運用文學圈提升國中生之英語閱讀理解能力

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(1)國立屏東大學英語學系碩士班碩士論文指導教授：余慧珠博士. 運用文學圈提升國中生之英語閱讀理解能力 Applying Literature Circles in Enhancing Taiwanese Junior High School Students’ English Reading Comprehension. 研究生：王姵文撰. 中華民國 108年 8月.

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(4) ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First of all, I want to express my deepest gratitude to my advisor, Dr. Hui-Chu Yu, for her assistance and spiritual guide. Without her encouragements and professional comments, I would not have plucked up again to accomplish my master thesis. Then, I would like to extend my gratitude to Dr. Hsin-Hsin Yang, who helped a lot with the initial framework of my thesis, and my committee members, Dr. Wayne Schams and Shu-Wen Lan, for their precious suggestions to strengthen my research. In addition, my special thanks would go to my classmates, Joy, Ruby, Phina, Katie and Kevin. They always provided me with instant assistance and valuable advices whenever I felt exhausted and frustrated. Last but not the least, I would like to express my gratefulness to those who kept company with me to go through plenty of struggles and challenges during these tough years. These unforgettable learning experiences indeed nourish both my mind and knowledge. Finally, I want to express my appreciation to my family, namely my husband, grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins, for their unconditional supports for me to complete this academic task.. i .

(5) 摘要本研究主要探討七位台灣國三生參與文學圈十二週之後，對於六本英文繪本的文字回應、英語閱讀態度和文學圈的看法。每次文學圈討論完英文繪本後，學生必須寫一份文字回應。本研究運用了四種研究工具收集資料： (一) 個人背景問卷改編自姚育儒 (2008) 所編製的問卷，共包含三部分：英語學習背景、閱讀態度和閱讀行為，以此作為學生未加入文學圈前的英語學習背景、閱讀態度和閱讀行為的調查； (二) 研究者根據史乖爾在 1964 年的回應編碼系統，予以改編，作為本研究的編碼系統，以分析參與者對對於六本英文繪本的回應；(三) 研究者課堂觀察記錄(四) 以半結構訪談作為收集學生在參與此研究之後對英語閱讀態度和文學圈的看法。研究結果顯示： 1.. 學生最常給予的回應是「自我投入型回應」中的「個人以往行為省思」。. 2.. 在「解釋型回應」中，學生傾向依據三種不同的方式來解釋，如作者的立場、讀者的立場以及分析故事的主要思想和主題探討。. 3.. 學生在參加本研究後對文學圈有積極正向的態度，認為文學圈的閱讀教學法比傳統的英語閱讀課更有趣。. 4.. 學生的閱讀態度逐漸轉變，有效提升自主閱讀英文繪本的動機。. 關鍵字: 文學圈、英語閱讀理解、英語繪本 ii .

(6) Abstract This case study aims to investigate seven ninth graders’ written responses to six English picture books, attitudes toward English reading and perceptions of 12-week literature circles in Taiwan. Written responses were done after each discussion session. In this study, four research instruments were applied to collect data. First, a revised questionnaire from Yao (2008) was utilized as a survey for English learning background, reading attitudes and behaviors to show students’ perceptions of these aspects in the past. Second, a modified coding system based on Squire’s developed in 1964 was adopted to analyze the participants’ written responses to six English picture books. Third, field notes were taken during literature circles. Fourth, semi-structured interviews were conducted to collect students’ opinions about literature circles. The findings of this study are as follows: 1.. Self-involvement responses for their previous behaviors were the most common type the students offered.. 2.. For interpretational responses, students tended to explain their ideas in three different ways such as interpreting the plot from the author’s and the reader’s stance and analyzing the themes and main ideas of a story.. 3.. Students had positive perceptions to literature circles after they participated in this study. They enjoyed reading English picture books in a iii . .

(7) less-threatening and cooperative learning atmosphere. They also agreed that the literature circles were more pleasurable than traditional English reading classes. The literature circles provided chances for them to decide what they wanted to discuss and to gain various perspectives from their peers’ discussion. Moreover, the students became more active readers. They were more willing to read English picture books than they had been and expressed their eagerness to join more literature circles with other peers. Through the tasks for discussion roles, English reading became a lighter burden for them.. Keywords: literature circle, reading comprehension, English picture books. iv .

(8) Table of Contents ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS ............................................................................................ i Abstract ........................................................................................................................ iii Table of Contents ........................................................................................................... v Table Index ................................................................................................................ viii Figure Index .................................................................................................................. ix CHAPTER ONE ............................................................................................................ 1 INTRODUCTION ...................................................................................................... 1 Background of the Study ........................................................................................ 1 Motivation .............................................................................................................. 6 The Significance of the Study ................................................................................ 7 Research Questions................................................................................................. 8 Limitations of the Study ......................................................................................... 8 Definition of Key Terms......................................................................................... 9 CHAPTER TWO ......................................................................................................... 11 LITERATURE REVIEW ......................................................................................... 11 Literature Circles .................................................................................................. 11 v .

(9) Theories Underlying Literature Circles ................................................................ 20 CHAPTER THREE ..................................................................................................... 25 METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................... 25 The Rationale ........................................................................................................ 25 Participants ........................................................................................................... 26 The Setting............................................................................................................ 27 Research Procedures ............................................................................................. 28 Selection of Reading Materials............................................................................. 31 Research Instruments ............................................................................................ 35 Data Collection ..................................................................................................... 38 Data Analysis ........................................................................................................ 41 CHAPTER FOUR ........................................................................................................ 47 RESULTS................................................................................................................. 47 Response Frequency ............................................................................................. 47 Perceptions of Literature Circles .......................................................................... 69 Perceptions of Discussion Roles........................................................................... 72 Reasons of Students’ Favor for Literature Circles ............................................... 74 vi .

(10) Summary of Results.............................................................................................. 84 CHAPTER FIVE ......................................................................................................... 87 CONCLUSION ........................................................................................................ 87 Summary of the Findings ..................................................................................... 87 Implications .......................................................................................................... 90 Suggestions for Future Studies ............................................................................. 91 REFERENCES ............................................................................................................ 93 APPENDICES ........................................................................................................... 101. . vii .

(11) Table Index Table 1 Responses Frequency Analysis for Response Logs ......................... 48. viii .

(12) Figure Index Figure1 The Setting of the Room .................................................................. 28 . ix .

