers, but ultimately it’s the learners who benefit the most.

Academic reading circles, by Tyson Seburn for the round

What you will find in this book Chapter 1: Introduction Chapter 2: ARC learner roles 1. Group leader (Click for a sample of introducing this role to learners) 2. Visualiser 3. Connector 4. Contextualiser 5. Highlighter (Click to watch a preview) Chapter 3: The interactions of ARC Chapter 4: Turning pitfalls into potentials Chapter 5: Increasing accountability Chapter 6: Working through a complete ARC Chapter 7: The next evolution - crowdsourcing Appendix A: Sample readings Appendix B: References for further reading

Academic reading circles, by Tyson Seburn for the round

Chapter 2: ARC roles Starting ARC off on the right foot helps classes embrace the activity and sets up the remaining ARC cycles with enthusiasm. To do so, introducing each role using simple examples and texts relevant to the learner contexts is important for not only buy-in but also increasing autonomous execution. In this chapter, we look at each of the roles specifically through the lenses they focus on for the common text and the responsibilities each has before the in-class discussion. Additionally, we will try out a sample activity (or two!) to introduce learners to these roles.

Sometimes it seems like learners understand what they’ve read, but it’s not always what it appears to be. The focus of the Group Leader is to not only manage discussion, but to ensure everyone in the group begins the discussion with an agreement on basic comprehension. Once this basis is established, the group can more effectively learn from each other’s work during the remaining discussion. Without it, all information provided by the other members may result in detrimental and time-wasting disagreement. One duty of the Group Leader is to create three detail (sometimes called ‘specific information’), three comprehension and three discussion questions for the group about the text. Having the Leader create these questions (as opposed to the teacher) is a checkmark on their understanding of key text concepts, as well as an initiation into critical thinking: which questions would garner the maximum demonstration of basic group understanding? Grammatical construction issues aside, this can be more challenging than it seems. To begin, learners should be aware of the difference between detail, content comprehension and discussion questions. Often the former two are confused, leaving the learner and teacher misled on level of textual comprehension. One simply asks readers to find through scanning the text; the other relies on understanding how vocabulary, grammar and purpose are used to create meaning. Demonstrating these differences to learners can be done through a garbledegook text that the teacher has produced through a newspaper article with relevant content to the learners’ context, like the one included below.

(NB: this sample is part of the introduction to one of the ARC roles and includes a sample activity; for the continuation of this section plus a whole lot more, stay tuned!)

Academic reading circles, by Tyson Seburn for the round

Role introduction sample activity Purpose: Skill Aim: Materials:

Introduce the Group Leader role to learners Raise awareness of the differences between detail and comprehension Adapted newspaper article with teacher version / student version, eg. β168,000 boop ected in Memony after caccil to Bandi (below)

Notes:  After giving learners the text with questions and blank answers, ask them to identify where the text likely comes from (newspaper). Ask them about the language it is written in (mixture of gibberish and English). Note to them that many of the words still follow English grammatical rules. Ask them if they think they will be able to answer questions about it (most will likely say no).  Ask learners to read the headline. Can they guess what it is about (the photo of a cell phone might tip some off, but probably not). To activate linguistic schema (and some confidence in reading the text), ask learners: o “Based on the headline, in what two places does the story take place?” (Memony / Bandi – the clue here is the capitalised first letter) o “How much money does this story involve?” (β168,000 – obviously there is no way to pronounce this currency; the clue is the large number with a preceding symbol)  Give time for individual reading. Suggest dictionaries if they wish; they’ll quickly realise they are useless. Task them with answering the questions.  Create pairs to check answers together. You’ll find that each will recite almost exactly the same responses for #1-10 as they can easily quote from the text to answer. These questions are detail questions that can be answered even without understanding anything about the text, including the vocabulary. They demonstrate ability to scan a text for specific information, not comprehension. NB: for future writing lessons: these also demonstrate that directly quoting from a text simply does not demonstrate understanding.  As you listen to their comparisons, you should also notice that they have increasing difficulty in answering #11-13. There may be discussion about what the correct answer is or that they are unable to answer. #11-12 demonstrate ability to comprehend meaning, which is impossible simply by picking out grammatical and lexical patterns. #13 is a discussion question, which can only be discussed if meaning is understood.  When finished, take up as a class. NB: listening to their answers is very amusing. Ask learners: o Were you able to answer all the questions? o Why were you able to answer #1-10 so easily? o Why couldn’t you answer #11-13 at all?  Follow-up activity: to practice this distinction again, give learners another newspaper article of similar length. Divide the class into two different groups, each making a mixture of 3 detail questions and 3 comprehension questions. Switch questions with another group. Learners answer the questions from the text, but also identify which the type of question and support for why they think so.

