Research Journal Page 8

Reading Aloud is for all ages, not just elementary school kids!

While doing research for my Literature Review, I came across this article that didn’t really fit into my particular topic, but it’s something that I think is very important.  In Education Digest, Mary Ann Zehr (2010) published an article, “Reading Aloud to Teens Gains Favor Among Teachers.”  In this article, Zehr explores the positive feedback received from teen students when their teachers read aloud to them.  The particular quote that caught my attention was something that was said by Jim Trelease, author of the Read-Aloud Handbook, "If the only thing a teacher shares is from a textbook, how are you going to get students excited about reading?" he said (p. 1).  Trelease really hits the nail on the head with this statement.  We want students to be excited about reading, but then why do so many teachers assigned Acts and Scenes from a play for students to read on their own?  These writings are meant to be read aloud with drama and feeling!  When I was teaching middle school English, I regularly read aloud to my students.  I would read poetry to them, various picture books, and we also would take turns reading novels together-I would allow the students to take over, read a bit, and then pick someone else to continue.  I have personally found that picture books can sometimes be the link to getting students interested in reading more about history.  When working with the other teachers on my team on a unit on the Holocaust, for example, there were plenty of picture books that we read aloud together to introduce students to the topic.  It’s a good starting point, and Zehr discusses some examples that teachers have shared with her regarding their uses of picture books with older students.

Part of the problem is that teachers seem to shy away from reading aloud once students hit an age where sitting on a colorful rug in a reading corner doesn’t always seem appropriate.  Just because students aren’t eager to gather on the floor at your feet while you read doesn’t mean that they don’t like to listen to someone else read.  The other part, according to Zehr, is that reading aloud hasn’t really been sufficiently studied beyond the elementary level.  Zehr refers to a study that was done by a Lettie K. Albright, a professor at Texas Women’s University, “In that article, she summarized research showing that the practice builds middle school students' knowledge in content areas, helps them have positive attitudes toward reading, and helps increase their reading fluency” (p. 2).  I think that reading aloud to students is a good way to get them started on whatever unit or theme the class is planning to study.  If it is introduced this way, it helps to prepare students for whatever type of reading they will be doing independently-whether it’s a textbook or a novel.

Zehr, Mary Ann.  (2010).  Reading Aloud to Teens Gains Favor Among Teachers.  Education Digest, 76 (1), p. 4-7.  Retrieved from EBSCO