Read Aloud Styles

In the article, Effects of Teachers' Reading-Aloud Styles on Vocabulary Acquisition and Comprehension of Students in the Early Elementary Grades, pre-service teachers administered three different read-aloud styles in various early elementary grades including, just reading, performance reading, and interactional reading. In order to determine the effect that read-aloud styles had on the students' ability to learn vocabulary and comprehend, the article defined, observed, and administered all three of the read-aloud styles in the classroom.The interaction reading, which allowed for discussion before, during, and after the read-aloud, very much engaged the students in the narrative stories that were read. It was stated that students were able to learn more vocabulary words through this type of read-aloud style than any other. This was not surprising to me whatsoever, given that the students are most encouraged to engage in the reading than any other read-aloud style. The performance style read-aloud style engages the students into a discussion about the story before and after the read-aloud, but not during. This may allow the students to better appreciate the story as a whole, rather than be engaged in discussion each detail throughout the read-aloud. Lastly, the just reading read-aloud style, which called for students to listen and not to pose questions before, during, or after reading, was the least effective in teaching student's vocabulary.

The statistics concerning the amount of time teachers spent administering read-alouds to their students each day and week were of particular interest to me. I find it so appalling that less than half of all teachers 40 years ago conducted read-alouds in their classrooms. Even before learning about the many advantages that read-alouds provide to students, I already felt that there were multiple benefits of conducting read-alouds. While it is a relief to hear that most all teachers use read-alouds today, it is concerning that most feel the need for doing so to be for entertainment and enjoyment purposes only. It is absolutely baffling that only 11%-28% of teachers read to their students in order tot build their vocabulary and reading comprehension. After reading the article, I learned that teachers can choose a type of reading style to use during a read aloud that will target very specific instructional needs that students posses. When deciding on which type of reading style to use, teacher ought to consider the students' learning types, age group, grade, and ability level. However, while the students ability to learn vocabulary appeared to be most effected by the type of read-aloud styles used, it was interesting to me that comprehension was mainly effected by the grade level of the student, rather than the reading style.

Furthermore, why would teachers only correlate discussions, writing activities, and drama along with oral reading activities less than 25% of the time? These types of activities all greatly contribute to the students' vocabulary and reading comprehension levels and ought to be utilized in every single literacy lesson possible.  I believe that we have most certainly come a long ways in developing better ways that we may teach students vocabulary and comprehension through the use of read-alouds over the past 40 years. However, it cannot be disputed that there is much more to be explored, discovered, and analyzed in regards to teaching students instructional content by having them listen, discuss, and retell stories read aloud. Personally, I would like to begin practicing conducting these various types of read-aloud styles in the classroom while I am still a pre-service teacher. This article has enlightened me so much about the various types of benefits that read-alouds have to offer, but most importantly, the article reminds teachers of the importance of knowing how and when each should be used to teach a specific instructional skill to students in early elementary grades.