Reading Circles Novels And Adult Reading Development

Adult literacy teachers are constantly searching for effective, engaging and distinctly adult ways to develop adult emergent reading 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, or studied, in formal adult literacy provision?

This book explores adult reading development, novel reading and reading circles in the context of a wider examination of reading pedagogies and practices in the English-speaking world. It discusses reading as both an individual and a communal act and investigates the relationship between literature and literacy development, practice and pedagogy (including a reassessment of the controversial approaches of reading aloud and phonics for adults).

Sam Duncan reviews a case study of an adult reading circle in a large London further education college and identifies the wider implications for the teaching and learning of adult emergent reading, for the use and understanding of reading circles and for how we understand the novel reading experience more broadly.

Review: 'This bookis well-written and engaging. Most importantly, it addresses reading circles, an area of adult literacy about which we know little. Hopefully it willstimulate additional interest in the area.' Hal Beder, Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University, USA 'Adults juststarting on their reading journey have so much to tell researchers and tutors.This thoughtful book captures their insights and puts the vital link betweenadult literacy learning and reading group activity in a rich historicalcontext.' Genevieve Clarke, TheReading Agency, UK 'This lively and engaged bookinvites us to look at reading in a different way, moving us beyond the tiredold divisions between literacy and literature that have sobedevilled adult education.

In doing so, it offers a new take on the idea ofreading for pleasure, gathering up the dimensions of reading that are anindispensable part of all acts of reading: cognitive, imaginative, affective, educational and communicative. It includes a useful overview of the wide rangeof theoretical approaches to reading and challenges the idea that some kinds ofreading are functional whereas others are frivolous and non-essential.

Writtenby an adult literacy expert, it suggests that reading researchers need to talkto readers themselves about their experiences and ideas about reading. It goeson to present the many insights that resulted from asking emerging adultreaders the question What does reading mean to you? It also details the longand fascinating history of reading circles and advocates them as a potentialpedagogy for adult literacy - a pedagogy that builds on a common readingpractice, and which combines the pleasures and politics of novel reading withthe sensibilities of adult literacy teaching.' Mary Hamilton, Professor ofAdult Learning and Literacy, Lancaster University, UK 'This book is well-written and engaging.

Most importantly, it addresses reading circles, an area of adult literacy about which we know little. Hopefully it will stimulate additional interest in the area.' Hal Beder, Professor Emeritus, Rutgers University, USA 'An original, wide ranging and thoughtful account of a phenomenon that is rarely researched.

Sam Duncan provides a clear account of her research embedded within a scholarly account of the social history of reading that will be of interest to teachers of adult literacy, students of reading, researchers, teachers and those with a general interest in the culture of reading in the 21st Century.

The strength of this book is the clarity of its writing and the accessibility of the discussion, as well as its scholarly reach. The imaginative space of the reader is evoked through original research into adult literacy students who love to read. Duncan's argument that an historical understanding of adult literacy and of reading can broaden what it is to read and to write is vital in broadening our understanding of contemporary reading habits...

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