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(14) CHAPTER ONE INTRODUCTION Background of the Study In many countries, English education is always a matter of deep concern. For language learning, reading is fundamental. Without a whole language environment, cultivating a reading habit is one of the ways to expose oneself to a second language. However, if a learner cannot feel any joy through reading, it might become a dull activity. Literature, a means to increase literacy, has been widely applied in foreign language classes. Nevertheless, many language educators prefer to focus on linguistic knowledge, which encompasses basic vocabulary, grammatical rules, and sentence patterns. Therefore, grammar structure, rigorous vocabulary analysis, vocabulary memorization, and text translation from the second language to the mother tongue are over-emphasized. As a result, students develop very few reading skills, and teachers treat the passages taught in a second language reading classes as materials for learning linguistic knowledge (Stoller, Anderson, Grabe & Komiyama, 2013). Situations as those mentioned above indeed happen in Taiwan. Liao (2015) suggested that drills for English learning lead Taiwanese junior high school students to feel less interested in English learning. Therefore, they regarded English only as a. 1 .

(15) subject to study for routine tests, not for daily use. Most reading tests are designed to assess how well students understand linguistic knowledge rather than the comprehension questions about students’ opinions to the passage. As a consequence, students tend to pay much more attention to linguistic knowledge for getting high scores on tests, rather than exploring the meaning and develop deeper thinking through reading texts (Correia, 2006). Such a mode of teaching leads students to place more emphasis on memorizing as much linguistic knowledge as they can rather than developing more profound thoughts. In an educational magazine entitled Commonwealth Parenting in 2012 about Taiwanese junior high school students’ reading and learning, a survey reveals interesting data. More than 50% of junior high school teachers agreed that curriculum and activities implemented in schools nowadays could hardly help strengthen students’ independent thinking and analytical skills (Ho, Bin, and Chang, 2012). Moreover, the survey also points out that English is one of the students’ least favorite subjects. Nearly 70 % of students would be passive readers if there were not any test arrangements from school. Even worse, under the pressure of rote learning, some students are prone to give up learning. For example, from 2015 to 2017, around 30 % of students got level C in the English Reading Comprehensive Assessment Program for Junior High School Students. According to the classification of English ability 2 .

(16) offered by the Ministry of Education (2013), the students classified as level C can understand only limited or no vocabulary, grammar rules and reading content, such as thesis statement, stance, conclusion, and inference. Further, the teacher-centered approach is a much-favored way of teaching in Taiwan. Teachers tend to interpret the literal meaning of the text for students, while students are expected to give standard answers to teachers. The approach is one of the factors that contribute to the low motivation in English classes because it cannot help students develop affective and cognitive experiences in reading (Wang, 1999). Students rarely have opportunities to think about results by themselves during the learning process; instead, they wait for answers provided by their teachers (Lin, 2004). Without independent learning, Wallace (2003) asserted that L2 learners have a passive and submissive attitude. Students tend to believe what they read from books instead of thinking actively about the content when they read the texts in a foreign language. Consequently, students seldom express their opinions and doubts. To redress the issue, the Ministry of Education sets up new guidelines for Junior High School English curriculum for cultivating their abilities for life-long learning, logical analysis, and critical thinking. Therefore, how to help students involve themselves in texts has become an issue of widespread concern for the future. To help EFL students nourish a love for reading and develop deeper thinking, providing 3 .

(17) students with time and enjoyable books for positive reading experiences is crucial. It should start from storybook reading, even for beginners (Chen, 2010). A story includes elements like diverse themes, life experiences, and situations which encourage people to continue reading (Daniels, 2002b). These elements are absent from textbooks where the learners can find only factual information to be learned for the tests at school. Even though some of the books are well-designed and offer systematic instructions, they have insufficient authentic texts and contexts for understanding (Lai, 2014). In contrast, picture books provide vivid illustrations, various language usages, authentic dialogues, and diverse themes. Plots, characters, settings, conflicts, and resolutions are crucial elements in maintaining reader interest (Daniels, 2002a). Illustrations in picture books can help students with insufficient linguistic knowledge to build mental images. Through the pictures, students can have their initial understanding of the story’s settings, characters, events, and narrative points of view. Picture books can arouse curiosity and enhance their motivation for reading through the development of a storyline. Since the images are created to promote better comprehension, picture books are compelling reading materials to help students enhance learner interest and reading comprehension. Therefore, cultivating a habit of. 4 .

(18) reading is useful to maintain their learning motivation and interest (Wang, Lee, Hsu, and Chen, 2015). Chen (2010) also pointed out that reading instruction is urgent because it is a root for communication in a language. Having pleasant reading experiences is a critical path to learning a second language. As mentioned above, those are the incentives that lead a person to learn English well and become a life-long learner. Since test-oriented activities are dull and rote, students feel apathetic toward English learning. A literature circle, a student-centered and less stressful learning approach, might assist students in cultivating a higher interest in reading English books and having better performance in reading comprehension. Besides, most children like to listen to stories because they provide a system of rational thinking for children to understand and shape their concepts (Collins, 1999). Pictures and images suggestive of the development of plots, character interactions, and life experiences offer chances for children to understand new concepts through the texts while they are reading. In other words, children build their cognition through the integration of their experiences. Therefore, picture books, which include vivid illustrations, authentic language usage, and engaging storylines, will be used as reading materials for participants in this study.. 5 .

(19) Motivation In Taiwan, one of the most critical tasks for junior high school teachers is to assist their students in becoming well-prepared for the future senior high school entrance exam. With limited time for English classes and numerous arranged exams, most English teachers have no choice but to focus on linguistic knowledge. They give students tests instead of encouraging students to do extensive reading and discussion for a high level of reading comprehension. The short and less authentic compositions in the textbooks lack connections with students’ daily life experiences and storyline’s development. Thus, they hardly serve to arouse students’ learning interest and curiosity. In English classes, teachers rarely spare time discussing the connections with the texts and daily life experiences. In that way, it might hardly arouse students’ learning motivation and independent thinking. Besides, students will have fewer chances to express themselves and understand themselves more. However, using picture books not only provides a different learning circumstance for students but offers a way reinforcing and extending students’ English learning (Yang, Jhang & Hu, 2014). While reading picture books, students need to frequently review and apply the English knowledge they have acquired to develop their English ability. Additionally, the joy of reading should build on their level of literacy. Then they can learn new language skills from their observation. 6 .

(20) Otherwise, teaching new English knowledge will deprive students of the joy of reading. In this case, picture books will turn out to be a burden for English learners instead. One of the ways to enhance students’ English learning motivation and confidence is to improve their reading attitude. Therefore, the researcher intends to apply the literature circle to see if it can help improve students’ attitude toward English learning. Further, peer discussion and collaborative learning can be adopted to stimulate deeper thinking. For these reasons, the researcher also wants to know how the students respond to story plots and the reader’s life experiences. The Significance of the Study Most of the Taiwanese literature circles are conducted in colleges and a few in elementary schools. Only some of them were done in junior high school. Besides, very few participants from the ninth grade take part in a literature circle since they need to take the high school entrance examination and determine whether they want to go to vocational school or senior high school after their graduation from junior high school. Through this study, the researcher would like to observe whether the literature circle is a practical teaching approach to help junior high school students enhance their reading attitude and responses.. 7 .

