Article Review: Effects of Reading--Aloud Styles

Article Review:

"Effects of Teachers' Reading-Aloud Styles on Vocabulary Acquisition and Comprehension of Students in the Early Elementary Grades" (2002) by Brabham, E. G. and Lynch-Brown, C.

            The article we read for this week’s blog submission was written approximately 10 years ago.  I found it interesting that “90% of teachers read aloud for entertainment or enjoyment, not for instruction.”  The article also tells us that only “11%-28% of teachers read aloud to stimulate discussion, build comprehension, impart knowledge, or build vocabulary.”  As part of our elementary education instruction today, we are taught the importance of read-alouds and how to properly employ them in our classroom.  I feel that the teachers questioned for this article probably had not seen or had not been taught to utilize read-alouds.  I would hope and assume that the 11-28 % statistic would be much higher today.  Read-alouds make instruction much more entertaining and interesting while providing more meaningful discussions.

            For the statistical analysis, undergraduate (preservice) teachers were given 2 weeks of training to employ the method of read-aloud to use for the study.  I would think that all elementary education students, as well as current teachers, could benefit from training comparable to this, possibly through a workshop.  It was interesting to see the gain in test scores, in progressing order, from just reading, to performance reading, and interactional reading.  From these results we can see that interactional reading is the preferred method.  This is because we can see that the outcome for student scores in both vocabulary and comprehension are much higher.  This supports the training that we are receiving in our own education program. 

            This article provides statistical proof of the importance of interactive read-alouds.  It motivates me to provide as much interactional read-alouds as possible in my future classroom.

Questions:
1.  Would a larger school sample, not just 5, make a difference in the outcomes?

2.   Since the article shows how well interactive readings improve vocabulary and comprehension, would elementary education students benefit, or want, to have extra training to learn best how to implement them in their classroom?

Chapter 4 and Read-Alouds/Shared Readings

Reading for this week:

1. Handout: "Tapping the potential of teacher read-alouds in middle schools"
2. Book: Chapter 4: Well Read: Promoting Comprehension Through Read Alouds and Shared Readings

            This week's article outlines a good basis for further study on read-alouds in the middle schools.  I find the study to be very limited, not only by the lack of participants, but also by the structure of the questions.  The researchers admit they left the questions vague in order to elicit a range of responses.  This was wise in my opinion, because they could use the wide-ranging information for more specific questioning in the future.  I believe this vague questioning led to more teachers answering that they performed read-alouds when they were actually only reading directions or other like material.

            With that said, I think read-alouds are great for any grade.  I believe that if the teacher picks the right book and has the right approach for a read-aloud, a student of any age will be engaged.  Read-alouds show students how to question, visualize, and make predictions while they read. Reading aloud demonstrates good reading habits. This is something that I plan to incorporate in my teaching, no matter the grade.   

            Chapter 4 in our book also discusses shared readings.  I like this approach, especially for younger students because the children are able to visualize the words as they are read.  They can follow along in the story and look for vocabulary words as they go along.  I still prefer read-alouds because the teacher can add so much to the story without the student being distracted by looking down at the words. 

            I feel that both read-alouds and shared readings are an important part of instruction.  The benefits far outweigh any negatives.  Teachers tend to use these techniques with younger students but I feel that older students would certainly benefit as much. 

Questions:

1.  Is there a rule-of-thumb for choosing a book given that classes have such a variation of reading levels/abilities/interests? (Number of pages, reading level, etc.)  I assume the size of the book would have a lot to do with the amount of time given for the class period.

2.  How often should read-alouds be incorporated into the school week?  Would one read-aloud per day be too much for the student and/or teacher?