Duncan, Samantha; (2010) What are we doing when we read novels? :reading circles novels and adult reading development. Doctoral thesis , Institute of Education, University of London.

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Abstract

Adult literacy teachers search for effective, engaging and distinctly 'adult' ways to develop adult emergent reading. Reading circles are used in adult English Language Teaching to develop a range of reading and other linguistic skills, and for at least the past two hundred years adults have formed themselves into reading circles to read and discuss novels on a weekly or monthly basis. Why then are reading circles rarely used in formal adult literacy provision? This thesis uses a case study of a reading circle within a London adult literacy workshop to investigate what a reading circle approach can offer adult emergent reading development, as well as what adult literacy learners can tell us about novel reading and the reading circle experience. A qualitative analysis of individual interviews, focus groups and taped reading circle sessions produces six themes for exploration: reading as five acts, reading identity, the nature of knowing words, how a novel is 'built up' by the reader, the relationship between fiction, truth and learning and why it may be 'nice' to read in a group. Areas for discussion include reading as a communal cognitive process (as well'as a communal practice), reading circles as self- and peer-differentiation, and novel reading as a political act. Implications are discussed for both the teaching and learning of adult emergent reading and for our understanding of novel reading processes and practices.

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