TY - JOUR
AU - Xu, Qi
AB - Abstract This study explored how reading circles (RCs) can be incorporated into a task-based reading curriculum in academic classroom settings. It investigated students’ perceptions of academic RC tasks and examined their effectiveness in improving students’ reading abilities and critical thinking skills. Twenty-six EFL university students majoring in Business English participated in the study. They were asked to read English business journal articles weekly, assigned different roles and tasks to complete, and given opportunities to share interpretations in class. Data were collected from questionnaires, interviews, students’ reflective journals, reading proficiency tests, and weekly homework. The results show that students held quite positive attitudes toward RC tasks in academic contexts and confirmed their effectiveness in enhancing their reading abilities and critical thinking skills through a collaborative learning process. Such a reading scheme has been proved to be a pedagogically appropriate approach for language development in academic contexts. Introduction Reading is one of the essential language skills for EFL learners. In academic contexts, reading is particularly important because it serves as a major resource of informational content for students to learn and use academic writing, speaking, and listening tasks (Newton, Ferris, Goh, Grabe, Stoller, and Vandergrift 2018). In order to prepare EAP learners to be better readers, an effective reading curriculum should be incorporated into the course design, encouraging the students to read for well-defined purposes to accomplish a series of challenging academic learning tasks. However, in many EFL classes held in academic settings, students often consider it laborious and boring to read in English, and find it difficult truly to comprehend the academic texts (Seburn 2016). This is likely to demotivate students due to a lack of enjoyment and attainable goals. Therefore, it has been proposed that EAP reading schemes should be integrated with task-based approaches that specify clear and achievable purposes for all language learning activities (Carrell and Carson 1997). Task-based language teaching (TBLT) is ‘an approach to language teaching that provides opportunities for students to engage in the authentic use of the target language through tasks’ (Douglas and Kim 2014: 3). It requires exposure to a rich but comprehensible input of real language, opportunities for real use of language, motivation, and focus on form (Willis 1996). According to Willis (1996), the task framework can be summarized as pre-task (introduction to task and topic), task cycle (task-planning-report), and post-task (analysis and practice) phases. In terms of the ways in which tasks could be integrated into EAP reading schemes, one well-established but under-explored pedagogic approach is reading circles (RCs) (Shelton-Strong 2012). Reading circles in task-based EAP reading schemes RCs (also called literature circles) are defined as small discussion groups who are asked to read the same piece of literature (usually fiction texts) and then get together on a regular basis to share their interpretations based on assigned roles (Daniels 2002; Day, Spiegel, McLellan, Brown, and Allington 2002), such as discussion leader, summarizer, word master, and connector, as proposed by Furr (2011). Each role specifies an individual task for the learner to complete. It is thus suggested that such a reading group is a task within the TBLT framework, for in RC tasks, learners are also immersed in authentic language, motivated to read with clearly specified tasks and objectives, and given sufficient opportunities to communicate their ideas (Shelton-Strong 2012). RCs have been proved effective in promoting EFL learning. For instance, Schoonmaker (2014) applied a blended learning approach to RCs, discovering that this amplified the effect of learner agency in discussions, and Su, Li, Liang, and Tsai (2019) discovered learners’ positive attitudes towards collaborative learning through Wiki-based literature circles. However, when applied to EAP contexts in higher education, some challenges arise. For example, university students are predominantly faced with non-fiction text, they often need to reach an in-depth and detailed understanding of the text, and they should be able to use the information from the text meaningfully in their output. Therefore, some changes of traditional RCs are necessary in order to cater to the needs of learners in academic courses. Against this background, Seburn (2016) proposed the concept of academic reading circles (ARCs), aiming to develop the skills for deep textual comprehension and improve learner engagement with non-fiction texts for academic purposes through collaboration. Unlike traditional RCs, ARCs are an intensive reading approach with a focus on non-fiction text. However, the general practice is quite similar, as learners also read a common text, take on different roles, and share their interpretations