Academic reading circles, by Tyson Seburn for the round

β168,000 boop ected in Memony after caccil to Bandi [student] A Memony blablen got a miggleloth boop that lirfed blable nammered β168,000. It was no fizzle. The blablen has blablen’s two zexis on her rippy. They are shiffloss and defloss. The easiest way for zexiey to fojoop is by hebling. Normally, that's not a premp. Blable has a jippy rippy that usually quents about β160.

But while the blablen’s zexis were cacciling for two meefs in Bandi, they mooged over 1,500 hebles and also hippled kempos, sometimes totalling β1,500 in jippy edects. Blablen never nekled to a plodderith rippy. T-Miggleloth told the blablen the boop was eefizzle. She called Memony TV noo, WSVN, which durgeoned T-

Miggleloth. The station reports that T-Miggleloth spacked the blablen’s boop to β2,000 and gave the blablen six chitties to sevo.

Task: Answer the questions below based on your understanding of the text. 1.

Who got a miggleloth boop? Was it a fizzle? _________________________________________________________________________

Who does the blablen have on her rippy? _________________________________________________________________________

What two pitloss do they have? How do they more easily fojoop? _________________________________________________________________________

Is that usually a premp? Why or why not? _________________________________________________________________________

What were the blablen’s zexis doing in Bandi? How long? _________________________________________________________________________

What did they do while they were cacciling there? _________________________________________________________________________

What quent them β1,500? Why? _________________________________________________________________________

What did T-Miggleloth tell the blablen? _________________________________________________________________________

What did T-Miggleloth do to the blablen’s boop? _________________________________________________________________________

10. How long did they give the blablen to sevo? _________________________________________________________________________ 11. Why is it easiest for the zexis to heble? _________________________________________________________________________ 12. How would nekling to a plodderith rippy have solved this problem? _________________________________________________________________________ 13. If the boop was eefizzle, why do you think T-Miggleloth spacked the boop down? _________________________________________________________________________ Academic reading circles, by Tyson Seburn for the round

β168,000 boop ected in Memony after caccil to Bandi [teacher] A Memony blablen got a miggleloth boop that lirfed blable nammered β168,000. It was no fizzle. The blablen has blablen’s two zexis on her rippy. They are shiffloss and defloss. The easiest way for zexiey to fojoop is by hebling. Normally, that's not a premp. Blable has a jippy rippy that usually quents about β160.

Miggleloth. The station reports that T-Miggleloth spacked the blablen’s boop to β2,000 and gave the blablen six chitties to sevo.

Task: Answer the questions below based on your understanding of the text. 1.

Who got a miggleloth boop? Was it a fizzle? A Memony blablen got a miggleloth boop, which was not a fizzle.

Who does the blablen have on her rippy? The blablen has blablen’s two zexis on her rippy.

What two pitlosses do they have? How do they more easily fojoop? They are shiffloss and defloss. The easiest way for zexiey to fojoop is by hebling.

Is that usually a premp? Why or why not? Normally no, it’s not because the blable has a jippy rippy that usually quents about β160.

What were the blablen’s zexis doing in Bandi? How long? They were cacciling for two meefs in Bandi.

What did they do while they were cacciling there? They mooged over 1,500 hebles and also hippled kempos.

What quent them β1,500? Why? Jippy edects quent them β1,500 because the blablen never nekled to a plodderith rippy.

What did T-Miggleloth tell the blablen? T-Miggleloth told the blablen that the boop was eefizzle.

What did T-Miggleloth do to the blablen’s boop? They spacked the blablen’s boop to β2,000.

10. How long did they give the blablen to sevo? They gave the blablen six chitties to sevo. 11. Why is it easiest for the zexis to heble? Learners will be unable to answer this question. 12. How would nekling to a plodderith rippy have solved this problem? Learners will be unable to answer this question. 14. If the boop was eefizzle, why do you think T-Miggleloth spacked the boop down? Learners will be unable to answer this question. Academic reading circles, by Tyson Seburn for the round