The Effect of Literature Circles on Text Analysis and Reading Desire

Abstract

In order to make teaching activities more appealing, different techniques and strategies have been constantly employed. In this study, the strategy of “literature circles” was utilized to improve the text-analysis skills, reading desires, and interests of prospective teachers of Turkish. “Literature circles” was not chosen to be used as the sole strategy throughout the entire weekly class hours; instead, it was used only for one class hour of every weekly four-hour classes, being complementary to and supportive of other teaching activities. The study was carried out as action research. A total of 92 third-year students in two sections of the department of Turkish Education voluntarily participated in the study. In order to improve the students’ book reviewing skills and reading interests, “literature circles” was implemented for a period of 12 weeks for one class hour. At the end of the implementation of “literature circles” when the students’ reading comprehension pre-test and post-test scores were compared, a significant difference was observed. Based on the results, it may be concluded that “literature circles” is effective in developing students’ abilities to find the theme, main idea, and keywords in a text. Besides, the students pointed out that the implementation of this strategy increased their interest and desire for communication, their self-confidence, cooperative learning, critical thinking, reading objectively without bias, and independent reading skills.