Circular Design: Intensive Reading Method
Circular Design Instruction A Communicative Approach to Intensive Reading
Tony Newman apnewman@hotmail.com
Senior English Language Fellow U.S. Department of State
Circular Design: Introduction
Is it possible to create a student-centered, highly communicative, intensive reading environment? While theoretical debates escalate about whether language acquisition and communicative competence are innately determined (Williamson 2009), teachers of ESL/EFL are struggling to find real, relevant classroom strategies that enhance students’ cognitive development and communicative ability. Circular Design provides an environment where a critical reading and understanding of content comes from a synergetic learning approach that involves a careful contemplation and communion of thought between the students and their teacher.
Circular Design (CD) is a complement to traditional intensive reading instruction that offers an opportunity to awaken the mind of the student through group exploration and discussion of text. A circle is a repeated cycle; a complete series that forms a connected whole. As such, the four steps of CD allow students to share their knowledge, experiences, and abilities with the student group, and form a connected, cohesive, and critical whole. When the four steps of CD are incorporated before, during, and after reading instruction, they will enhance the students’ ability to critically decode the text, and engage in oral, visual, written, and spoken communication.
“One reader is better than another…if he demands more of himself and of the text before him” (Adler). CD requires of each student a thoughtful, questioning-feedback-response cycle with critical analysis of the text and group member thinking. Critical analysis of text and author, of consequences and implications, point of view and purpose, will emerge after group discussion and mutual investigation of the text.
Circular Design aims to slow down the intensive reading process for the English language learner, and to make the input more knowable and clear. If you give a four-year-old child a large, juicy steak the consequences are predictable. Despite the delicious taste of the steak, the expense of the fine cut, and the preparation time of the chef, the young child will not be able to chew, swallow, or digest the meat in as competent a way as a more experienced adult. In this way, deliberate and careful guidance through the four stages of CD is essential to avoid poorly digested content. “Clearly, second language readers are going to have difficulties in processing texts which contain unfamiliar aspects of the English language” (Hedge 2000).
Before beginning CD, I remind my students that a balanced exchange of ideas and mutual participation and support are needed, rather than meekness or quarrel. The idea is to work together toward the most rational, judicious interpretation of the text and author. As stated about the importance and overall efficacy of group work, David Moseley reminds us that, “...people learn in social contexts…and experience an interplay of cognitive, emotional, motivational, and social energies” (Moseley 2006).
What highly skilled readers do implicitly must be made explicit for the English language learner. Teachers should model the following four steps as active participants in Circular Design, forming with their students a mutual investigation of the text and author. When the teacher is satisfied that the student-groups display a clear understanding of the activity, more autonomous, self-directed discussion and learning can occur.
The Four Steps Outline: Students will work cooperatively in circular groups of three/four.
- Step One: Prediction + Peer Feedback: Students and teacher discuss content and purpose of the text and author using seven, explicitly taught inference strategies that focus on activating schematic and systemic/linguistic knowledge.
· Step Two: Group Annotation + Peer Feedback: Studentswillwork together to annotate the text based on clear, specific learning goals and three annotation strategies.
· Step Three: Spoken, Written, and Illustrated Summaries + Peer Feedback: Students will take turns speaking, writing, and drawing summaries which emerge from annotation and peer feedback by using eight, explicitly taught summary strategies and criteria.
· Step Four: Become the author: Assuming the role of “author”, student-groups will be responsible for answering a series of questions which focus on critical thinking concepts and higher-order thinking skills.
Please note that the four steps of Circular Design are not meant to replace intensive reading instruction. The purpose is to enhance instruction by adding communicative, student-centered learning strategies and group discussion.
Circular Design: Step-by-Step Guide
Step One: Before Reading/During Reading
Choose an appropriate text that matches your students’ language level and cognitive ability – factors teachers should be aware of through pre-assessment strategies. For a thorough discussion on pre-assessment reading strategies, I recommend “Mindscapes: Critical Reading Skills and Strategies” written by, Christine E. Carter.
Arrange students into groups of three/four. I have had success over the past decade with carefully planned group composition; however, this requires much teacher experimentation and observation: stronger ELL’s with weaker ELL’s; visual-spatial with audio-linguistic; introverted with extroverted; old friends with new acquaintances. Research shows that the traditional idea of “ability grouping”, or grouping students solely based on reading level (high proficiency with high proficiency, low performing with low performing) might have negative consequences (Paratore 2000; Radencich, M. C. et.al 1995).
Next, groups are assigned the same text to read. This will allow the students to build a strong foundation in critical thinking through class discussion, commentary, and challenges from the other groups about the same text.