when meeting afterwards. So far, little research has been conducted to investigate how RCs can best be adapted for a task-based reading curriculum in academic classroom settings. Some exceptions include the study by Graham-Marr and Pellowe (2016), which used non-fiction reading materials in teaching ten engineering-major university students. The study focused on students’ opinions of different roles and found that summarizer was regarded as the most difficult role, albeit a very important one. However, there is still a lack of research on EFL learners’ attitudes toward RC tasks in academic contexts. As suggested by Green (2005), when TBLT is incorporated into a specific reading curriculum, learners can not only develop reading abilities, but also enhance their critical thinking skills. Nevertheless, little is known about how such a task-based EAP reading scheme could facilitate learners’ reading abilities and critical thinking skills. Therefore, based on previous literature, the present study incorporated RCs into a task-based EAP reading scheme targeting university students majoring in Business English. The specific research questions are as follows: What are students’ perceptions of incorporating RCs into a task-based EAP reading scheme? How effective is the task-based EAP reading scheme in enhancing students’ reading abilities and critical thinking skills? The study Context The course was Comprehensive Business English. Set in a Chinese university, the course aimed to develop students’ English language skills and build their theme-based business knowledge. Business English reading was thus an essential part of the course and comprised 30 percent of the final assessment grade. The students met two hours per week, throughout the sixteen-week semester in 2018, for RC tasks. An online class management platform, MosoTeach, was used to aid in the execution of tasks and evaluation. Participants A class of twenty-six sophomores majoring in Business English participated in the study. They were Chinese native speakers and intermediate EFL learners with an average age of nineteen. Twenty-four were female and two were male. They had been learning English for approximately eleven years and most of them had never been to an English-speaking country. Their mean pre-study IELTS reading test score was 5.5 out of 9. According to the pre-study questionnaire, 65 percent of the students had never or seldom read articles from English business journals, and 38 percent considered it difficult or very difficult to understand the articles. Nevertheless, 70 percent of them showed great interest in undertaking regular reading practice of English articles from business journals. They gave informed consent and agreed to participate in the study. The text The articles used for intensive reading were selected by the teacher from The Economist, a weekly journal that offers insights and opinions on the latest events in fields such as business, finance, science, and technology, so students could obtain both business-related knowledge and authentic language input from the articles. The texts were selected based on the following criteria: (1) the themes or topics should be related to the students’ major, i.e. international business, so students would find it easier to understand the background information of the articles; and (2) the length and linguistic difficulty should cater for the students’ language proficiency, so students would not find it too difficult to comprehend the texts. In terms of article length, we selected articles of around 650 words, which, based on our teaching experience, were generally accepted by students. In addition, Eng-Editor1 was adopted to examine the difficulty level of the articles. The difficulty levels were controlled around six points, which indicated that they matched the proficiency level of the students at College English Test-6 (a nationwide English test for college students). This was similar to the students’ current English proficiency level. A total of eight articles were selected as intensive reading texts for the weekly RC tasks. Table 1 shows a list of the articles. TABLE 1 Text selection for the study Task . Title . Content summary . 1 ‘Modern Love’ The business of online dating is booming 2 ‘Having it All’ The gender pay gap still needs to be closed 3 ‘Cash for Trash’ How the world should cope with its growing piles of rubbish 4 ‘Workers Are Losing their Chains’ Causes and consequences of high staff turnover 5 ‘Over 65 Shades of Grey’ A new age category is created to get the most out of longer lives 6 ‘Brain Gains’ Technology and teachers can revamp schools together 7 ‘Workers on Tap’ How should governments deal with the rise of the gig economy 8 ‘Escape Velocipede’ The bicycle-sharing business model in China needs a gear shift Task . Title . Content summary . 