The Effects of Literature Circles on Non-fiction Reading Comprehension and Self-Perception of Reading Skills.

Abstract

The purpose of this research was to determine if the use of literature circles, a discussion strategy, would have an impact on the comprehension of non-fiction texts as well as student self perception of their reading comprehension skills in one Academic Intervention Services (AIS) classroom. The participants were 9th grade students in one AIS classroom within a rural high school located in western New York. This study included pre- and post- intervention comprehension and self-perception data, an intervention that introduced literature circles and their roles, a period of student practice, and a lesson on generalizing the skills learned to all literature. The results of this study were measured based on comparing the pre-and post-intervention data for individual students as well as the group as a whole. Results determined that in this study student comprehension was not positively affected by the use of literature circles, while student self-perception of reading skills was positively impacted slightly throughout the study.