Step One: Make predictions and offer peer feedback.
Intention/Purpose:
a. To activate and share students’ schematic/systemic knowledge
b. To form cognitive connections between past experiences and present reading
“To predict” has two aspects about which Circular Design will give much focus:
a. to infer based on facts – plus – linguistic, illustrative, and physical evidence
b. to foretell based on previous knowledge and personal experience
Working in their groups of three/four, students discuss any clues that the text and teacher provide. Specifically, these include: author’s home country/home town; date the article was written; important social and political events at that time which might have influenced the author; basic knowledge of the author’s upbringing (wealthy family, poor family, education level); type and length of text; and pictures/images provided in the text and of the author – along with any other access point into the students’ prior knowledge base.
Knowledge of these details, along with any other cognitive/visual access points – though it will mean additional work at first – is very helpful for a reading teachers’ ability to gain entrance into the mind and imagination of the students. Visual clues/prompts can greatly enhance the anticipation and prediction aspect of circular design and help to build expectation and excitement for the student reader.
I have realized the best results when my students predict content after learning the title, reading the first paragraph twice, and recognizing the ‘clues’ provided. “Curiously enough, one cannot read a book: one can only reread it. A good reader, a major reader, an active and creative reader is a re-reader,” noted the Russian novelist Vladimir Nabokov. This detective-like repetition will allow the students to realize their step-one intention by giving great focus to the reading and the study of the text.
In Circular Design, prediction is not a simple one or two minute activity, rather, this step goes much deeper than is usually prescribed and should be given sufficient in-class time for investigation and discussion. At its core, CD offers a deeper, more complete coverage of less content. “It makes far more sense to spend a significant amount of time on key concepts, generative ideas, and essential questions, and allow students to become familiar with these notions and their implications” (Gardner).
To assist the teacher in this challenging task, I have provided seven, intermediate-advanced level questions as a model for teacher/student use. I suggest that the teacher ask the groups to answer each question using full sentences. This will help the student practice three essential aspects of second-language acquisition and cognitive development: writing and speaking in complete sentences; thinking in, and constructing, simple, compound, and complex sentences; and building more fluent patterns of target-language thought and speech production.
Teachers may help to cultivate full sentences whenever appropriate for classroom instruction—as students need linguistically fluent models to give them the tools, when academically necessary or socially appropriate, to choose between short, informal, one-word answers or short phrases, and full, linguistically precise, academic construction. This distinction is closely related to Jim Cummins’ observation of BICS: Basic Interpersonal Communication Skills; and CALP: Cognitive Academic Language Proficiency (Cummins 2000).
Teachers may:
a. choose to focus on a few of the following questions in class during the beginning weeks, slowly moving to more complete coverage as the students become more skillful.
b. write the question(s) on the board for student reference. Students are encouraged to write the questions in their notebooks and discuss their accuracy and relevance after the four steps have been completed.
c. adjust the wording of the questions so that they are relevant to the content and comprehension of the in-class text, student cognitive/linguistic level, and specific learning goals.
Step One: Questions: Students work in their groups of three/four.
1. Question: Based on the title, “_______________”, what major theme do you think the author, _________________, will explore throughout the text?
2. Question: Based on the content of the first paragraph (students skim the first paragraph twice), what do you think is likely to happen in the second paragraph (in the rest of the text)?
(Teacher note for question 2: For challenging texts, the teacher may want to pre-teach the target vocabulary and read the first paragraph to the students. Teachers may also want to use the “think aloud” strategy as they read the first paragraph – modeling how effective readers think through, or process, text, punctuation/prosody, and ideas.)
3. Question: Why do you think the author chose to write about this subject? What could be the author’s purpose for writing this text?
Could the author’s purpose be: to convince, persuade, manipulate, encourage, inform, criticize, condemn, compare, contrast, narrate, describe, explain? Why?
Teachers and students should have fluency with the above verbs of purpose and understand their often subtle differences.
4. Question: From what point of view will the author write?
a. Third person: the writer expresses his/her feelings and thoughts through characters in the story rather than directly appearing in the text.
b. First person: the writer, “I”, participates directly in the story.
c. Supportive point of view: The author seems to provide support, sympathy, empathy, compassion, or encouragement for the subject of the text.
d. Critical point of view: The author seems likely to criticize, find fault with, or harshly judge the subject of the text.
e. Neutral point of view:The author seems unlikely to align him/herself with any side or position. The author seems to write without bias or prejudice towards the subject of the text.
