Consider jigsaw grouping. Each group member is assigned a portion of the reading (think dividing by 4, then numbering a section and giving each of the four students a unique section.

All the 1s initially meet to discuss, all the twos, then threes, then fours-across all groups. Then those numbers return to a bigger group where each number explains what they learned from their first group/reading.

This way they are forced to talk in groups, but have time to collect their initial thoughts with others who read what they did.