(21) Purpose of the Study To increase students’ interest in reading English books, the researcher wants to know whether a literature circle can help junior high students to change their reading attitudes. In the process, the teacher will be a facilitator, so she will not offer supplementary materials to help with students’ reading comprehension. Research Questions 1.. What types of responses would students give when they attend literature circles?. 2.. What are the students’ perceptions toward literature circles?. 3.. What are the students’ attitudes toward English reading before and after they engage in this study?. Limitations of the Study There were two limitations of this study: limitations of time and group members. First, due to the planning of secondary education curriculum promulgated by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan, students had only a few months to prepare for the Basic Competency Test for Junior High School Students after the study circles. Therefore, most of the subjects’ parents wished that this study would not last too long, so the maximum time for the literature circles in this study was 12 weeks. The participants were supposed to meet for an hour once a week on Sundays. One hour was not enough for seven participants to share their ideas about an English picture 8 .

(22) book; therefore, their discussion about the same book needed to be finished in two literature circles. Second, having no chance to hear and gather various perspectives from new members was another limitation. A literature circle could be made up at least with four or five people to read and discuss the book which the students had the same interest to study collaboratively. The following literature circles were formed based on students’ interests before new books were chosen. In this case, students might have chances to discuss with new members who might bring more viewpoints to them. At the beginning of this study, these students had made their book choices before literature circles were conducted, so they had no chance to work with different members for book selection. Then, seven participants in this study did not have opportunities to have different responses and perspectives to a text from a new group member exchange in a new reading session.. Definition of Key Terms. Literature Circles Literature circles are small and peer-led discussion groups that meet regularly for a short-term period to share and discuss the chosen reading material. In a literature circle, discussion roles provide students with different tasks which would be selected randomly by participants. With these various roles, students can collaboratively. 9 .

(23) discuss their comprehension from many viewpoints. The teacher is not supposed to play the role of an instructor, but a facilitator and fellow reader (Daniels, 2002a). Reader responses Readers play an essential role in the interpretation of literature. Without the interpretation of a reader, words are just a pile of meaningless letters. Readers would produce each single text unique meaning while reading. Readers can get different ideas from sentences to sentences through their interpretation, imagination, and experiences. In that way, readers might have similar or dissimilar opinions about the same texts. Therefore, a reader might give responses to reflect their thoughts about texts, plots, characters, themes, and association with their own life experience. The most significant contribution of reader responses is helping readers to understand the books and themselves better. Analyzing texts, characters, and plots provide readers chances to recall their feeling and rebuild their perspectives in real life. (Rosenblatt, 1995) Reading attitude Reading attitude includes all the reader’s opinions about reading — for example, a reader’s performance on reading activity and value judgment.. 10 .

(24) CHAPTER TWO LITERATURE REVIEW Several sections will be introduced in this chapter. The first one is the literature circle. In this section, the definition of literature circles, discussion roles, and studies of literature circles will be introduced. Then the following are theories underlying literature circles. Finally, reviews of the literature circles conducted in Taiwan will be presented.. Literature Circles. What Are Literature Circles? According to Daniels’ (2006) definition, literature circles refers to small student-centered discussion groups who meet temporarily and regularly to talk about the books they read. Each group reads different books they choose, and each student is responsible for a specific role in helping the other members discuss the text collaboratively. While reading independently, students can write down their questions and opinions about the books on response logs, Post-it notes, and role sheets as prepared materials to bring forth during the literature circle. Then, they can use their notes to initiate the conversation and share with other peers in group meetings. After. 11 .

(25) that, the new rotated roles and new groups will be formed based on the selection of new books. In literature circles, the teacher is expected to be a facilitator and a fellow reader. His or her main jobs are observing group meetings, writing records, collecting books, making assessment notes, and assisting the students who have any problems. A literature circle is a reading strategy to support students to develop their skills of analysis, more profound thinking about the texts, and ways to read through supportive and cooperative literature circles. Further details are listed below. Eleven elements below are vital factors of literature circles to turn a class into a less aggressive and more cooperative peer work. All the components are adjustable for a literature circle’s curriculum so that they can be either all manipulated or partially omitted. (1) Students choose their reading materials. (2) Small temporary groups are formed, based on their choices. (3) Participants can choose the books they would like to read as a group. (4) The participants meet regularly for discussion. (5) Drawings and written notes can be used to guide their reading and initiate discussion. (6) Students figure out topics to talk about. 12 .

(26) (7) In group discussion, students are expected to hold a positive attitude toward all potential subjects, including “open, natural conversations about books, personal connections, digressions, and open-ended questions”. (8) The teacher is not supposed to instruct the students, but to facilitate discussions. (9) The teacher’s observation and the students’ self-evaluation are crucial elements. (10) The atmosphere for a literature circle should be pleasant and relaxing. (11) When readers finish reading the book, they share with their classmates and then form new groups for new reading choices. (Daniels 2002a, p18). Discussion Roles The critical elements for discussion in literature circles are nine discussion roles (Daniels, 2002a). Depending on the kind of literature studied, the parts chosen can be adjusted for literature circles. However, some elements cannot be omitted. For example, the first to the fourth roles listed below are essential in literature circles, but optional from the fifth to the eighth roles. The task descriptions of the roles are listed below. 13 .

(27) (1) The connector is responsible for connecting their lives, feelings, experiences, related books they read and the authors to the texts. (2) The questioner/discussion director tries to ask questions to help peers to get further reading comprehension or mention some issues that the other members may be interested in discussions. (3) The literary luminary/passage master searches for crucial, notable, unique parts or passages to analyze and reread. (4) The illustrator needs to create visual objects such as graphic arts to respond to the text. (5) The summarizer should offer a brief description of the reading. (6) The vocabulary enricher/word wizard seeks for the essential and unfamiliar vocabulary of high importance. (7) The travel tracer/scene setter designs a diagram to describe the story’s setting like action occurrence and story transition. (8) The investigator looks for background information of the book and any related information about the book. (qt. Daniels, 2002a) The primary purpose of discussion role is to assist students in getting well-prepared for related discussion topics when they discuss in literature circles and 14 .

