Abstract

This thesis considers a pedagogy that combined reading circle (Furr, 2009), writing circle (Gunnery, 2007) and community of enquiry (Lipman, 2003), used with adult English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL) in the Further Education sector. It investigates the integration of these circle activities and evaluates the impact and potential of this novel ESOL pedagogy. Two cohorts of Entry 3 ESOL students participated in circles that structured collaborative language learning using discussion to build understandings of texts using allocated, rotating roles before producing their own written tasks. The focus on circles as a means of informal communication and learning prompted the research question: How does an integrated circle pedagogy impact the classroom experience? I review types of informal conversation (Sennett, 2012; 2018), dialogic pedagogy (Alexander, 2017) and consider critical responses to dialogic discourse (Burbules, 2007) which inform the synthesis of circle methods. Action research (McNiff, 2014) is the iterative research method I used to evaluate the pedagogical practice. The use of narrative accounts (Connelly & Clandinin, 1990) represents participant experience, whilst quantitative assessment results provides supplementary data. Findings indicate the circle process impacted on the quality of conversation in five areas. It supported participants to pool language knowledge which facilitated reciprocal learning. It supported students to share life experiences which transformed ideas about the wider world in some cases. Collaboration fostered relationship building and this encouraged the development of an independent learning community (Lipman, 2003; Biesta, 2006). Finally, it demonstrated the importance to the role of the teacher as facilitator of balancing controlled support (Stefanou et al., 2004) with freer learning spaces where the autonomy of conversational ‘beginnings’ could emerge (Arendt, 1977; Biesta, 2014). The findings have confirmed tensions in ESOL pedagogy between language accuracy and language fluency. Accuracy features in a data and outputs-led
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curriculum with teacher controlled practice to develop uniform language skills swiftly. By contrast, fluency brings a slower pace to the classroom but benefits from student-directed discussions to influence classroom activity.
My research into the impact of integrated circles offers a way to explore the dilemmas and opportunities in ESOL pedagogy. It thinks about teaching and learning as a communicative, co-operative experience carefully nurtured and recommends making more time for fluency to contribute to a more rounded language education.