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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.

1Boy Crusoe

By Allan Eric

Also published as" A Yankee Crusoe" . A 15 year old hard working and studious farm boy finds the lure of adventure on the seas as a merchant seaman more than he can resist. This is his story. " I was born in a little town in the State of Maine, near the close of the Civil War. My boyhood life did not differ materially from that of the average farmer's son in the remote country districts of New England--except, perhaps, that I read more and thought more. Hard work on the rugged soil, two terms each year in the little yellow country schoolhouse, a day's fishing now and then filled the early years of my life full to over-flowing. " What he gets is enough excitement and adventure to overflow his wildest dreams. How he experiences disaster and uses his wits and knowledge to overcome every problem makes for a great read. - Summary by Phil Chenevert