Originally designed for first language classrooms, literature circles have been adapted for second language (L2) contexts to enhance reading proficiency and discourse skills. While traditional practice in L2 settings involves assigning roles to students for engaging with texts, critiques have highlighted potential constraints on participation and…

Examines a series of societal factors that promote either social distance or proximity between two groups and thus affect the degree to which a second language learning group acquires the language of a particular target language group. (Author/RM)

Writing groups, used in many English-as-a-Second-Language (ESL) composition classrooms, pose problems for some students from collectivistic cultures such as Japan and China. Suggested reasons are the individual benefit goal, the need for feedback rather than group harmony, and strained group dynamics. (Contains 41 references.) (Author/LB)

Highlights the importance of the dynamics of the learner group in shaping the second language (L2) learning process, and overviews the most relevant aspects of classroom dynamics. Argues that group characteristics and processes affect any success or failure in the L2 classroom and that teachers could benefit from an awareness of the principles of…

This paper describes the method adopted in a short course to improve group interaction in the foreign language classroom by giving students the opportunity to engage in group interaction and in this way sensitizing them to group dynamics. It provides the outline and rationale of the course, a detailed description of one unit, and evaluation…