1 ‘Modern Love’ The business of online dating is booming 2 ‘Having it All’ The gender pay gap still needs to be closed 3 ‘Cash for Trash’ How the world should cope with its growing piles of rubbish 4 ‘Workers Are Losing their Chains’ Causes and consequences of high staff turnover 5 ‘Over 65 Shades of Grey’ A new age category is created to get the most out of longer lives 6 ‘Brain Gains’ Technology and teachers can revamp schools together 7 ‘Workers on Tap’ How should governments deal with the rise of the gig economy 8 ‘Escape Velocipede’ The bicycle-sharing business model in China needs a gear shift Open in new tab TABLE 1 Text selection for the study Task . Title . Content summary . 1 ‘Modern Love’ The business of online dating is booming 2 ‘Having it All’ The gender pay gap still needs to be closed 3 ‘Cash for Trash’ How the world should cope with its growing piles of rubbish 4 ‘Workers Are Losing their Chains’ Causes and consequences of high staff turnover 5 ‘Over 65 Shades of Grey’ A new age category is created to get the most out of longer lives 6 ‘Brain Gains’ Technology and teachers can revamp schools together 7 ‘Workers on Tap’ How should governments deal with the rise of the gig economy 8 ‘Escape Velocipede’ The bicycle-sharing business model in China needs a gear shift Task . Title . Content summary . 1 ‘Modern Love’ The business of online dating is booming 2 ‘Having it All’ The gender pay gap still needs to be closed 3 ‘Cash for Trash’ How the world should cope with its growing piles of rubbish 4 ‘Workers Are Losing their Chains’ Causes and consequences of high staff turnover 5 ‘Over 65 Shades of Grey’ A new age category is created to get the most out of longer lives 6 ‘Brain Gains’ Technology and teachers can revamp schools together 7 ‘Workers on Tap’ How should governments deal with the rise of the gig economy 8 ‘Escape Velocipede’ The bicycle-sharing business model in China needs a gear shift Open in new tab Teaching procedure Before the study formally started, one entire class session was spent introducing the concept of RCs to the students and allowing them to practice. It took the students three weeks to familiarize themselves with the different roles, which were defined as follows: Discussion leader: write down two questions about the article and explain why they are important for the understanding of the article; organize in-class discussion among group members. Mind mapper: analyse the article structure and draw a mind map that presents a clear-cut image of the article structure. Summarizer: write down the main idea of each paragraph and connect the main ideas of all the paragraphs to make it logical and coherent (length: 150–200 words). Connector: make notes on at least two possible connections between the content of the article and the world outside (length: 150–200 words). Word master: choose 5 words that you think are essential for this article, write down their meanings in English, and explain why they are important for understanding the article. The RC tasks formally started from the fifth week of the semester. Table 2 demonstrates the specific procedure of a one-round task-based RC practice based on Seburn (2016). TABLE 2 Procedures for RC tasks Three phases . Specific steps . Details of procedure . Pre-task phase Step 1: create RC groups of four or five each A total of six groups were formed Step 2: select a common text each week for the cycle One article was selected as intensive reading material for RC tasks each week Step 3: assign roles and corresponding tasks to RC group members A different role was assigned to each member of the group Main task Step 4: ask students to complete their tasks Students were asked to read the articles independently, complete their role sheets, and submit their work on the MosoTeach platform Step 5: carry out in-class group work 1 When the students met in class, only one group was asked to make a presentation of article analysis, consisting of all the roles assigned 2 Then the whole class conducted group discussions of article analysis based on their own role sheets, and compared their work to that of the presenters 3 The students and the teacher evaluated the presenters’ performance by commenting on their article analysis, including agreements and disagreements as well as strengths and weaknesses Post-task phase Step 6: provide peer assessment Students gave scores and brief comments on others’ role sheets on MosoTeach. Step 7: provide teacher assessment The teacher gave scores and comments on completed role sheets on MosoTeach. Three phases . Specific steps . Details of procedure . Pre-task phase Step 1: create RC groups of four or five each A total of six groups were formed Step 2: select a common text each week for the cycle One article was selected as intensive reading material for RC tasks each week Step 3: assign roles and corresponding tasks to RC group members A different role was assigned to each member of the group Main task Step 4: ask students to complete their tasks Students were asked to read the articles independently, complete their role sheets, and submit their work on the MosoTeach platform Step 5: carry out in-class group work 1 When the students met in class, only one group