Reasons for Reading Aloud•to introduce students to the joy of reading•to develop vocabulary•to model fluency

•to make difficult texts more accessible•to help students

experience the text the way the teacher does•if planned carefully, to boost comprehension

What Teachers Read Aloud

•Read-alouds are overwhelmingly narrative. 77% of read-alouds at home and school were narrative and only 7% were informational.

(Yopp & Yopp)•Intermediate teachers did not

often read picture books to their students.

•Informational literature was used only three out of ten days.

(Jacobs, Morrison, & Swinyard) •Teachers favor easy and

predictable books. (McGee & Schickedanz)

Reading Aloud Effectively

•Interactive read-alouds include "Opening up the conversation,"

"Ongoing interaction," "Response and balancing talk and text," and

"Engaging with strategy demonstrations.“ (Barrentine)•Fisher, Flood, Lapp, & Frey identified seven common

components of interactive read-alouds.

•Repeated interactive read-alouds are beneficial. (McGee &

Schickedanz)•Three methods of reading aloud

are dialogic reading, Text Talk, and print referencing. (Lane & Wright)

Read-Aloud Cons

Meyer, Wardrop, Stahl, and Linn (1994) found a

negative relationship between read-aloud

time and reading achievement.

BUTWhat effect does read-aloud have on reading

motivation? and Did the teachers in the study use read-aloud to teach reading skills?

Rediscovering Read-Aloud: How Elementary Teachers

Choose and Use Read-Alouds

Choosing Read-Aloud Material

•Consider instructional goals. •Consider high-interest

nonfiction with rich vocabulary. •Consider “conceptually

challenging” books.•Consider topic, audience,

length, cost, diversity, coherence, connections to

curriculum.