Abstract
One of the main issues often discussed among academics is how to encourage active participation by students during classroom discussions. This applies particularly to students at the tertiary level who are expected to possess creative and critical thinking skills. Hence, this paper reports on a study that examined how these skills were demonstrated by a group of university students who employed intertextual links during a follow-up reading activity involving small-group text discussions. Thirty undergraduates who were in their fifth semester of a TESL degree programme were prescribed reading texts consisting of two chapters taken from a book. Findings reveal that intertextual links made during text discussions created successfully a “collaborative environment” where beliefs and values were shared judicially among participants. Pedagogical implications for ESL classroom practice include heightening the awareness amongst academics and students of the role of intertextuality in order to promote students’ use of their critical and creative thinking skills in a supportive classroom environment.
Highlights
Intertextuality is inherent in reading where a reader creates intertextual links with the text he or she is reading and those that have been read, viewed, or heard
Participants and texts for discussion The study employed purposeful selection of participants who were proficient in the English language since the study examined the construction of intertextual links made during text discussions
The idea behind this study is to offer fresh insights on how to promote intertextual connections in reading classrooms using the participatory approach in a text-based discussion. Both teacher and student-centered approaches were utilized during the text discussions and the findings revealed that students were able to construct intertextual links using their critical and creative thinking skills in a very meaningful context
Summary
Intertextuality is inherent in reading where a reader creates intertextual links with the text he or she is reading and those that have been read, viewed, or heard. When a reader makes intertextual links, they enable the reader to facilitate comprehension of the text, but the links promote greater use of creative and critical thinking skills (CCTS). It is important that the role of the lecturer includes facilitating students to construct intertextual links during and after reading. Meaningful reading requires the reader to make connections with the world. It involves constructing intertextual readings and interpretations of a text while referring to other texts as well. Intertextuality can be used as a comprehension strategy where students make text-to-text, text-to-self and text-to-world connections during and after reading
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