was asked to make a presentation of article analysis, consisting of all the roles assigned 2 Then the whole class conducted group discussions of article analysis based on their own role sheets, and compared their work to that of the presenters 3 The students and the teacher evaluated the presenters’ performance by commenting on their article analysis, including agreements and disagreements as well as strengths and weaknesses Post-task phase Step 6: provide peer assessment Students gave scores and brief comments on others’ role sheets on MosoTeach. Step 7: provide teacher assessment The teacher gave scores and comments on completed role sheets on MosoTeach. Open in new tab TABLE 2 Procedures for RC tasks Three phases . Specific steps . Details of procedure . Pre-task phase Step 1: create RC groups of four or five each A total of six groups were formed Step 2: select a common text each week for the cycle One article was selected as intensive reading material for RC tasks each week Step 3: assign roles and corresponding tasks to RC group members A different role was assigned to each member of the group Main task Step 4: ask students to complete their tasks Students were asked to read the articles independently, complete their role sheets, and submit their work on the MosoTeach platform Step 5: carry out in-class group work 1 When the students met in class, only one group was asked to make a presentation of article analysis, consisting of all the roles assigned 2 Then the whole class conducted group discussions of article analysis based on their own role sheets, and compared their work to that of the presenters 3 The students and the teacher evaluated the presenters’ performance by commenting on their article analysis, including agreements and disagreements as well as strengths and weaknesses Post-task phase Step 6: provide peer assessment Students gave scores and brief comments on others’ role sheets on MosoTeach. Step 7: provide teacher assessment The teacher gave scores and comments on completed role sheets on MosoTeach. Three phases . Specific steps . Details of procedure . Pre-task phase Step 1: create RC groups of four or five each A total of six groups were formed Step 2: select a common text each week for the cycle One article was selected as intensive reading material for RC tasks each week Step 3: assign roles and corresponding tasks to RC group members A different role was assigned to each member of the group Main task Step 4: ask students to complete their tasks Students were asked to read the articles independently, complete their role sheets, and submit their work on the MosoTeach platform Step 5: carry out in-class group work 1 When the students met in class, only one group was asked to make a presentation of article analysis, consisting of all the roles assigned 2 Then the whole class conducted group discussions of article analysis based on their own role sheets, and compared their work to that of the presenters 3 The students and the teacher evaluated the presenters’ performance by commenting on their article analysis, including agreements and disagreements as well as strengths and weaknesses Post-task phase Step 6: provide peer assessment Students gave scores and brief comments on others’ role sheets on MosoTeach. Step 7: provide teacher assessment The teacher gave scores and comments on completed role sheets on MosoTeach. Open in new tab A few more things need to be explained concerning the main task. First, MosoTeach was used as an online platform where students could send their role sheets and check others’ homework. It was more convenient to the teachers to assess students’ work and give comments, and it was a good way to carry out collaborative learning through peer assessment. Second, the teacher had a schedule chart to assign different roles to students each week, so that the students took turns to undertake different weekly tasks. In addition, class discussions were conducted after the presentation of one group, so that the students could compare their own role sheets with those of the presenters, exchange opinions, and provide peer evaluation afterwards. Data collection A mixed-methods approach was adopted to collect and analyse data. Five different sources of data were used to address the research questions. Questionnaires, reflective journals, and semi-structured interviews were used to explore students’ perceptions of RC tasks in an EAP classroom setting; and reading proficiency tests and students’ weekly RC homework were used to examine students’ improvement in reading abilities and critical thinking abilities. Pre- and post-study questionnaires. Two questionnaires were distributed to students in week 1 and week 16, respectively. They included 25 five-point Likert scale questions to investigate students’ attitudes toward reading tasks and find out whether the tasks helped their learning. The design of the questionnaires made reference to the study by Graham-Marr and Pellowe (2016) and was modified for our research purposes. Students’ reflective journals. At the end of the semester, each student was asked to write a reflective journal in response to the following questions. (1) In what aspects do you think you have improved (e.g. reading, thinking, and learning abilities)? (2) What suggestions do you have to improve the reading scheme? The journals were written in Chinese, and then translated into English by two research assistants. Semi-structured interviews with the students. Fifteen students in three groups were randomly selected for semi-structured interviews with the researcher, covering follow-up questions from the questionnaires such as ‘What are the specific benefits of RCs for your study?’ and ‘What difficulties have you encountered while doing RC tasks?’ The interviews were conducted in Chinese, and then transcribed and translated into English by two research assistants. Reading proficiency tests. Two mock IELTS reading tests were undertaken by the students in week 1 and week 16 to examine whether the students had improved in reading proficiency in academic contexts. Students’ weekly RC homework. All the students’ homework was collected directly from the MosoTeach platform and used for an assessment of the improvements made between the start and end of the study. Data analysis and results First, in order to uncover students’ perceptions of RC tasks in academic settings, the results of the questionnaires were analysed based on the frequencies of participants’ responses; the students’ reflective journals and transcribed interviews were coded and analysed using a thematic analysis approach (Boyatzis 1998) where the major variables were examined and categorized into different themes. Through data analysis, two core themes emerged, i.e. students’ willingness to engage in RC tasks and their attitudes toward the usefulness of RCs in improving reading abilities and critical thinking skills. Second, in order to examine students’ improvement in reading abilities and critical thinking skills, paired t-tests were conducted to compare students’ pre- and post-study IELTS reading test scores. A detailed analysis and comparison was made of students’ homework at the beginning and end of the semester based on Bloom’s taxonomy (Krathwohl 2002) targeting critical thinking skills. Students’ perceptions of RC tasks in an EAP setting First of all, results from the post-study questionnaire show that a majority of students were willing or quite willing to participate in RC activities such as doing weekly homework, giving and listening to presentations, and discussing and sharing with group members (see Table 3), which confirmed students’ positive attitudes toward RC tasks in academic settings. TABLE 3 Students’ willingness to undertake reading tasks (week 16 questionnaire) Reading task . Scale of willingness . . . . . Mean . SD . . 5 . 4 . 3 . 2 . 1 . . . Read English journal articles 42% 50% 8% 0% 0% 4.35 0.375 Do RC homework 19% 58% 23% 0% 0% 3.89 0.632 Discuss with group members 39% 39% 22% 0% 0% 4.15 0.584 Submit homework via MosoTeach 59% 26% 15% 0% 0% 4.44 0.415 Do presentation 27% 46% 23% 4% 0% 3.96 0.856 Listen to others’ presentations 39% 39% 22% 0% 0% 4.15 0.584 Reading task . Scale of willingness . . . . . Mean . SD . . 5 . 4 . 3 . 2 . 1 . . . Read English journal articles 42% 50% 8% 0% 0% 4.35 0.375 Do RC homework 19% 58% 23% 0% 0% 3.89 0.632 Discuss with group members 39% 39% 22% 0% 0% 4.15 0.584 Submit homework via MosoTeach 59% 26% 15% 0% 0% 4.44 0.415 Do presentation 27% 46% 23% 4% 0% 3.96 0.856 Listen to others’ presentations 39% 39% 22% 0% 0% 4.15 0.584 Open in new tab TABLE 3 Students’ willingness to undertake reading tasks (week 16 questionnaire) Reading task . Scale of willingness . . . . . Mean . SD . . 5 . 4 . 3 . 2 . 1 . . . Read English journal articles 42% 50% 8% 0% 0% 4.35 0.375 Do RC homework 19% 58% 23% 0% 0% 3.89 0.632 Discuss with group members 39% 39% 22% 0% 0% 4.15 0.584 Submit homework via MosoTeach 59% 26% 15% 0% 0% 4.44 0.415 Do presentation 27% 46% 23% 4% 0% 3.96 0.856 Listen to others’ presentations 39% 39% 22% 0% 0% 4.15 0.584 Reading task . Scale of willingness . . . . . Mean . SD . . 5 . 4 . 3 . 2 . 1 . . . Read English journal articles 42% 50% 8% 0% 0% 4.35 0.375 Do RC homework 19% 58% 23% 0% 0% 3.89 0.632 Discuss with group members 39% 39% 22% 0% 0% 4.15 0.584 Submit homework via MosoTeach 59% 26% 15% 0% 0% 4.44 0.415 Do presentation 27% 46% 23% 4% 0% 3.96 0.856 Listen to others’ presentations 39% 39% 22% 0% 0% 4.15 0.584 Open in new tab Particular attention was paid to the role of group discussions in students’ reflective journals and interviews, where many students pointed out that they enjoyed the learning process through thought-provoking discussions. This was because the discussions deepened their understanding of articles and helped them learn from each other. Below are two examples of students’ statements: I do like class discussions where everybody can share their own viewpoints about the article and others’ analysis. We solve problems together through in-depth