(28) set better cognitive reading goals to respond to the texts. Through the interactions with other participants by playing distinct roles, students can express their viewpoints in different ways collaboratively. Studies for Literature circles Literature circles are widely adopted as a reading approach for supporting language learning, learning attitude, and motivation. For language learning, many types of research employed literature circles to enhance students’ reading comprehension. In Widodo’s empirical study (2015), the implementation of a literature circle in an intensive English reading class promoted students’ content knowledge building and reading engagement through dialogic discussion. Learning through discussion with peers is a crucial element for literature circles (Carrison & Ernst-Slavit, 2005). Many studies have shown that the participants could benefit from literature circles. When students inquire, they have a chance to clear their doubts, and their misunderstandings of the texts could be corrected through interactive discussions (Avci & Yüksel, 2011). Through discussion, participants are exposed to different opinions and various responses, which can also help them to enhance their fluency, literacy skills, and high-order thinking (Elhess & Egbert, 2015). King (2001) also mentioned that reading could be recognized as a dynamic, pleasing, and creative activity through students’ exploratory talk during literature 15 .

(29) circles. When interacting with others, one’s ideas, opinions, and meaning-making are developing and deepening. The engaging process allows children to think in different ways. Therefore, students can strengthen their text comprehensions, meaning searching skills, and effective communication abilities through group interaction and collaboration (Ragland & Palace, 2017). To encourage students to read, we shouldn’t neglect children’s interest and desires of meaning-making from texts. The application of the literature circle not only assists on people’s language learning but also the changes of viewpoints. For example, Madhuri, Walker, Landmann-Johnsey, and Laughter (2015) maintained a group of preservice teacher candidates who would teach various races from a different background of culture and economy changed their racial opinions after they joined literature circles to talk about social justice. During their discussions, the candidates were found to be more self-questioning to their preconceived stereotypes and beliefs. Thus, the literature circle helped these candidates to overcome their thinking habits. In the study of Carrison and Ernst-Slavit (2005), a Ukrainian fourth-grader who thought English reading was stupid, time-wasting, and unwilling to read had a considerable improvement in his attitude toward English reading. After this boy’s first book reading in a literature circle, he actively asked a teacher for a book for silent reading. Then, he asked for the teacher’s permission to bring the book home for 16 .

(30) further reading. After that, this boy began to visit the school library to read books. From the cases mentioned above, no matter what a person’s linguistic background is, literature circles indeed help people to involve themselves in reading and alter their reading attitude. Apart from adopting literature circles for students' independent learning, it is also utilized for preservice teachers to learn the benefits of literature circles to teach literature efficiently in the future. According to a study conducted by Bennett, Gunn, and Leung (2016), a professor from an urban university in the Southeast United States investigated 62 preservice teachers. The study aimed to find out how much understanding these participants derived about reading comprehension strategies which they learned and applied them on a multicultural text in literature circle’s discussions. In this study, these preservice teachers said literature circles allowed them to produce deeper thinking and stimulated them to understand their thinking process better in reflective journals. Besides, the preservice teachers also redefined what reading is through cooperation in the literature circle. First, it enriched one’s reading by sharing thoughts with each other. Second, interactions with others quickly solve one’s confusions about a story. Third, critical thinking, diverse perspectives, and meaning-seeking were naturally developed through literature circles. 17 .

(31) Some literature circles had been conducted in Taiwan in the different educational stage. It showed that this reading approach helped students to improve their English interests and reading comprehension. For example, in primary schools, Fan (2010) conducted his study with English picture books to 26 fifth graders, and he pointed out that the students would be more willing to read and discuss the texts. Besides, students had improved their reading comprehension, especially for high-level comprehension through group discussions. The same result also occurred in Cheng (2010) who conducted her study with five electronic books (E-books) to exam 61 sixth graders’ reading comprehension and perceptions toward literature circles. The students agreed that cooperative discussion would help them to produce a deeper understanding of texts and finishing one’s discussion role task would not only offer them a chance to express their opinions but also have more confidence. Besides, as a ranking for discussion role in Cheng’s study, Word Checker was the most popular discussion role and then was Summarizer, Illustrator, and Luminary. The role of Illustrator was also loved by another sixth graders from Wei’s (2013) study. However, the role of summarizer was the most disliked. Although some studies had proved the literature circle could have positive effects on students’ reading comprehension and attitude, it did not present a significant improvement on 15 sixth graders’ reading attitude in Wei’s study. 18 .

(32) Literature circles were also applied in Taiwanese high school students and college students. Having a conversation in literature circles provided time and a chance for readers to clarify their thinking. They did not only have their talk with texts and authors but also with themselves while they were writing. They interacted with their peers while they were sharing their perceptions. Therefore, the dialogue might bring more than pleasure. They developed different aspects of thinking through exchanging ideas with others, which might guide them to different interpretations for the texts. Therefore, Lin (2013) investigated how ten female senior high students interacted in literature circles. She found two types of topics were discussed by students. One was topics for understanding the text, and the other one was for an extended discussion. Main characters were talked about most frequently, then word meanings and plots. As for broad topics, a reader’s associational life experiences were the peak for a mention, then, the empathy to express personal emotions for characters. Wang (1999) also explored 15 female senior high school students’ written responses. The result showed that students tended to have their interpretations of the story’s moral lessons, related personal experiences, emotions, and character’s behaviors. Interestingly, the results from the two studies were nearly the same as what students reflected in their written responses. Therefore, discussion with peers in literature circles played a vital role in one’s reading comprehension. Chen (2016) indicated that 19 .

(33) reflective sharing and discussion in literature circles could enhance 19 university students’ reading comprehension. Meanwhile, literature circles facilitated students’ reading motivation with a non-threatening atmosphere to learn from other members. Literature circles were not implemented widely in junior high schools, especially for ninth graders. Cheng (2007) studied how junior high school’s students gave their responses and personal understanding after reading stories. It indicated that students could gain more aesthetic stance and expand their reading comprehension more than literal meanings of the texts through literature circles. Discussion role sheets could be replaced with a reading journal, and it promotes students to state more in-depth personal responses. Besides, a group report and play would enhance the students’ verbal abilities (Chen, 2013). Theories Underlying Literature Circles Zone of Proximal Development and Collaborative Learning Vygotsky (1978) defined Zone of Proximal Development (ZPD) as the room for improvement between one’s levels of practical and potential development. The actual development level means a person’s current problem-solving ability and the potential development level means the capacity which can be reached or raised by assisting a grown-up or a capable peer’s collaborative interaction to solve a challenging problem. A learner shortens the distance between the two levels through imitating and learning 20 .

(34) with peer assistance. Then, he or she owns new independent problem-solving capacities. From the socio-cognitive viewpoint of literacy, literacy is not only about reading and writing but also abilities which combine higher level of literacy, and socially interactive progress (Langer, 1986). In the literature circle, Vygotsky’s ZPD theory is in accordance with collaborative learning framework. Cooperative learning is a teaching approach for the teacher to arrange a small group work with student-centered and higher-order of thinking activity. Each member from the group has a target task to finish, and all the members accomplish their learning goals (Cuseo, 1992). Several elements foster positively cooperative learning such as interdependence, face-to-face interaction, individual responsibility, collaborative skills teaching, and discussion for group processing (Johnson & Johnson, 1990). When students have a positive relationship and face-to-face interactions, they know if one gives a member a hand, he helps everyone. On the contrary, if one hurts another’s feelings, everyone will get hurt. Reader Responses Based on Rosenblatt (1995), every text is interpreted by readers. Even the same word, symbol, and paragraph could have different meanings for each reader. A transactional process is the factor that contributes to different interpretations. 21 .

