In the Fall 2017 class, the overall reflection sheet, in which students provided open-ended comments, ran after the three rounds of LCs and had a response rate of 92% corresponding to 34 students. Of the students who responded to the question of their opinions on LCs or any suggestions to LCs, 23 were positive about many of the LC activities, five left no comments, and two held negative attitudes towards the implementation of LCs in their class. The remaining four students made some suggestions, such as reading articles other than those on the textbook, having four rounds of LCs, integrating group competitions into LCs, and allowing more time for group discussions. Sample student opinions on LCs are summarized in Table 1.
Table 1. Student Opinions on LCs
Student Opinions Number
LCs are interesting 13
LCs are good activities 5
LCs are excellent activities 1 It is a creative learning method 1 Do more similar activities in the future 1 LCs are useful in learning English 2 Completing the role sheets other than
Illustrator is troublesome
1
LCs are boring 1
No comments 5
Suggestions 4
Students were also asked to comment on whether LCs are helpful in terms of English learning. Thirty-three of them agreed that they have benefited from LCs.
Specifically, LCs helped enhance their comprehension of the reading texts (n = 13), develop thinking skills (n = 8), and sharpen the listening, speaking, reading, and writing skills (n = 2, 18, 3, 4, respectively). The remaining one student stated that all roles other than Illustrator helped improve his writing and communication skills.
Some comments about LCs included:
1. Literature circles helped me learn English. Literature circle discussions made me try my best to express myself in English, and as a result, I noticed what I did not know. (Female)
2. Compared to my previous English classes, literature circles were more fun.
Through group discussions, literature circles helped increase my understanding of what I read. (Female)
3. Literature circles made English classes less boring. They improved my speaking skills and made me think deeply about the article. (Male)
4. Literature circles were helpful. I made some progress in terms of my reading skills and my vocabulary knowledge. Reading the texts by myself and before lectures helped me become more familiar with the texts. (Male)
Conclusion
The goal of LCs is to encourage active learning by providing students with opportunities for focused reading and collaborative discussions. In the case of the EFL college students examined in this paper, LC role sheets were found effective in engaging students in different types of tasks, providing them with an opening to discussions at a deeper level than those offered by the so-called “discussion-based”
textbooks which are commonly used in EFL classrooms. Moreover, LCs motivated students to read the reading materials critically, to share with each other their feelings, opinions, and responses to the reading materials, and to ask questions of one
another in a way that is not always possible for students in traditional language classrooms.
The use of LCs in EFL contexts seems to be viable and fit well with established teaching practices. Additionally, LCs promote student-centered, collaborative learning, and are largely compatible with what is usually considered a pedagogically sound approach to stimulating second language acquisition.
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