Introduction

The advancements in technology have brought innovative ways to language education including language teacher education. Especially, the emergence of online platforms such as discussion forums and blogs has enriched the content of delivery of courses in language teacher education programs. Educators started to blend the face-to-face instruction with online activities or discussion components to foster pre- and in-service teachers’ learning outside of classroom settings. This paper focuses on a new and underrepresented form of online discussions called digital social reading platform(s) (DSRs hereafter), which provides a space for learners to engage in collaborative reading on a shared document. First, the DSRs are described; second, through the existing research their potential benefits in language education are demonstrated; and finally, pedagogical implications on the incorporation of DSRs in language teacher education are presented.

Keywords: Digital Social Reading (DSR), Online Discussion, Language Teacher Education

1. Digital Social Reading Platforms

Digital social reading "is the act of sharing one’s thoughts about a text with the help of tools such as social media networks and collaborative annotation" (Blyth, 2014, p. 205). Thus, DSR platforms are the web tools in which multiple people can engage in collaborative, synchronous or asynchronous reading and discussion on a shared document. The initiation of the DSRs dates back to the 2000s, and some of these platforms can be listed as Classroom Salon, eComma, Hypothes.is, SocialBook, and Ponder (see Table 1 Digital Social Reading Platforms for detailed information).

Table 1. Digital Social Reading Platforms (adapted from Blyth, 2014)

Although DSR platforms resemble traditional online discussion forums or platforms with their commenting feature, they still diverge from those with their multimodal nature (e.g., annotating, highlighting, underlining, etc.). The following screenshot demonstrates the multimodal features of one DSR platform called SocialBook. The left-hand side of the screenshot reflects the article that students read collaboratively, and the right-hand side indicates annotations and discussion posts from the readers. (Note: The names of the readers have been covered on the screenshot to preserve their anonymity.)

Figure 1. Sample screenshot demonstrating graduate students collaborative reading on “SocialBook." (Click image to enlarge)

The straightforward design of DSRs makes them easy to use for teachers. Since collaborative reading is the basis of DSRs, teachers just upload a document to the course website and share the link to the document with their students. By logging in the online platform (e.g., website, mobile application), students can start reading and discussing the material. Teachers can also embed the DSR websites to their learning management systems (e.g., Blackboard, Moodle, d2l, etc.) and utilize them as discussion boards. Another equally if not more important feature of DSRs is to enable teachers to see heat maps of annotations that pinpoint the parts of the reading material receiving the most attention from students. These maps might inform teachers about students interests and help them plan alternative activities accordingly. Moreover, the heat maps might also help educators diagnose the students that might need further guidance from their peers or instructors.

2. Existing Research on Digital Social Platforms

Despite the two-decade history of DSRs, relatively few researchers have examined their implementation in EFL classrooms (e.g., Chiang, 2007; Lo, Yeh, & Sung, 2013). Chiang (2007), for instance, examined the college level EFL learners’ collaborative reading activities via online literature circles and demonstrated that collaborative annotation helped students increase their reading comprehension. Similarly, Lo, Yeh, and Sung's (2013) investigated the implementation of a DSR platform in order to teach rhetorical moves of essay paragraphs to the undergraduate EFL students. Findings indicated that by reading, annotating, and discussing sample essays, students were able to diagnose topic sentences and supporting details and conceptualize the appropriate format and design of a paragraph in essay writing.

The research on the implementation of DSRs in teacher education programs has also remained underrepresented. Gao (2013), one of the few researchers, explored the use of DSRs in a pre-service educational technology course and revealed that collaborative reading yielded increased participation of student teachers. With a different orientation, Blyth (2014) shared the cases of four teachers who utilized the DSRs in their undergraduate and graduate courses. One of the findings indicated that DSRs helped teachers identify the students who needed further guidance on reading strategies.

3. Why Should We Incorporate DSRs in Language Teacher Education?

As stated previously, DSRs enable people to work on the same reading material and allow them to interact with each other via their annotation and commenting features. They can either be used as separate websites or embedded in learning management systems as discussion boards. Thus, they should not be confused with learning management systems (e.g., Blackboard, Moodle, d2l, etc.). It is important to state that since they are mostly free of charge, they can be seen as affordable alternative spaces that can be incorporated in blended or fully online courses.

In both undergraduate and graduate TESOL programs, teachers or teacher candidates are required to take multiple courses on language acquisition and language teaching methodologies in which multiple theoretical concepts are introduced. Reading articles or book chapters on the theoretical aspects of language teaching might be challenging for both pre-service and in-service teachers. Thus, making students read and discuss the articles in an online platform might ease the interpretation and understanding of the theoretical constructs, which might lead to larger takeaways for both student groups. Furthermore, these platforms provide opportunities both to teachers and students to bring in external resources, such as images, videos, and hyperlinks. Utilizing these alternative external resources might also ease the conceptualization of theoretical constructs.

DSRs can be used to discuss the practical aspects of language teaching, as well. As part of material design classes, both in pre-service and in-service programs, teachers can be asked, for instance, to analyze and discuss teaching materials (e.g., activities, lesson plans) collaboratively. This analysis process might motivate teachers to reflect on their past and current teaching practices and even help them anticipate problems that might arise in the future (Burhan-Horasanlı & Ortaçtepe, 2016).

Last but not the least, via pre- and in-service programs, DSRs can be introduced to teachers as an alternative tool or material that can enrich learning and interaction in language classrooms. Most of the time, teacher educators consider online platforms time-consuming web tools, which require extra preparation, or they have the fear of losing track of student participation. However, by simply uploading a reading material and sharing the link with their students, teachers can initiate the collaborative reading. The experiences of teachers presented in Blyth’s (2014) study demonstrate that the readings provide food-for-thought that naturally stimulate the participation of the students. Moreover, the annotation heat maps of DSRs facilitates the tracking of student discussion. Informing teachers about these features of DSRs might encourage them to use the online collaborative reading in or out of classroom settings.