(35) Therefore, according to the differences of readers, including imagination, life experience, knowledge, religion, gender, and age, each reader produces various responses to texts after reading. Then, readers get different expressions, feelings, and experiences. Rosenblatt (1994) marked a reader’s reading purpose of efferent and aesthetic reading. If a reader takes an efferent stance, he or she will strive to keep useful information for later use after reading. In contrast, more related emotions, life experiences, and images with reading texts appear in the reader’s mind if he takes an aesthetic stance for reading. Cox and Many (1992) mentioned three pieces of evidence when a reader gives aesthetic responses. First, a reader tends to describe how their mental pictures are created when he involves the narrative world through reading. Second, distinguished from the actual meaning the author means to express, another sense will be formed by a reader through an extending story and a hypothesis. In that way, a reader attempt to find out the differences there will be in the story. Third, an evocation of feeling, past experiences, and association will be recalled. Sometimes, we might put too much effort on the importance of reading, but a reader’s responses are crucial for supporting one’s passion for reading. If the teacher gives too many instructions, it may interrupt the reader’s engagement. By meaningful transactional progress with texts, it not only helps readers to figure out what they are 22 .

(36) but rethinks what they have experienced (Galda, 2013). Many and Wiseman (1992) administered reader responses pedagogy to 220 fourth graders on three picture books. In their study, the students could produce more responses from the literary-experience group. Students can involve themselves in the story and analyze similarities between characters and people around them. Besides, students viewed literature as an aesthetic experience rather than a subject. Nonetheless, the group of students who did not receive reader response instruction are more likely to retell the details of the story. Living through texts brings every reader a personal and unique meaning. If teaching in the English class only focuses on linguistic knowledge, students might have less chance to live-through the text. Independent reading Reading is a way to show someone about global knowledge and literacy (Singh, David & Choo, 2012). One of the benefits of independent reading approach is cultivating one’s abilities to choose appropriated reading material by themselves. Moreover, readers also have opportunities to open a window in their mind for understanding themselves better and seeing how the other people around them read, respond, and share with others (Noortyani, 2018). Independent reading also fosters one’s appreciation toward reading for his lifetime and reading development (Burns, 23 .

(37) 1998). In general, unsuitable reading materials might lead to difficulties in reading comprehension and lower self-learning motivation. Finding joy from reading and establishing values of books motivate one to become a lifelong reader and learner. Therefore, since a reader knows the way to find suitable reading materials by themselves, cultivating one’s independent reading benefits his/her independent learning, social interactions and content acquisition.. 24 .

(38) CHAPTER THREE METHODOLOGY In this chapter, the researcher demonstrates how the study was conducted. The rationale, the participants' background, and the setting are introduced first. Next, the researcher explains the use of research instruments, including field notes, a voice recorder, response logs, and discussion role sheets. After that, teaching procedure and data collection, as well as data analysis, are presented.. The Rationale. Since the ninth graders in Taiwan face the entrance exams for senior high school, they must make much effort to get well prepared. Therefore, they are seldom chosen to be research participants. Although reading is a way to enrich oneself with knowledge, pleasure, and growth, students are often forced to put aside extended reading materials for exams. In this case, they often lose the best chances for extensive reading, which would boost their English proficiency. In this present study, the researcher explored how seven Taiwanese ninth graders conducted a student-centered literature circle for 12 weeks. The focus was on their responses to texts. How they responded to the stories from the first literature circle to the last one is highly concerned. Different from quantitative research, a qualitative 25 .

(39) research design is employed to analyze the participants' responses collected from individual semi-structured interviews, response logs, and field notes.. Participants. Seven ninth graders (three boys, and four girls) from a junior high school in Tainan participated in this study. The researcher was one of the participants’ English tutor, and the other participants were the girl’s classmates who voluntarily joined this literature circle. The students' names were kept confidential to protect the participants’ privacy. Therefore, students were identified as S1 to S7, the first four girls, and the last three boys. To prepare reading materials of appropriate readability for upcoming literature circles, the researcher first investigated these students’ English abilities with a survey. The researcher collected their scores of Mid-term English exams at school. Three of them scored above 90 points, while three of them had 76 to 89 points. Only one student had scores below 60. In addition, the researcher also inquired in a survey if the participants had any English certificates such as General English Proficiency Test (GEPT). Only two of the students who had a higher level of English proficiency passed the elementary level of GEPT, whereas the other students did not pass any standardized English proficiency. 26 .

(40) test at the beginning of the literature circles. As revealed in the survey conducted before the literature circles, most of the students did not read English picture books because people around them did not do so. They said that they were more willing to read if they could discuss and learn with friends together. Besides, they also agreed that they did not have much leisure time for reading due to the busy life at junior high school. Last, from the survey of family reading activities, the parents of the three students who had higher English proficiency would discuss with their children if they found some texts which were worth sharing, but the parents of the other four students seldom took them to libraries, bookstores and book exhibitions.. The Setting. This research was carried out at the researcher’s apartment for 12 weeks. The arrangement of seats is presented in Figure 1. All the students sat around an oval table so that they could face each other in discussion. These seats were not assigned, so the students could choose randomly and decide whom they wanted to sit next to in each session. The researcher sat on the left-hand side by the door to observe all the participants' reactions while taking field notes for further investigation.. 27 .

(41) Figure1 The Setting of the Room. Research Procedures. Before the study was conducted, the researcher sent consent forms to help the participant’s parents to understand what the study was for. The consent form was shown as a Chinese version in Appendix A and an English one in Appendix B. Before the literature circle was conducted, the researcher sent a consent form to get the agreement from the participant’s parents and gather information for a preliminary survey about students’ background, including English learning experiences, books favored, reading activities at home, and attitudes toward picture books reading had. 28 .

