Examination of Interactions Among Eighth-Grade Language Arts Students During Literature Circles

This study examined the nature of interactions that took place among eighth-graders as they participated in literature circles. The teacher/researcher organized students into literature circles based on the students' novel selection. Students completed a different role assignment each week. The role assignments included word wizard, passage picker, connector, summarizer, and question asker. As the students participated in literature circles, the teacher/researcher tape recorded their conversations and took observational field notes. Analysis of the data four weeks later showed that some students' voices were silenced and students went through the motions of completing and talking about their role assignments with little discussion and inquiry. These findings may be due to the way the role assignments were used and the role of the teacher during literature circles.

Name thesis:degree_name

MA

Grantor dc:publisher

Brigham Young University - Provo

Author dc:creator

• Smith, Rachel Marie

• literature circles
• democracy
• democratic participation
• middle school
• language arts
• Teacher Education and Professional Development

Language dc:language

English

Repository record dc:identifier

https://scholarsarchive.byu.edu/etd/1534

OAI identifier oai:identifier

oai:scholarsarchive.byu.edu:etd-2533