WHY READ ALOUD?

Teachers have read aloud to young children for centuries. We know that time spent reading aloud is valuable to them. We have watched pre-readers listen to a story, then capture the book itself to look at again and again. Sometimes they memorized the story, shared it with their friends, and at times even slept with the book.

I sometimes shared picture books with kindergarten classes without showing the illustrations. Children paid close attention, listening more carefully since there were no pictures to tell the story for them. After reading the story, I would ask children to draw pictures of the setting, the main characters, or their favorite parts of the story. When the pictures were shared, children were always surprised by the different ways they interpreted the same story. Of course, their favorite part was when they finally had a chance to see the illustrations in the book!

But reading aloud in school by teachers (and even by students), often stops, or is greatly cut back, once a child learns to read on his own.

Why?, wonders author Jim Trelease in his book The Read Aloud Handbook:

"Reading aloud is a commercial for reading. ...Think of it this way: McDonald's doesn't stop advertising just because the vast majority of Americans know about its restaurants. Each year it spends more money on ads to remind people how good its products taste. Don't cut your reading advertising budget as children grow older."

Reading aloud to children helps them develop and improve literacy skills -- reading, writing, speaking, and listening, Trelease adds. And since children listen on a higher level than they read, listening to other readers stimulates growth and understanding of vocabulary and language patterns.

"Whole language teachers affirm that reading aloud teaches children about literature in a way that silent or independent reading never can," says Judy Freeman in a 1992 Teacher Magazine article, Read Aloud Books: The Best Of The Bunch.

"Reading aloud in school is not a frill. Go out of your way to make each book a special experience for your students. Allow them to live literature, to become so involved in a story that they become a part of it. It could change their lives."

READING ALOUD TO YOUNG CHILDREN AND OLDER STUDENTS

Public TV station WETA provides tips for reading aloud to children. Those tips include:

• Remember to discuss read-alouds with the class to enhance and expand students' understanding.
• Use the illustrations to encourage prediction and interpretation. Encourage students to use the illustrations to add to their understanding.
• Learn more about the authors and illustrators. Read other works by favorite authors.
• Help students relate books to their own experiences.
• Get other books about curriculum-related topics of interest to class members.

Those tips are great for younger children. But why would a high school teacher read aloud to his or her students? When Amy Brecount White read the first chapter of Pride and Prejudice to her advanced-placement high school students she got a surprising reaction!

"I read the brief first chapter aloud, delighting in Mrs. Bennet's flightiness and Mr. Bennet's ironic disdain. My students laughed, and I was riding high on the wave of enthusiasm and promise I have with each new school year.

"A girl in the back of the room raised her hand. 'It's not funny when I read it.'

"I shook my head. 'What do you mean, Jennifer?'

"She shrugged. 'I read in monotone.'"

Amy Brecount White learned that students -- even outstanding high schoolers -- need examples set for them. Students need to be shown that while they read words on a page readers must "assume the role of director...how moving or funny or disturbing the final product is -- is really up to them."

Brecount White offers hints for reading aloud with older children:

• At least once a week, read something aloud from the newspaper. The subject matter doesn't matter; what's important is that you're modeling how to read and demonstrating that reading can be active and social.
• Offer your child books on tape and listen to them together while in the car. The readers, often professional actors, are adept at bringing the words to life.
• If your son or daughter complains about a new book, sit down and read the first part aloud together. Not only will you be showing your child how to read, you'll be conveying that the homework is important enough for you to spend your time on it too.
• If you really want to be radical, turn off the television for one night a week and read aloud as a family. Share what you read as a child. Then let each child choose something to read aloud to you. Make no value judgements, even if they opt to read song lyrics from a favorite rock band. If it has meaning for them, it's important to listen.

READING LITERATURE ALOUD IN ADULT ESL CLASSES

Amy Staley, an ESL writing teacher in Japan, recommends the use of children's picture books with adult students. She discovered the value of using such books when she read Hiroshima no Pika (Hiroshima Flash), a story about the atomic bomb, to her students. She used it to stimulate emotion and questions before presenting a writing assignment (writing letters to French President Chirac about nuclear testing). With careful selection and planning, such books can be incorporated into the curriculum.

An ERIC Digest, Children's Literature for Adult ESL Literacy, discusses how reading children's books aloud to adult learners of English as a second language can be valuable. The illustrations often help to explain vocabulary and "...repeated patterns [often] provide an additional aid for language learning." Children's picture books now cover more mature themes, but author Betty Ansin Smallwood cautions that "...book selection is critical...."

Reading  Aloud to Young Children and Older  Students   ESL Classes   Tutoring Programs    Related Sites   Resources for Further Information   Web Pages

READING ALOUD AS PART OF TUTORING PROGRAMS

The Department of Education's America Reads Challenge encourages the institution of tutoring programs to help raise the reading levels of school children and to raise the awareness of parents about reading's impact on children. Reading aloud to children, is an important part of those programs:

• Belmont Community School in Worcester, Massachusetts, has seen kindergarten test scores rise. "We sell a product at our school and that product is reading," says Principal John Monfredo. The school-wide program, Books and Beyond, was designed to "build the skills and the desire of every child to read." An important part of the program is teaching parents the importance of and the "how-to" of reading aloud to their children.
• The Reach Out and Read Program of Boston Medical Center puts books and children together in clinic offices. "In the clinic waiting room, community volunteers read to the children, engaging their interest while modeling book-related interactions for the parents." As doctors interact with the children, they use books to determine developmental progress. And each child receives a new book to take home.

STATES TAKE ACTION TO PROMOTE READING ALOUD ACROSS THE GRADES

Programs in Indiana and Virginia are emphasizing the importance of reading aloud. An important part of both initiatives is the provision of new, quality, high-interest books.

The  Middle Grades Reading Network is "dedicated to the promotion of voluntary reading among young adolescents, the reinstitution of reading as a subject taught in Indiana's middle grade schools, and the updating and expansion of Indiana's school library book collections." The program, funded by the Lilly Endowment, places books in middle school libraries and encourages teachers in all subject areas to read aloud to their classes, carefully choosing the material for its interest level and content. The Indiana program pushes for more structured library time for middle-grade students where the librarians read aloud and make students aware of new reading material. And, very importantly, the reinstatement of reading as an appropriate subject for these grades is being promoted in the state.

West Virginia has initiated "...a volunteer effort that seeks to motivate children to want to read." Read Aloud West Virginia has more than 5,000 trained volunteers who read aloud to 65,000 students throughout the state. "Book trunks" are another component of the program, providing quality books for the volunteer readers.

Article by Anne Guignon
Education World®
Copyright © 1998 Education World

Reading  Aloud to Young Children and Older  Students   ESL Classes   Tutoring Programs    Related Sites   Resources for Further Information   Web Pages

Related Sites

"READING ALOUD" SITES ON THE INTERNET

• Children's Literature for Adult ESL Literacy This ERIC Digest by Betty Ansin Smallwood discusses the use of children's literature in ESL programs for adults. The article includes a listing of recommended read-aloud books and guidelines for book selection.
• A Little School Under The Big Sky This Teacher Magazine article describes the author's visit to a one-room schoolhouse in Montana. The daily activities of the 2nd-8th graders included opportunities for both teacher and students to read aloud.

Copyright 2001 by Education World, Inc. All Rights Reserved.