(42) been investigated to help the researcher understand the participants’ English reading background and problems. After that, based on the students' reading preferences shown in the survey, the researcher chose twenty picture books for selection. Next, the literature circle was introduced to students in a mini-lesson. In the beginning, the researcher showed all the picture books with a summary. In that way, students could understand what the story was about before they read the picture books in detail. Then, the researcher gave students some time to discuss and vote for what they wanted to read for upcoming literature circles. To help all the participants have a fundamental understanding of the literature circle, the researcher briefly introduced how to conduct a literature circle. Afterward, the researcher gave participants a role sheet with seven discussion roles and response logs for writing down their opinions. When introducing the literature circle in the mini-lesson, participants could take notes and raise questions. Further, the researcher also offered participants some suggestions for related information collection. For example, both Youtube and English dictionaries were introduced for them to prepare some information for further discussion. After the mini introductory lesson for the literature circle, a picture book called Princess Smartypants was read for a practice literature circle. This picture book was chosen because it has a storyline similar to the fairy tale of Cinderella, a story most children know. Therefore, it was selected to arouse the students’ interest in reading 29 .

(43) picture books and enhancing their reading comprehension while they conducted their first discussion role task. When the practice literature circle was carried out, all the students could choose their discussion roles randomly and finish their tasks with their role sheets while reading. During the practice literature circle, the researcher played the role of a facilitator to assist them in understanding the procedure and their tasks, leaving some time for students to ask further questions. Thus, the researcher could make sure each student understood how to prepare for further literature circles in this study. Meanwhile, the researcher reminded the students of some details about literature circles. For example, each group member should meet for an hour once a week for each literature circle. One picture book was discussed in two weeks. In the literature circles, students were allowed to express what they read and share their opinions freely. After a literature circle, the participants needed to complete their response logs. All opinions were welcome. They could express any views about the texts and related ideas about the literature circle. The researcher worked as an assistant to take notes of the observed situations. After all critical elements were introduced, the literature circles were conducted for 12 weeks based on the rules and processes described below. 30 .

(44) In this case study, before a new literature circle was started, every student would read the assigned reading material and prepare their task for specific discussion role which they chose. Then, they would write their discussion role sheet with some questions or opinions which led the peers to have more talks and better understanding of the texts at home before they joined a literature circle. After discussions in literature circle, each student could express their thoughts and opinions on a response log. Then the following literature circles were conducted in the same way.. Selection of Reading Materials. English learning cannot rely only on traditional textbooks; teachers need to understand the proficiency level and the needs of each child to give them appropriate extended English materials to improve their reading abilities. Therefore, before reading materials were selected, the researcher surveyed to investigate the participants’ reading preferences. The researcher showed different types of English picture books for them to choose from. As for the readability of each picture book, a high-frequency vocabulary listed for junior high school English curriculum that had been published by the Ministry of Education in Taiwan was adopted. Then, the students could choose from the picture books with short summaries written by the researcher. Finally, after discussion, the participants voted and selected the books they. 31 .

(45) wanted to read for future literature circles. After the book selection, the students decided to read six English picture books: Piggybook, Henry’s Freedom Box, My Mom Is Trying To Ruin My Life, Wings, You Are Special and Just The Way You Are. Summaries of the stories are offered below. Book 1: Piggybook. An English picture book by Anthony Browne, described the Piggotts’ life. Mr. Piggott and his sons always requested Mrs. Piggott to satisfy their needs and left all the housework to Mrs. Piggott without offering any help. Besides, they thought their work was more important than Mrs. Piggott’s job. One day, Mrs. Piggott couldn’t stand it anymore, so she left home, leaving a note saying “You are pigs” on the mantelpiece. Then, both Mr. Piggott and his sons needed to rely on themselves. Soon, they regretted for their past behaviors. Later, Mrs. Piggott came back home to do the things she loved. Book 2: Henry’s Freedom Box. This Caldecott Honor picture book was written by Ellen Levine and illustrated by Kadir Nelson. It is a true story from the Underground Railroad, which was a network conducted secretly to assist slaves to run away from the South of the United States to the North of the United States and Canada before and during the Civil War. As a black slave, Henry wasn’t allowed to know his birthday, but to obey orders from his master with all his heart and soul. Henry’s master sent Henry to his son when he was very ill. Henry worked for his new 32 .

(46) master in a tobacco factory and got married to another servant, Nancy. Then they had their three kids soon. At first, he thought they would live happily together, but things dramatically changed since Nancy’s master lost plenty of money and sold Nancy and their children to a slave market. At that time, Henry lost all his family and did not have any chances to see them again. Being free was what Henry wanted eagerly, so he asked a doctor for help. Then, Henry had his plan to escape from his boss and mailed himself in a box to a place where there were no slaves. Book 3: My Mom Is Trying To Ruin My Life. This picture book was created by Kate Feiffer and illustrated by Diane Goode. It depicted a little girl who thought both of her parents were trying to ruin her life. Her mom would do lots of embarrassing things in public, which made her feel so embarrassed, and her dad would demand her to do things that she did not want to. Therefore, this girl was figuring out how to escape from her parents and hoped the policemen would put them into jail. However, she realized that her life would be ruined since her beloved family would be gone. If it did happen, there would be no one to take good care of her, and she was so scared that she went to her parents’ room and told them she loved them. Book 4: Wings. Wings by Christopher Myers was about a flying boy called Ikarus Jackson. He was a lonely boy who had a pair of wings, and people regarded him odd for his appearance. Owing to his strange outlook, he faced some potential 33 .

(47) vulnerabilities. For example, people made fun of him, and his classmates regarded his wings redundant. His teacher considered his wings as an object blocking the blackboard and distracting the other students in the class. Therefore, the teacher asked him to leave the class until he came up with a solution for his wings. However, one day, a girl complimented him and told everybody Ikarus Jackson was her friend. Finally, Ikarus Jackson showed his first smile on his face. Book 5: You Are Special. You Are Special by Max Lucado was about the Wemmicks, small wooden people who gave stars or dots as a mark for one’s behaviors and outfits in a village. Punchinello was trying to win gold stars from others, but he got gray dots due to his imperfect deeds. One day, he met Lucia, who didn’t have any stickers on her body. She told him to meet their creator Eli on a hill. Then, Eli told him as long as he did not care what the others said, all the stickers on his body would fall. Book 6: Just The Way You Are. It was another story by Max Lucado about a king who wanted to adopt some children who lost their parents. One day, five orphans heard a king was going to adopt them. Four of them worked hard to prepare their best talent to impress the king. Among these kids, the youngest kid who had no gifts and talents asked her brothers and sisters for help. However, they were so busy with their preparations that they ignored her. Therefore, this youngest girl only showed her 34 .

(48) genuine heart for the king. When the king visited, the girl’s brothers and sisters were too busy for their preparations to meet him. Then, the king explained that all he needed was the one who stayed the way he/she was without any eager attention. Finally, the king adopted the little girl who stayed pure and sincere.. Research Instruments. Questionnaire. A well-designed questionnaire about children’s reading behavior and attitude was adopted from Yao (2008) and revised by the researcher. Yao’s version contains four parts, including five items about background information, fifteen items about family reading activity, nine items about reading attitude, and ten items about reading behavior. In the revised questionnaire which would be applied as a background survey, four sections were retained. For the first part of background information, the researcher added eight items about English learning experiences, one item about English picture book reading preferences, and one item about the school the participants attended. These items were added because the researcher wanted to build up an initial understanding of the participants’ English abilities and preferences for future preparation for English picture book selection. In the second part, the. 35 .