5. Question: How could the following clues help you to determine the author’s point of view? (Teachers research and provide the following information.)
a. Our group looked at three important clues: the author’s home country, where he/she grew up, and his/her family background (rich/privileged, poor/underprivileged) and we think this will influence the author’s point of view in the following ways…
b. Our group looked at the date the text was written, and some important social and political events at that time, and we think that…
c. Our group looked at the type of text (large print/small print), and the length of the text, and we think this will tell us…
d. Our group carefully examined the visuals (pictures, images) in the text, and these visuals suggest the author might…
6. Question: Do you think the author will rely more on objective facts or personal opinions/experiences to support the text?
7. Question: Are you able to draw a picture of the title? If a picture or photograph is already provided, can you draw your own?
Teachers use the information from some (or all) of the above questions to facilitate group discussion that will help students make connections to previous knowledge and personal experiences, and encourage groups to share their predictions with the class – with other groups commenting on the predictions in a respectful way. This important step should not be overlooked, for it will set in motion the important task of developing respect, deference, value, and consideration of others’ thinking.
Step Two: During Reading: Annotation + Peer Feedback
Intention/Purpose:
Clarify through discussion: a. main ideas b. unfamiliar vocabulary c. confusing parts
Students now revisit the first paragraph, but with a different intention from step one. Working in their group of three/four, student “1” reads the first paragraph aloud. But, this is not a speed reading, monotonic exercise. Rather, the reader (student “1”) is encouraged to clearly and accurately intone - giving great focus to punctuation and prosody (intonation, melody/pitch changes). The understanding of the interplay between punctuation/prosody and comprehension may prove quite beneficial for both English language teachers and students.
While student “1” is reading, students “2” and “3” are actively annotating the paragraph by:
(1) circling unfamiliar vocabulary
(2) underlining important ideas (main ideas)
(3) writing a question mark (?) in the margin during parts of the text which need group/teacher clarification. Examples include: Why did he/she do that? Why does he/she say that? Who is the author talking about? What is the author talking about? What does this mean?
To review: The reader is focused on intonation; the listeners are focused on annotation.
Text annotation can be differentiated to meet the specific learning goals of your class and lesson. For example, students might underline the author’s use of descriptive language or literary devices (adjectives, adverbs, similes, metaphors, alliteration, hyperbole), or mark the external sources the author uses to support his/her argument, or mark the trigger words that indicate the author’s tone. In short, base student annotation on specific learning goals.
After student “1” finishes reading the paragraph, peer teaching/discussion begins. Students “2” and “3” offer their opinions about the main idea and discuss their annotations. Students will discuss for clarification:
(1) circled (unfamiliar) words – asking the group members to discover meaning through a variety of vocabulary learning strategies, “Learning a language entails learning numerous aspects about that language…but, the most important aspect is vocabulary” (Folse 2004);
(2) underlined sentences (main ideas)
(3) question marks
Please see the example paragraphs below:
1. <My best friend Matt is most remembered for his bravery. When he was eleven years old, he was on a miniscule boat that sank. With great struggle, he pushed the boat away, and swam for two hours to return to the shore. However, in order to reach the nearest town, he had to climb a treacherous and steep mountain. With great courage, he climbed that terrible mountain, and walked for five miles to find help. Matt’s bravery is well-known to me and the residents of our small, California town. We shall miss him.>
Student groups discuss:
(1) circled (unfamiliar) words: miniscule, treacherous
(2) underlined sentence/main idea: “Matt is most remembered for his bravery.”
(3) question mark: “We shall miss him.”
Because student “1” was focused on the reading and intonation, students “2” and “3” have the responsibility to lead the peer teaching discussion of their annotations. As Sowell, and others, have clearly shown, “peer teaching benefits everyone – tutor, tutee, and teacher” (Sowell et al. 1978). Can the student groups use strategies to discover the meaning of “miniscule” and “treacherous”? Can the student groups agree on the main idea of “Matt is most remembered for his bravery.”? Can the student groups clarify their own question mark of “We shall miss him.”?
Now, the roles change. Student “2” takes the second paragraph, and the same process continues, except with students “1” and “3” annotating and giving feedback. Student “3” takes the third paragraph with students “1” and “2” annotating and giving feedback.
This circular process continues as students take turns reading, annotating, interpreting and giving/receiving feedback from the other two students.
Step Three: During Reading: To speak, write, and illustrate summaries
Intention/Purpose: To synthesize complex textual ideas
“With systematic guidance from the teacher, summary writing can encourage movement from thesis (the student’s initial, unchallenged ideas) to antithesis (the summary of a dissonant view) to synthesis (more complex and developed ideas” (Bean 1986).
