Academic Reading Circles
- Category: Nonfiction » Language Instruction » English as a second language
- Category: Nonfiction » Education & Study Guides » Teaching methods & materials / language arts
- Published: May 28, 2015
- Words: 17,170
- Language: English
- ISBN: 9781311581075
Tyson Seburn is an EAP instructor and Assistant Academic Director of International Programs at New College, University of Toronto. He holds an MA Educational Technology & TESOL from the University of Manchester. His main interest focuses on identity and its various impacts on teacher development. He is currently also exploring inclusive and critical pedagogy and their applications to language teaching contexts. He writes about these interests in an EAP discussion group, #tleap (bit.do/tleap); his blog, 4CinELT (fourc.ca); and through his role as Coordinator of the IATEFL Teacher Development Special Interest Group committee (tdsig.org). He is the author of Academic Reading Circles (The Round, 2015).
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Reviews of Academic Reading Circles by Tyson Seburn
ARCs are something I have been interested in for some time. They provide a solid approach for tackling potentially difficult texts in a university classroom. ARCs engage learners and are far more motivating and educational than just reading at home and then doing some comprehension questions in class. Tyson Seburn has done an excellent job of writing an ebook for both people new to ARCs and us fans.
Tyson covers the essential aspects of setting and running ARCs in academic lessons. He starts off by providing us with a very good checklist of how to choose texts and also links for where to find them. Some of us already know the ARC roles but before reading this ebook, I now know that I wasn’t doing them justice. Through the use of an example text, Tyson outlines each ARC role and their responsibilities in a VERY detailed way. Of the many things I learned are that leaders should provide academic references and conceptual and discussion questions. Also that the Visualiser should use images to bring the content alive. I will definitely be using this idea.
Chapter 9 covers different types of groups which is something I think we all should spend time considering as they are the key to good reading circles and one of the main reasons, in my experience, why they sometimes fail. Another is the role of the teacher. Tyson recommends we stand back and let the students get on with it but he gives us some great post-ARC extension ideas for following up ARC activities.
If you work with academic texts in class and REALLY want to do ARC properly, this is the book for you. ARCs are not just simple reading circles and this ebook will help you learn how to get the most out of them.