(49) researcher kept the same items about family reading activities. For the third part, the researcher created 25 items about reading attitude toward picture books. For the last part, the researcher revised it into 15 items to learn more about the participants’ reading behaviors. Finally, the revised version of the questionnaire would also help the researcher to understand each participant’s reading attitude and habit before the literature circle was conducted. The results were not collected for quantitative analysis but rather for an initial survey to know more about the participants. The revised questionnaire was shown as a Chinese version in Appendix C and an English one in Appendix D. Field Notes. During the literature circles, the field notes would be taken for the researcher to record her observations. The focus would be the student’s reactions and responses in the discussion sessions. For example, how the students cooperated in literature circles and how they gave their opinions to each other. Other unexpected occurrences and learning phenomena would be the points to record. By collecting this data, the researcher would interpret the development of all the participants. Besides, the researcher would discuss some potential problems they might face and offer some suggestions for further studies.. 36 .

(50) Voice Recorder. Individual interviews were conducted in the last literature circle. In personal interviews after the last literature circle, a voice recorder was used for the whole process to collect all the participant’s opinions about this reading approach. In that way, this instrument was helpful for the researcher to analyze the participant’s responses after class. Response Logs. A response log was designed for participants to write down all their responses and ideas related to texts after each literature circle session. The students were encouraged to express as many opinions as they could without language obstacles, so both Mandarin Chinese and English were both languages acceptable for response logs. After one picture book reading, each participant had to complete a response log. Discussion Role Sheets. Discussion role sheets have both cognitive and social functions to assist readers in having better comprehension and active discussion. By offering readers clear and interlocking tasks, group discussion might create a positive interdependence reading atmosphere. Further, with different assigned tasks for different discussion roles, readers would collect rich and various information to discuss in the literature circle. Therefore, this cooperative learning method would easily guide beginning readers to 37 .

(51) understand how the discussion should be undertaken. The role sheet of Daniel (2002a) was presented in detail as below. (1) The discussion director should write a list of significant questions that might inspire the other members to discuss more. (2) The vocabulary enricher should find words which are unfamiliar, intriguing, or relevant for the other members to learn. (3) The inferior should explain why, and which storyline leads him or her to predict and find clues from texts while he or she is reading. (4) The illustrator should draw pictures about the story and show it to the group members. Then, he or she needs to tell everybody about his or her thoughts. (5) The summarizer should prepare a summary of the story to help other participants to recall the plot instantly.’ (6) The connector should find out connections between the story, himself, and the outside world. (7) The literary luminary should read aloud the paragraphs or sentences that impress him the most. . Data Collection. The participants' reading attitudes and the meanings that texts bring to them. 38 .

(52) through the literature circle were the focuses of this study. A questionnaire, semi-structured individual interviews, video recordings, and response logs were employed to collect data. Questionnaire. Before the literature circle was applied, the researcher did not know much about these participants, except for one girl. Thus, the researcher applied the revised questionnaire for an initial survey to know more about the participants’ background, reading activities at home, and their attitudes toward English picture books Based on the results of the study, students’ perceptions of English reading would be considered as their preliminary attitudes before they joined literature circles. Then the researcher would find out the changes of their opinions after conducting semi-structured individual interviews. Video-recordings. There are 12 discussions about six English picture books. Videotapes can capture the whole process to record how participants discuss and respond to peers, both verbally and non-verbally. With a video recorder, the researcher could replay and record conversations and responses for reading comprehension analysis. Response Logs. After reading and discussing each English picture book in a literature circle, the 39 .

(53) participants had to write a response log. Based on reader-response theory, a reader usually applies past experiences, personalities, and memories to create his or her unique meaning while reading (Rosenblatt, 1994). Sharing and discussing the readers' responses are the characteristics of the literature circle.. In that way, it might help. readers to produce diversified comments or a more profound understanding of books and themselves, for example, rebuilding their perspective, beliefs, and values. Therefore, the researcher planned to analyze the participants’ response logs to understand how they interpreted the text. Individual Semi-structured Interviews. There were two reasons to adopt individual semi-structured interviews. First, the researcher used open-ended questions to collect more information which the previous survey did not yield and also to provide rich data for the questions that the researcher wanted to investigate after literature circles. Second, different from group interviews, individual ones held in the final session would provide enough time for both participants and the researcher to talk. In this case, participants could have more chances to express their ideas freely. The interview’s questions were shown as a Chinese version in Appendix E and an English one in Appendix F.. 40 .

(54) Data Analysis. After reading one picture book in two weeks, each student needed to write some responses in a response log. In this case study, there were six picture books and seven participants so that the researcher would collect 42 response logs in total. To answer the first research question “What types of responses would students give when they attend literature circles?” the researcher would analyze the responses and compare the participants’ opinions from their first response logs to the last ones based on a revised coding system of Squire (1964). Next, both student’s response logs and their views of literature circles revealed in individual interviews served as the data for answering the second research question: “What are the student’s perceptions toward the literature circle?” Last, the results from the survey and student’s replies in individual interviews were studied to answer the third research question: “What are the student’s attitudes toward English reading before and after they engage in this study?” Coding system. Squire (1964) had a study on 52 ninth and tenth graders' verbal responses after reading four selected short stories. In his research, there were seven categories: literary judgments, interpretational responses, narrational reactions, associational responses, self-involvement, and miscellaneous comments. The researcher chose Squire’s coding categories as the major coding scheme because they were more 41 .

(55) appropriated for the responses which the researcher wanted to collect and explore. However, the initial factors for associational responses and self-involvement responses from Squire (1964) might not assist the researcher in exploring more specific elements in this case study for answering research question one “What types of responses would students give when they attend literature circles?” Therefore, the researcher added three sub-categories for associational responses and five sub-categories for self-involvement responses. For associational responses, the researcher realized that adding an item for related books might be an excellent choice to explore how the participants would offer their reactions. Besides, adding a new item of related news might be a source to understand how the readers connect the reading material with their current society. Therefore, the researcher revised the coding system into three subdivisions. They are AR1, AR2, and AR3. AR1 was associational responses that readers based on related news. As for self-involvement responses, Squire (1964) defined self-involvement as responses that connected a reader’s emotion with character’s behaviors or feelings. The connections ranging in degree from mild to strong might be identified by the reader’s approval or disagreement. However, the researcher wondered if readers could have this kind of involvement, they might have the ability to provide deeper understanding for the texts. Then the researcher subdivided this category into five items as SI1 to SI5. SI1 42 .

