The influences of a literature discussion group:

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to examine the responses of third grade students to literature discussions. The theoretical framework of this study is embodied in a transactive theory of reading as explained by a reader-response perspective. The design was descriptive to provide insights concerning the instructional setting, teacher-researcher role, students, and teacher-colleagues. Ten third grade students, identified by their classroom teachers as "remedial" readers, participated in this study. The students, from three classrooms, attended a 45 minute weekly literature discussion session for a period of 16 weeks. Texts for the discussions included multiple copies of traditional folk tales. Data for this study were gathered through participant observation, formal and informal interviews, miscue analysis, field notes, and audio recordings of the literature discussions. The data were analyzed using a constant comparison process; that is, a process of developing initial coding categories from the data and refining or adding to the categories as the data were evaluated for "fit." The findings suggest that the students had a difficult time, initially, engaging in the literature discussions. Not having been involved in literature discussions, the students knew little of the social conventions of discussing with their peers. After a few sessions, however, the students were able to more fully engage each other with the literature. Although some students remained quiet throughout the discussions, all of the students had at least one evaluative response to make for each of the stories. Results from the miscue data suggest that these "remedial" readers improved dramatically in their ability to read and retell stories. In addition, I discovered that I needed to balance my role of teacher and researcher and expand my views of response. The teacher-colleagues noted that the students were more confident readers in their classrooms, and in one case, a teacher described how she changed her interactional patterns with the students. The findings suggest that the role of the teacher is crucial in facilitating response. How the teacher organizes literature discussions, what factors are highlighted, and the freedom students feel in discussing issues are positively or negatively influenced by the teacher.