Research Information System
Yabancı Dil Bölümleri ve Yüksek Okullarının Yabancı Dil Öğretimindeki Sorunları-Muğla Üniversitesi Kurultay, Muğla, Turkey, 07 May 2008, pp.244-262
The Effects of Graded Reading Circles on Students’ Foreign Language Knowledge and Participation to the Lesson
Extensive reading activities have been highly emphasized at Yıldız Technical University Basic English Department. In this respect, reading teachers at the Basic English Department have developed a model taking the needs of students at different levels into consideration. In this model, students are divided into equally numbered groups and read graded readers. On the project day students fulfill individual and group tasks in two succeeding lessons. The individual session includes the following tasks: Plot summarizer, Character Analyzer, Word Wizard, Discussion Director and Graphic Designer. In the following hour, group members gather to complete the given task. In this research, questionnaires have been given to two advanced, two intermediate and two elementary level students in order to understand their perspectives about the graded reading circles. Interviews have been made with twenty two reading teachers. According to the research findings, it has been found out that students utilize the reading strategies during the graded reading circles. The positive effects of this activity on student’s vocabulary knowledge, dictionary usage, reading fluency, grammar, team work and participation to the lesson have also been determined. The effects of this activity on learners’ studying at different levels have been aimed to be compared at the end of this research. It is expected that the collected data would create useful discussion environment regarding the classroom interaction and foreign language learning process of learners at the Basic English Departments of Foreign Language Schools of universities.