The Practice and Effects of Integrating Literature Circles and Mobile Instant-messaging Technology in ELT

Abstract

Research has found significant advantages of using classroom literature circles, where small groups of students read the same text and then take different role responsibilities in their fully face-to-face discussion around the text; however, more and more studies have shown that in today’s technological world, virtual literature circles integrated with the Internet and various forms of communication technology are growing rapidly in popularity. LINE, the fastest growing mobile instant-messaging app, seems to have great potential to facilitate the role-based, peer-led discussions of virtual literature circles, but there is still little empirical research regarding the use of this mobile application as a communication tool to complete learning-related tasks. The present study describes a blended literature circle project implemented in my teaching of a Freshman English course, in which three face-to-face literature circles were conducted in the classroom to help the students get familiar with this new learning format, especially the discussion roles, before they had out-of-class, synchronous literature circle discussions via LINE. A questionnaire survey and semi-structured interviews were conducted to investigate the students’ learning experiences of and responses to this project. It was found that the majority of the participants thought very positively of the integration of literature circles and LINE and agreed that such integration had increased their motivation to read the literary text and get engaged in the structured role-based discussion about it in small groups.



Author Information
Wan-Lun Lee, Fu Jen Catholic University, Taiwan

Paper Information
Conference: ACLL2019
Stream: Mobile learning / Apps

This paper is part of the ACLL2019 Conference Proceedings (View)
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Posted by James Alexander Gordon