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?
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?
Mary Ann,
ReplyDeleteI agree that I would hope that read alouds are used more in classrooms today because of all the benefits that research has found/ all that we have learned about read alouds. How would you use interactive read alouds in your classroom to help test scores?
I think that having a workshop for all teachers on the benefits of read alouds would help many teachers as well because I feel as though we as students studying to be teachers get training that is so much more exciting and pertinent in the classroom than strategies that I see being used out in schools.
I enjoyed reading your blog and seeing what you thought of the article!
-Emily :)
You asked, "How would you use interactive read alouds in your classroom to help test scores?" I feel that interactive read-alouds could be a fun motivator to get my students interested and involved in the lesson at hand. Thanks for the great question!
DeleteI thought it was interesting as well that teachers in the past did not use read-alouds for instructional means of teaching. This article does show statistics that prove that read-alouds work. I too will be using this in my own classroom. What are some ways that you would incorporate read-alouds?
ReplyDeleteAs a homeroom mom last year in my son's second grade classroom, I was able to briefly see the use of read-alouds in the classroom. The children enjoyed the story and answering questions about how this story compared to other stories earlier in the week. I loved seeing how the reading tied in with the theme of the week. I also found it interesting to see how the theme, stories, and activities all interconnected. During the reading, the teacher may connect social studies and math elements during the reading.
DeleteHi Mary Ann,
ReplyDeleteI truly appreciate interactive read alouds and the benefits they provide. As a pre-service teacher I will use a combination of all styles to have a balanced approach to help students. The style of just reading will be to encourage a love of reading; the other styles will have of course an academic objective. What I am learning now is that students in grades 4-8 also take delight in read alouds. I figure it depends on our classroom climate and sense of community within the class. Since students reflect the attitudes of their teachers I feel it necessary to model a love of reading to acquire vocabulary and deeper comprehension of what we read aloud. If available I will participate in research/classes to help me develop skills for more critical thinking read alouds.
USM is definitely preparing us for classrooms of tomorrow.
I agree, Rosia that you must create a conducive classroom atmosphere in order to have read-alouds work effectively. I can see that any age student may enjoy the benefits of a read-aloud because the "big student" that I am enjoys a good read-aloud. It us up to us as the teacher to make it effective and enjoyable. I would love to learn/experience more training on how to effectively implement read-alouds.
Delete