communication, rather than listen to the teacher all the time. (S10, reflective journal) The learning atmosphere in the course is enjoyable. We can freely exchange our ideas and can always learn from others’ opinions through discussions. This makes me more willing to learn English. (S7, interview) Secondly, regarding students’ perceptions of the usefulness of RC tasks in improving their learning, 85 percent of the students considered it effective in improving their Business English reading abilities. Regarding the lower-level reading skills, 65 percent confirmed that they had improved in terms of vocabulary recognition efficiency and vocabulary building. Concerning higher-level reading processes, most of the students mentioned in reflective journals that RC tasks played a crucial role in facilitating their reading comprehension (92 percent) and analysis (69 percent) abilities. In order to share their roles with other group members, the students had to perform a detailed and in-depth analysis of the article, which in turn improved their abilities to comprehend and analyse the articles. Moreover, the roles of mind mapper and summarizer were regarded as the most useful for improving their article analysis abilities (82 percent) because these two tasks enhanced students’ awareness of article writing structures and logic. Similar results were also found in the study by Graham-Marr and Pellowe (2016). Apart from reading abilities, it was found that RC tasks were also useful for developing students’ critical thinking skills, which is regarded as a crucial ability especially for international business majors. In the post-study questionnaire, 62 percent of the students emphasized the role of RC tasks in enhancing their critical thinking abilities. A total of 65 percent of the students mentioned in their reflective journals that RC tasks provided them with plenty of opportunities to critically evaluate articles, express different opinions, and assess others’ performance, thus improving their critical thinking abilities. Here are two examples of students’ opinions: In the past, I usually made a partial judgement on a business event. But the role of connector pushed me to gather more information based on the article and then get my own ideas. Now I can give more objective comments. (S26, reflective journal; the role of connector) In the past, I only accepted what others presented in their speeches or presentations. I seldom thought about their weaknesses. But this semester, the teacher kept asking us to spot strengths and weaknesses in others’ performance, so now I become more critical and able to tell which part could be further improved. (S8, interview; peer evaluation) To sum up, students held quite positive perceptions of RCs in a task-based EAP reading scheme and considered them as a useful instrument to improve their Business English reading abilities and critical thinking skills. Students’ learning improvement As mentioned above, many students considered that they made progress in reading abilities and critical thinking skills. This section will provide further evidence to demonstrate the improvement in students’ learning in these two aspects. Improvement of reading abilities Obvious improvements have been found between pre- and post-study reading proficiency tests, with the average IELTS reading test scores increasing from 5.5 (SD = 4.17) to 6.5 (SD = 3.72). The results of paired t-test show that the average post-test score was significantly higher than the pre-test score (t = 3.635, P = 0.001). Additionally, in the pre-test, half of the students did not finish the test in the allotted time; in the post-test, almost all of the students managed to complete the test within the time limit, which to some extent confirms the increase in their reading speed for academic purposes. Enhancement of critical thinking skills After a detailed analysis of students’ weekly homework, it was found that their improvement in critical thinking skills was primarily revealed in the role of connector. The connector role required that the students select some points from the article and connect the content to the outside world. In the first few weeks, the students could only write a little about some relevant information they had searched for, but failed to give their own comments. At the end of the semester, most of the students were able to analyse content, give critical but objective judgements, and create new ideas or solutions. According to Bloom’s taxonomy (Krathwohl 2002), the students had reached a higher level of critical thinking, i.e. analyse, evaluate, and create. Below is an example of a connector role sheet completed by one of the students in week 14 (topic: gig economy). Due to space limitations, only the student’s comments are provided here. The article has talked a lot in terms of the protection of workers’ rights in the gig economy from the government perspective. However, one big concern lies in consumer safety that may be missing, given that besides the platform itself and the ‘self-employed’ workers on it, consumer is also a very important stakeholder in the game. Over the past few years, some severe safety problems arose in Didi business, urging more people to reflect on the consumers’ safety problems in the gig economy. Though measures have been taken by these ride-hailing companies, including background checks, more needs to be done in this context. The student first summarized and analysed one of the major issues in the article, and then started to provide her critique on the current gig economy from the perspective of consumer safety. In the end, she intended to urge more measures to be taken, but regrettably did not bring up effective solutions. Nevertheless, compared to the earlier homework, the student made great progress in critically evaluating the business events and critically thinking about the skills in general. Discussions and conclusion This study found a positive impact of RCs in a task-based reading scheme in EAP contexts. Students majoring in Business English expressed their willingness to participate and get involved in various RC tasks, and confirmed the positive role of RCs in improving their Business English reading abilities and critical thinking skills. By means of such roles as mind mapper, summarizer, and word master, students’ reading analysis and comprehension abilities, as well as vocabulary recognition and vocabulary building have made much progress. Meanwhile, an open communication platform was offered to students to negotiate meaning and interpretation in group discussions, whereby students’ language abilities and critical thinking skills could be enhanced (Shelton-Strong 2012). RC tasks provided students with sufficient opportunities to be exposed to rich, authentic language and to have collaborative discussions with meaningful purposes. Through group collaborations, students’ interactions, both inside and outside the classroom, have been strengthened, thus promoting their oral communication abilities and team spirit. Furthermore, appropriate assessment methods by means of peer and teacher feedback also fostered a stimulating learning atmosphere for students to improve their language skills. Despite the positive results reported above, the research did find a few problems. It was found that some students (around 15 percent) with lower language proficiency still encountered difficulty in accurately and quickly analysing the articles. It may take them longer to fully grasp the main idea of articles, and it was somewhat difficult for them to be fully engaged in group discussions. Therefore, more scaffolding needs to be provided to students with reading difficulty via teacher intervention or peer assistance (Graham-Marr and Pellowe 2016). In addition, some students reported that the weekly workload was a little heavy, and that more diversified tasks could be assigned, so that a wider range of roles can be explored to maintain students’ interest. The present study has filled the research gap by incorporating RCs into a task-based reading scheme in an EAP context. It has been proved to be highly compatible with the Business English curriculum and is considered as a pedagogically appropriate approach for language development in business contexts. Nevertheless, the study still has some limitations. First, a limited number of participants with similar backgrounds were recruited, so its generalizability needs to be tested with a wider range of participants. Second, the study was only aimed at English for business purposes at the university level; future studies can extend the context to various EAP settings. Furthermore, the online platform MosoTeach was mainly used for homework submission and teacher feedback; more functions such as peer feedback and interaction and blended learning approaches can be exploited in RC tasks to foster a multidimensional, collaborative learning environment. The author Qi Xu is currently an associate professor at the School of English for International Business, Guangdong University of Foreign Studies, China. 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Google Scholar Google Preview OpenURL Placeholder Text WorldCat COPAC Footnotes 1 Eng-Editor is an online text evaluation and adaptation system that matches English reading texts to specific proficiency levels specified in the Chinese EFL curriculum standards. Available at http://languagedata.net/tester. © The Author(s) 2021. Published by Oxford University Press; all rights reserved. This article is published and distributed under the terms of the Oxford University Press, Standard Journals Publication Model (https://academic.oup.com/journals/pages/open_access/funder_policies/chorus/standard_publication_model)
TI - Incorporating reading circles into a task-based EAP reading scheme
JF - ELT Journal
DO - 10.1093/elt/ccab012
DA - 2021-04-10
UR - https://www.deepdyve.com/lp/oxford-university-press/incorporating-reading-circles-into-a-task-based-eap-reading-scheme-OfKeda0clo
SP - 1
EP - 1
VL - Advance Article
IS - 
DP - DeepDyve
ER -