Given the literature on reading book, becoming proficient reader and acquisition of good reading habits are related to improvement of positive reading attitudes. However, it is stated that teachers do not allocate enough amount of time to improvement of reading attitudes in schools (Kush, Watkins, & Brookhart, 2005).  There is growing research about affective factors such as self-efficacy, self-regulation, motivation, reading attitudes, stressing that affective factors have a profound impact on school success and particularly reading success (as cited in Martínez, Aricak, & Jewell, 2008). Reading attitudes are defined as the whole emotions of a learner produce either negative or positive attitudes toward reading (Alexander & Filler, 1976). Maguire (2015) emphasized the importance of reading attitudes in two points. One of them was that having positive reading attitudes increase reading success. Another one was that if a reader has negative attitudes toward reading, the reader which would be good reader, may not read.  Similarly, also proficient readers do not prefer to read and would have negative attitudes toward reading (Lee & Schallert, 2014). It was argued that positive reading attitudes are more important than readability and when students have positive reading attitudes, they can go beyond their expectations about their reading levels (as cited in Seitz, 2010).

Teachers have significant contributions to acquisition of reading habits and positive reading attitudes. According to Peter Effect, Applegate and Applegate (2004) argued that teachers who do not have enough reading experiences and reading habits result in similar negative effects on students who are not interested in reading. The more books teacher read in classrooms the more books their students read in classrooms (Von Sprecken & Krashen, 1998). When teachers become model to their students with regard to reading, teacher can make positive contributions to their students to become lifelong learners (as cited in Schmitt, 2009).

However, considering the research conducted in Turkey, it is faced that teachers do not read enough. Also, the studies focusing on preservice teachers revealed the same results (eg., Kus & Turkyilmaz, 2010).

It is important to conduct research on exploring what level reading attitudes preservice teachers have and taking required measures to improve positive reading attitudes of preservice teacher if there is any problem. Acquisition of positive reading attitudes is possible through activities which interest individuals. Taken account of scientific literature, in order to attitudes towards reading, literature circles are employed (Blum, Lipsett, & Yocom, 2002; Furr, 2004; Pambianchi, 2017). Literature circles are groups formed by students who get together to read the same story, poem or book. In these groups, students discuss and share what they have read (Daniels, 2002). In the literature circles, beside discussing what it is read, many activities such as using creative drama, preparing poster and paint, recording short movie, watching movie, organizing exhibition, participating in book exhibitions, coming together with authors, creating blogs and forms for final project appear. It is assumed that teachers who have positive reading attitudes, also would help their students to improve positive attitudes towards reading. The present research aimed to explore the effects of literature circles on preservice teachers’ attitudes towards reading and the preservice teachers’ views on literature circles. With this overall aim, the following questions were addressed in the present research.

We used a sequential explanatory mixed methods design to explore the effects of literature circles on the preservice teachers’ attitudes toward reading and the views of preservice teachers on literature circles and increase the breadth and depth of our understanding related to the studied research problem. The sequential explanatory mixed methods design was employed to collect two types of data for the research. This method allowed us to two types of data so that we could better describe phenomena (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018). While both qualitative and quantitative data were collected, much focus was placed on the quantitative data (QUAN+qual). In the quantitative phase of the research, a one-group pretest-posttest quasi experimental design was employed to explore the effects of literature circles on the preservice teachers’ attitudes towards reading (Cook, Campbell, & Shadish, 2002; Clark & Creswell, 2008). 21 third-year preservice teachers who studied elementary school classroom teaching, were enrolled in the study. This study took place in 2017-2018 academic year and lasted nine months. Before the intervention process, the reading attitude scale was implemented to 81 third-year preservice teachers. Based on the data obtained from the preservice teachers, 21 preservice teachers which had low and medium level reading attitudes constituted the research sample. In the present research, two measurement tools, including a reading attitude scale was developed by Dogan and Cermik (2016) and an interview form which consisted of open-ended questions. Before and after intervention, the reading attitude scale was implemented to the preservice service teachers as the pretest and posttest. Additionally, one-on-one semi-structured interviews were conducted with 21 preservice teachers after the intervention. During the intervention, two literature circles took place in each month and one book was read in each literature circles. In nine months, 18 literature circles occurred and 18 books, which included “Kaç Zil Kaldı Örtmenim, Suzan Defter, Cinayet Fakültesi, Kafamda Bir Tuhaflık, Sultanı Öldürmek, Bana Sen Söyle Civan, Puslu Kıtalar Atlası, Bir Pars Hüzünle Kaybolur, Rüya Körü, Varolmayanlar, Barbarın Kahkahası, Akhisar Düşerken, Karanlık Oda, Hayatı Sevme Hastalığı, Az, Soluk Bir An, Bu Yalan Tango, were read by the preservice teachers in the literature circles groups. In the data analyzing procedure, an analysis of covariance was run on the pretest-posttest scores of the preservice teachers and the qualitative data obtained from the preservice teachers’ views about literature circles was analyzed through descriptive content analysis by identifying meaningful patterns of the preservice teachers’ views and coding them under the questions in the interview form.

The current research explored the effects of literature circles on the preservice teachers’ reading attitudes and the views of the preservice teachers on literature circles. The research used the sequential explanatory mixed methods design to collect the data from the preservice teachers. In the quantitative phase, an analysis of covariance was used to analyze the pretest-posttest scores obtained from the reading attitude scale by the preservice teachers. The findings showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the pretest and posttest scores of the preservice teachers in favor of posttest scores. In the qualitative phase, descriptive content analysis was employed. For the qualitative phase of the current research, the answers given by the preservice teachers to the open-ended questions were analyzed descriptively. First, the answers of the preservice teachers were transcribed. Then, the patterns that may consist of ideas were identified. The codes were then assigned to the identified patterns of ideas to label the data and make it easier to organize and retrieve. The coding process helped to provide a framework. The framework was explanatory and guided by the research questions. The codes obtained from the patterns of the ideas were presented in the tables and also supported by the quotations from the preservice teachers’ views. The overall findings obtained from the qualitative phase revealed that the preservice teachers were happy to work together in literature circles groups to read books. Additionally, they believed that they extended their understandings related to the books by sharing experiences and inferences based on their roles they took in the literature circles groups. What’s more, they stated that literature circles provided new insights into their classroom inside practices on reading instruction. Also, the findings obtained from the preservice teachers’ views were consistent with the results from the quantitative phase of the research.

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