(56) represented a new value formed from a reader’s judgment. SI2 responses showed a reader’s self-reflection. SI3 displays a reader’s compassionate understanding. SI4 reflected the reader’s approval of the story’s main ideas. SI5 signifies the reader’s disapproval of the story’s main ideas. Finally, a modified version of Squire’s Coding Scheme is in Appendix G, and the revised coding system which was utilized in this study is shown below. Type One: Literal responses. If the reader gives vague meaning or general judgment about the story, he doesn’t have a specific view of the text, language style, and characters. For example, “It is good.” and “It’s effective.” The readers only make generalized comments with vague words. Type Two: Narrational Reactions. The reader only recounts the details, events, and facts of the story. He does not want to make more interpretations of the story, but he can retell what happened in the story. This response might occur if the readers have difficulty for deeper reading comprehension. As a result, they can only retell plots and describe the features of characters like “There were three little pigs who wanted to build houses in this village.” Type Three: Interpretational Responses. The reader attempts to find the meaning of a story by providing some interpretations as evidence. There are three sub-categories. IR1 refers to responses in which readers recount the plot and describe 43 .

(57) characters such as “I think John was a nice person because he gave the girls some food when she was starving.” IR2 encompasses responses which involve an analysis of main ideas and themes. For example, “If he did not run away from his parents, he would not get lost. Therefore, I think this story was trying to tell us to stay close with our parents when we went out.” IR3 are responses that describe the scenes of a story like “the woman in the picture seems to tell us that being brave and fight for yourself. Type Four: Prescriptive Judgments. Based on strictly-followed standards, the reader prescribes rules by which a character must abide. For example, “He ought to help the girl.” and “They mustn’t sell those kids.” Type Five: Associational Responses. The story helps the reader to recall responses associated with their life experiences such as a specific perspective, location, person, or event. For instance, “This is what my mom likes.” and “These are not like my school.” There are three subcategories for associational responses. AR1 refers to the responses associated with news. AR2 refers to responses that readers come up with by recalling other books they have read, and AR3 refers to responses linked to their life experiences. Type Six: Self-involvement Responses. The readers can connect themselves with characters and their behaviors. They can feel the character’s emotions and show theirs as well. The sub-categories include five factors. SI1 refers to responses that express 44 .

(58) the readers’ value and perceptions after they read the texts. For example, “I think being rich is great, but healthy is more crucial than wealthy” SI2 indicates the readers' self-reflections inspired by the story like “After reading this story, I think I need to learn from the girl in this story. I should not be impolite to my friends” SI3 shows a reader’s empathy with the characters such as “I think the woman must be so depressed when her dogs passed away.” SI4 relates to a reader’s agreement with a story’s main idea. For example, “Staying positive helps people to overcome challenges, so I think being positive is important.” SI5 are responses which expose a reader’s disagreement like “Arrogant and selfish make you become unwelcome easily. Therefore, we should not be proud and self-centered.” Type Seven: Miscellaneous. This category encompasses the comments that do not belong to any of the other six types. These seven categories would be divided into low-level and high-level textual understanding to answer the second research question. Based on a revised Bloom’s taxonomy of educational objects for learning, teaching and assessing from Anderson, Krathwohl, and Bloom (2001), the cognitive process can be classified into six levels. From low to high, they were remembering, understanding, applying, analyzing, evaluating and creating. According to this taxonomy, both literal responses and narrational reactions were regarded as low-level reading comprehension because the 45 .

(59) reader could only provide vague meaning about texts or retelling stories. Type Three to Type Six such as interpretational responses, prescriptive judgments, associational responses and self-involvement responses were categorized as high-level understanding of texts. Anderson et al (2001) mentioned, in different stages of cognitive process, learners would retain the previous ability and transfer it to reach the other stages. Therefore, according to the taxonomy, interpretational responses showed a reader’s understanding by providing some evidences in their own statements. Prescriptive judgments presented a reader’s evaluation of the story. Associational responses revealed a reader’s implementation toward life experiences after reading. Self-involvement responses demonstrated a reader’s creation of unique meaning which he learned from reading. By analyzing response logs according to these categories, the researcher could identify the participants’ growth for textual understanding.. 46 .

(60) CHAPTER FOUR. RESULTS After 12 weeks of literature circles for six English picture books, the researcher collected 42 response logs in which seven participants made their comments on each picture book and provided detailed responses after discussion. To analyze and delve into the students’ perceptions of the stories from their written responses, the researcher applied a revised coding system from Squire (1964), which included seven response types and 11 subtitles. The researcher kept Squire’s original coding categories and definitions like literary judgments, interpretation responses, narrational reactions, prescriptive judgments, and miscellaneous. However, Type 5 for associational responses and Type 6 for self-involvement responses were adjusted based on Squire’s coding scheme The findings of the present study will be categorized into three sections. First, results for response frequency is listed and interpreted. Then, students’ perceptions of literature circles are discussed. Finally, comparisons between students’ reading attitudes before and after literature circles are presented.. Response Frequency Table 1 presents responses frequency and interpretation from 42 response logs after reading six English picture books in this case study. Through this table, the 47 .

(61) significance of response frequency and the findings of response types were discussed and elaborated in order. Table 1 Response Frequency Analysis for Response Logs PB. HFB MML. WS. YAS. JTA. Total. Type 1 Literal responses. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. Type 2 Narrational responses. 1. 3. 0. 1. 0. 1. 6. IR1-plot and character. 2. 3. 2. 1. 1. 4. 13. IR2-theme and ideas. 8. 6. 1. 0. 0. 1. 16. IR3-scenes. 2. 0. 0. 0. 0. 0. 2. 3. 0. 3. 1. 0. 0. 7. AR1-news. 0. 1. 1. 1. 0. 0. 3. AR2-books. 0. 1. 0. 0. 0. 0. 1. AR3-life experiences. 0. 2. 5. 0. 3. 1. 11. SI1-value. 2. 2. 2. 2. 4. 0. 12. SI2-self-reflection. 3. 6. 3. 2. 4. 0. 18. SI3-empathy. 1. 1. 1. 3. 0. 0. 6. SI4-approval. 1. 0. 0. 3. 1. 0. 5. SI5-disapproval. 0. 1. 0. 1. 0. 0. 2. 1. 0. 0. 1. 1. 10. 13. Type 3 Interpretational Responses. Type 4 Prescriptive Judgments Type 5 Associational Responses. Type 6 Self-involvement Responses. Type 7 Miscellaneous. Note. PB: Piggybook; HFB: Henry’s Freedom Box; MML: My Mom Is Trying To Ruin My Life; WS: Wings; YAS: You Are Special. 48 .