Verbal summaries many be given after each paragraph and should emerge from the annotation (underlined sentences). This will often insist on the groups re-reading the paragraph. Written summaries may be assigned in class, or as an extension/homework activity.
Explicitly teach the students that clear, effective summaries should: (1) cite the author or text; (2) use their (the students) own words; (3) state only the most important concepts; (4) omit their personal opinions; (5) include about 10-15% of the original text. This step will take much teacher modeling and guidance.
Step Three Questions:
1. Question: After you carefully read the paragraph (section), will you summarize what you consider to be the main point using your own words?
2. Question: After you carefully read the paragraph (section), will you state the points that you would consider non-essential (unnecessary) to the paragraph, if there are any?
3. Question: After you carefully read the paragraph – if the author uses facts and statistics – will you summarize the results?
4. Question: After you carefully read the paragraph – if the author uses outside sources – do you think the sources the author quotes are credible (believable, reliable)? (Why?)
5. Question: After you carefully read the paragraph, will you summarize the attitudes, feelings, concerns, or worries you share with the author/characters?
6. Question: After you carefully read the paragraph, what do think the author’s most important sentence or word is?
7. Question: Which word or phrase best summarizes the author’s tone/purpose?
8. Question: Can you “see” the information in the paragraph? In other words, can you draw a picture that illustrates the main idea of the paragraph?
Question 8 elaboration: Teachers ask the students to become an artist by assuming the responsibility for the content of the text through visual illustration. One way to do this is by creating story board drawings that represent the most important and relevant actions in the text.
As highlighted in his book Brain Rules, author John Medina states, “Put simply, the more visual the input becomes, the more likely it is to be recognized – and recalled.” He adds, “If information is presented orally, people remember about 10 percent, tested 72 hours after exposure. That figure goes up to 65 percent if you add a picture” (Medina 2008).
Putting actions and main ideas into a proper sequence is a valuable skill for any student to learn, and story boards offer another option to show understanding of the main ideas in an academic text and allow for creative, visual-spatial learners to excel. Students work in their groups. When finished, each group stands to show and explain their drawing.
Story Board Example:
One: Working in their groups of three/four, students open to a clean piece of paper in their notebooks.
Two: With a pen or pencil, students divide the paper into squares (the longer the text, the more squares on the paper).
|
Drawing: Event/Main Idea #1
Description: |
Drawing: Event/Main Idea #2
Description: |
|
Drawing: Event/Main Idea #3
Description: |
Drawing: Event/Main Idea #4
Description: |
Three: Students will recreate each event/main idea from the text, in chronological order, by drawing an event in each square and labeling it with a sentence describing what happened.
It is helpful when teachers model this activity by drawing their version of a main idea on the board. When the students are finished, groups may share their art with the class. You may invite groups to the front of the class to explain their story board drawings.
Step Four: After Reading: Become the Author
Intention/Purpose: to promote dialectic/critical thinking
In traditional intensive reading instruction, this would be the “test” section - where students are asked to recall specific information from the text in a summative performance. In Circular Design, the student groups personalize the information as the author and work together to provide evidence from the text to support their answers.
Student-groups will “become” the author and assume the responsibility for the content of the text. They will recall information and produce comprehensible, accurate, and precise responses.
Groups will visualize an image of the author if none is provided. They can draw an image of the author based on their interpretation and understanding of who he/she is.
In the past, I have allowed students to stand or walk in the way they think the author would stand and walk, and speak in the way they think the author would speak (intonation, voice patterns, accent). Teachers must decide how much freedom and creativity they will allow during this final stage of Circular Design. Remember, the purpose is to build a sturdy, dialectic bridge between your students’ thinking and the text.
Students may answer some (or all) of the following high-intermediate/advanced questions and be prepared to defend their responses with specific textual support (page number, paragraph).
12 Summative questions teachers may ask “the authors”:
1. What method did you use to write your essay…expository; narrative; argumentative? (Teachers will need to clarify these terms with their students) Why did you choose this method?
2. Before writing, who was your intended audience? Did the scope of your audience enlarge or shrink after you finished writing?
3. What was your primary purpose for writing this essay: For example…To: inform, persuade, convince, criticize, condemn, encourage, compare, contrast, entertain?
4. What were two of your assumptions (ideas accepted without proof) about this issue before you wrote your essay? Did you check sources that would challenge or disagree with your assumptions?
5. What websites, journals, books, personal experiences did you use to help form your main ideas?
6. I noticed you are from (country, city). How do you think that influenced your point of view? What details/images did you draw from?
