The role of online literature circles in increasing engagement and literacy in students with learning disabilities

Abstract

The study and teaching of literacy, in the sense of learning to read and think meaningfully about what is read, and the study and teaching of literature, in the sense of stories that bring readers into a deeper understanding of the world and their place in it, are interwoven in the practice of a teacher of English and Special Education in a Distributed Learning school, and explored through the medium of an online literature circle project. In the role of a researcher-practitioner the author uses the approach of action research to illuminate the role of online literature circles in increasing engagement and literacy in students with learning disabilities, through a project involving written conversations about literature with distributed learning students.