Book groups: Communities of learners

Abstract

Hundreds of thousands of adults participate in book discussion groups, satisfying lifelong learning needs informally and in community.

The Role of Self-assessment in Promoting Iranian EFL Learners’ Motivation

“…In fact, journal writing helps language learners write without self-consciousness or inhibition, similar to natural writing (Schneider, 1994). Similarly, Sommer (1989, as cited in Kerka, 1996) argues that one reason for using journals in EFL classes is that they are a safe place to practice writing daily without the restrictions of form and evaluation.…”

Library Staff Development: How Book Clubs Can Be More Effective (and Less Expensive) than Traditional Trainings

“…These reactions make the positive survey results even more significant: while some staff and faculty did not like reading the book, they did enjoy the book club. ground rules, and informal context (Bauman 1994); people, structure, and culture (Kerka 1996); social aspect, equality among club members, and a spirit of cooperation (Smith 1996); and cooperation, collaboration, and personal sharing (Addington 2001). There are clearly some similarities and overlap among these principles.…”

Community versus society: The normative vision of sociality in joint self-education

“…It contrasts with a non-CoL vision of learning common for conventional mainstream schooling in which learning is often seen as well-defined, self-contained, agreement-based, objective, non-problematic, proprietary, monocultural, limited in time and space, involving one preset goal, and lesson-, classroom-, one medium- and one topic-center, and occurs in the individual head of the student. Consensus, agreement, and shared understanding are not seen as a desired outcome or markers of learning in the ontological CoL paradigm (Kerka, 1996). Instead, the goal of the school is not just to promote learning in the students but also to note the students’ growing pleasure and deep personal interest in learning and intellectual reflection as becoming essential to their lives (Barth, 2000; Kerka, 1996).…”

“…Consensus, agreement, and shared understanding are not seen as a desired outcome or markers of learning in the ontological CoL paradigm (Kerka, 1996). Instead, the goal of the school is not just to promote learning in the students but also to note the students’ growing pleasure and deep personal interest in learning and intellectual reflection as becoming essential to their lives (Barth, 2000; Kerka, 1996). A learner is viewed in the CoL paradigm as the final agent of their own learning (Fullan, 1993; Klag, 1994; Matusov, 1999).…”