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    Academic Reading Circles
    Academic Reading Circles
    Academic Reading Circles
    Ebook96 pages1 hour

    Academic Reading Circles

    By Tyson Seburn

    3.5/5

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    About this ebook

    Academic Reading Circles by Tyson Seburn is a teacher-resource book for a learner-centred reading skills approach.

    The book explains and exemplifies an intensive reading approach aimed at improving learner engagement with and understanding of concepts in non-fiction texts, like those encountered in higher education courses. This approach (academic reading circles or "ARC") combines individual investigation about specific aspects of a course text with collaborative construction of knowledge about that text in groups. In the book, teachers are guided through an entire ARC cycle, including:

    *the initial introduction of ARC to learners;
    *the five ARC roles learners undertake when reading a text;
    *detailed examples of their use on a sample text;
    *solutions for groupings, assessment, and potential problem areas; and
    *downloadable activities to further facilitate ARC beyond this book.

    Academic Reading Circles is ideal for teacher use in pre-sessional or in-sessional EAP programs at the university level. Secondary and general ESL/EFL classrooms can also benefit. The book is published with the round and available for mobile devices (PC/Mac/Kindle/iPad) only.

    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherTyson Seburn
    Release dateMay 28, 2015
    ISBN9781311581075
    Academic Reading Circles
    Author

    Tyson Seburn

    Tyson Seburn leads and teaches the Critical Reading & Writing course to international undergraduate students in the International Foundation Program at the University of Toronto in Canada. His focus is on teaching English for academic purposes (EAP) and integrating social media into teacher development. He is heavily involved in professional development and has served many roles in ELT associations, including TESL Toronto, TESL Canada, and IATEFL Teacher Development SIG. Tyson founded #EAPchat/#tleap (http://eapchat.wordpress.com | http://bit.do/tleap). Primary Interests: teacher development and teacher identity Secondary Interests: critical reading, academic writing, action research

    Read more from Tyson Seburn

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    Reviews for Academic Reading Circles

    3.5/5

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    • 3/5
      A few spelling mistakes and some bad phrasing which I found rather odd considering the academic nature of the subject matter.

      Apart from that, the actual contents of the publication, Academic Reading Circles, can be put into practice almost immediately.

      Very pleased to have read the book.

    Book preview

    Academic Reading Circles - Tyson Seburn

    Academic Reading Circles

    Tyson Seburn

    Copyright Tyson Seburn 2015, 2016

    Published by the round at Smashwords

    Smashwords License Statement

    This ebook is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This ebook may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each reader. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

    A round publication

    www.the-round.com

    ©2015, 2016 Tyson Seburn

    Original cover design by Marc Bain

    Updated cover by Tyson Seburn

    Original edited by Tania Pattison

    Dedication

    Over the five years that Academic Reading Circles (ARC) has been evolving since its first inception in 2010, many people have contributed in one way or another. I thank them all wholeheartedly, but special gratitude goes to:

    Ellen Servinis

    for initially introducing the concept of literature circles to my world

    Tracy Manning

    for being a sounding board through the evolutions ARC has taken

    My colleagues at New College, University of Toronto

    for ongoing collegial support for ARC

    The hundreds of students

    who have been our guinea pigs, and who have fuelled ARC’s continued use

    Teachers who have implemented ARC

    for encouraging me to continue

    Table of Contents

    This book is divided into modular chapters to make it easier to access what is most relevant for you.

    Introduction

    Chapter 1: Background

    Chapter 2: Basics

    Chapter 3: Text

    Chapter 4: Leader (ARC role)

    Chapter 5: Contextualiser (ARC role)

    Chapter 6: Visualiser (ARC role)

    Chapter 7: Connector (ARC role)

    Chapter 8: Highlighter (ARC role)

    Chapter 9: Interactions

    Chapter 10: Extensions

    Chapter 11: Considerations

    Appendix A: Resources

    Appendix B: More

    Introduction

    Academic Reading Circles (ARC) is an intensive reading approach whose components work on the basis that language learners develop deep textual comprehension better through initial collaboration than if tackled alone. The purpose of ARC is to improve learner engagement with and understanding of concepts in non-fiction texts, like those encountered in higher education courses. Learners engage with a text through different lenses that draw attention to specific types of information, and they co-construct knowledge discovered from these lenses for a clearer overall picture of the meaning and significance of the text.

    ARC has had a noticeable impact on my students’ demonstration of reading ability and incorporation of textual information in written assignments (this will become evident as you travel through the book). For teachers, the use of ARC can also bring out a passion for intensive reading maybe didn’t know you had; we take for granted the many aspects of a text that combine together to create meaning, but learners do not. ARC is the result of adaptations to an existing reading skills framework, research into reading strategies, and a great deal of trial and error. At its core, it is what it claims to be: a group of readers circled around a common text used for an academic purpose. But as you work through this book, its rationale will become clear, its methodology will hopefully inspire, and the samples will provide insight into teaching textual comprehension in a way you perhaps hadn’t thought about before. This book was written for language teachers, particularly those who work with authentic texts used within undergraduate contexts, but ultimately it’s the learners who benefit the most.

    Chapter 1: Background

    How Academic Reading Circles (ARC) came to be

    Helping internationally educated students fresh out of high school to handle university-required reading is a challenge; reasons for this emerge from surveys on reading habits and attitudes given by learners at the beginning of the year. First, like many of us, international students often encounter text through short bursts in text messages and on social media (which many like and do not consider reading) or what is forced upon them through textbooks in school (which many don’t like, considering it obligatory). While there are always interested bookworms, a lot say they do very little pleasure reading outside these two situations, even in their L1. Second, international students often find reading in English particularly time-consuming and, despite this, still lack true comprehension; no pleasure (or grade, depending on the motivator) is gained. Given their perceived need to look up all unknown vocabulary instead of focussing on other comprehensive textual elements, it becomes clearer why reading is both laborious and boring for them.

    (Un)fortunately, university study, no matter the discipline, requires a heavy load of reading material—sometimes literature, sometimes discipline-specific content in varying degrees of academic tone. For several years, my main teaching focus has been preparing learners for the reading and writing requirements of higher education courses at the undergraduate level. Students read both intensively and extensively in preparation for exams, tutorials, and assignments. Alongside this academic goal, I strive to lay the groundwork for an appreciation of the depth of meaning texts can have (admittedly, this may be asking a bit much). Devising strategies to enable learners

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