Readers’ interactions in an online reading group

Abstract

This study is an investigation of readers’ posts to an online discussion forum devoted to the discussion of short stories and poems. It was conducted in an online reading group, which is an electronic version of a face-to-face reading circle. The ELT Online Reading Group (ORG) aimed at promoting the development of reading skills and the reading of literature among teachers, trainee teachers and other professionals in the field of English language teaching (ELT). This paper focuses on the multi-layered relationships between readers in the group by looking at the distinctive features of participants’ posts. Results suggest that there is a dialogical orientation in the communicative strategies participants employ in the forum and that factors that contribute to successful discussions include the selection of texts, a range of different opinions in the group, and the diversity of background contexts and information that participants brought to the discussions.

Keywords

• dialogue
• discourse analysis
• literature
• reading
• online interaction