7. Could you summarize your main arguments (points, ideas)?
8. If you had to summarize your main idea in one sentence, what would that sentence be?
9. What would you consider to be your most provocative sentence? Why?
10. What would you consider to be your favorite sentence? Why?
11. What are three, long-term (more than ten years) or short-term (less than ten years) consequences/implications of your essay if it is widely distributed and read by a large number of students in your city (school, home town)?
12. Describe two unintended(unplanned) consequences your essay could have on students?
Final thoughts:
Circular Design is most effective when the teacher is focused on the core content and learning objectives of each course reading. The four steps of CD support the development of students’ ability to read, write, speak, listen, and think logically and access the building blocks of clear, logical, and critical thinking and speaking.
Each of the four steps may be differentiated to fit your specific class situation, student needs, learning styles, and student cognitive/emotional development, as the questions should be adjusted to meet the English level of your students.
During the CD component of intensive reading, the teacher should never assume the role of passive participant, but should be actively circling around the room answering questions, modeling clear/critical thinking and fluent reading skills/strategies, taking notes on commonly circled vocabulary words or trouble spots for later instruction (mini lessons), and helping with other difficulties that will arise.
Through CD, teachers are offering their students: less cluttered English-language thinking and communication, courage to ask tough questions and search for intellectual honesty, and discipline to check personal assumptions, uncertainties, and biases with those of their group.
CD is a method that teaches our students not to be passive participants in their English language learning process – quietly sitting in class nodding yes or no – leaving discouraged or frustrated. Teachers should encourage their learners to become verbally active participants, who can tackle complicated problems and break through the dense web of assumptions, ideas, and implications a text may contain.
Works Cited:
Adler, J. Mortimer. How to Read a Book. Touchstone: Revised edition. August 15, 1972.
Bean, John C. Summary Writing, Rogerian Listening, and Dialectic Thinking. College Composition and Communication, Vol. 37, No. 3 (Oct., 1986), pp. 344
Cummins, Jim. Language, Power and Pedagogy: Bilingual Children in the Crossfire. Multilingual Matters, October 16, 2000.
Folse, Keith S. Myths about Teaching and Learning Second Language Vocabulary: What Recent Research Says. TESL Reporter 37, 2 (2004), pp. 1-13
Gardner, Howard. Reflection on multiple intelligences: Myths and messages. Phi Delta Kappan, v77 n3 p200-03,206-09 (Nov 1995).
Hedge, Tricia. Teaching and Learning in the Language Classroom. Oxford University Press, 2000. Pg 192
Lems, Kristin, et al. Teaching Reading to English Language Learners: Insight from Linguistics. The Guilford Press: 1 edition. November 20, 2009.
Medina, John. Brain Rules. Seattle Washington; Pear Press, 2008. Pg. 233,234
Moseley, David, et al. Frameworks for Thinking. Cambridge University Press, January 2, 2006.
Nabokov, Vladimir. Good Readers and Good Writers. The Floating Library. August 9, 2009. May 16, 2011. < http://thefloatinglibrary.com/2009/08/09/good-readers-and-good-writers-vladimir-nabokov/>
Paratore, Jeanne R. The California Reader. Vol.33, No. 4. Summer 2000.
Radencich, M. C., L. J. McKay, and J. R. Paratore. Keeping Flexible Groups Flexible: Grouping Options. In Radencich, M. C., and L. J. McKay, eds. Flexible Grouping for Literacy in the Elementary Grades, 25-41. Boston, Mass.: Allyn and Bacon, 1995.
Sowell, et al. Peer Tutoring as an Instructional Procedure for Exceptional Students. Kansas City, MO., 1978. Pg. 153 415
Williamson, G. (2009, October 13). Innate ability for language acquisition. Retrieved October 4, 2010, from Speech Therapy Information and Resources (STIR!): http://www.speech-therapy-information-and-resources.com/innate-ability-for-language-acquisition.html
Works Consulted:
Copeland, Matt. Socratic Circles: Fostering Critical and Creative Thinking in Middle and High School. Stenhouse Publishers, 2005.
Eble, K.E. The Craft of Teaching. (2nd. ed.) San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, 1988.
Kreeft, Peter. Socratic Logic: A Logic Text Using Socratic Method, Platonic Questions, and Aristotelian Principles. (3rd. ed.) St. Augustines Press, 2008.
Paul, Richard. Critical Thinking: Tools for Taking Charge of Your Learning and Your Life. (2nd. ed.) Prentice Hall, 2005.
Savignon, Sandra. Interpreting Communicative Language Teaching. Yale University Press, 2002.