Reading Aloud to Promote Vocabulary and Comprehension

Holly B. Lane, Ph.D. University of Florida

the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading is reading aloud to children
Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson (1985) Becoming a Nation of Readers

Since the publication of Becoming a Nation of Readers in 1985, reading aloud to children has gained a new level of respect as a necessary and important part of early literacy development. Many programs and books have emphasized its importance, and parents and educators have taken note.

Jim Treleases Read-Aloud Handbook (1979) Reading is Fundamental (RIF) The National PTAs parent involvement recommendations (PTA, 2004) Reach Out and Read uses pediatricians to provide parents books and information for reading aloud to their children (www.reachoutandread.org).

Despite this common acceptance of the importance of reading aloud, many children continue to start school with extremely limited experience with books. The most frequently cited barriers to reading aloud are . . . lack of time (Smith, 1989) limited access to childrens books (Dickinson, McCabe, & Anastasopoulos, 2003; Strickland, 2002) Adams (1990) explains that children may begin school with as little as 25 hours or as much as 1,500 hours of read-aloud experiences.

What are the effects of reading aloud to children?

Reading aloud accounts for only 8% of the variance in reading ability in the primary grades.
(Scarborough & Dobrich, 1994)

There are low to moderate negative correlations between time teachers spend reading aloud and their students reading achievement.
(Meyer, Wardrop, Hastings, & Linn, 1993)

On the other hand, reading aloud to children can . . .

increase their vocabulary.

(Beck, McKeown, & Kucan, 2002; DeTemple & Snow, 2003; Green & Lynch-Brown, 2002; Senechal, 1997; Sharif, Ozuah, Dinkevich, & Mulvihill, 2003)

increase their listening comprehension skills.

(Morrow & Gambrell, 2002; Stanovich, 1998; Teale, 1986)

promote their syntactic development.

(Chomsky, 1972)

increase their ability to recognize words.

(Stahl, 2003)

How can we make sense of these seemingly contradictory findings?

Positive results of reading aloud have typically been found with researcher-designed methods, as opposed to naturally-occurring methods. Parents and teachers tend to employ less effective methods for read-alouds.

Making read-alouds as effective as possible . . .

Teale (2003) suggests several key factors that teachers should consider:

The amount of read-aloud time o Can multiple instructional goals be accomplished? o How much prior read-aloud experience do the children have? o How can read-aloud time be spent most wisely? The choice of text for read-aloud activities o Are the books of high quality with engaging characters? o Is there an assortment of genres? o Can texts be matched to instructional goals?

The method of reading aloud o How can childrens background knowledge be activated? o Is the reading technique lively and engaging? o Is talk both immediate and nonimmediate? The fit of the read-aloud in the classroom and curriculum o Is there a comfortable, inviting place in the classroom for read-alouds? o Can connections be developed with books across the curriculum?

Dialogic Reading

Developed by Whitehurst and his colleagues Provides a basic structure for making parent-child or teacher-child read-alouds more effective and productive

Based on three principles: 1. Encouraging the child to become an active learner during book reading. 2. Providing feedback that models more sophisticated language. 3. Challenging the childs knowledge and skills by raising the conversation to a level just above his current ability. Types of Prompts

Completion prompts

Fill-in-the-blank questions When the dog came home they ____ .

Recall prompts

Questions that require the child to remember some aspect of the book. Can you remember what they saw at the zoo?

Open-ended prompts

Statements that encourage responses in the childs own words What do you think about ____ .

Wh- prompts

What, where, and why questions Where did they go to hide?

Distancing prompts

Questions that require the child to relate the content of the book to life outside the book What happened when you tried that?
Sequence 1. Prompt. Prompt the child to label objects in the book and talk about the story. 2. Evaluate. Evaluate the childs responses. 3. Expand. Expand the childs verbalization by repeating what the child has said and adding information to it. 4. Repeat. Encourage the child to repeat the expanded utterances.

C.A.R. Strategy

Developed by Cole, Maddox, and Notary-Syverson

Comment and wait: The adult makes comments that reflect a childs focus of interest in the book and then gives the child time to think before responding or asking a question. Ask questions and wait. Adult asks both closed questions (i.e., ones that require a yes or no answer) and open-ended questions (i.e., ones that require the child to construct an answer), remembering to provide a child more time to think when open-ended questions are asked. Respond by adding a little more: Adult repeats childs response and then adds one or two new words or phrases. This action reinforces a childs talking and provides new information. Waiting communicates that the adult is interested in what the child has to say.

Visit http://www.walearning.com/ for the video.

Print Referencing

Developed by Justice and Ezell The verbal and nonverbal cues adults use to call childrens attention to important aspects of the text, including its forms, features, and functions. Promotes childrens development of print concepts, concept of word, and alphabet knowledge.

Type of cue
Verbal cues Question about print Request about print Comment about print Nonverbal cues Pointing to print Tracking print

Example

Can you find the title of this book? Show me where I should start reading on this page. That word is stop.

Teacher points to a word on a page or to print within an illustration. Teacher tracks her finger under the words as she reads the text.
(adapted from Justice & Ezell, 2004)

Text Talk

Developed by Isabel Beck, Margaret McKeown, and their colleagues. Focuses on vocabulary development. Uses read-alouds to provide a context for teaching new words. Engages children in meaningful discussions about books.

Selecting words to teach Teachers should choose words that

can be connected to what students know. can be explained with words students know. will be useful and interesting to students.

Teachers should also consider different levels of utility Tier One: words kids probably know already (e.g., pretty, baby, clock, kind) Tier Two: high-frequency words for mature language users (e.g., avoid, deliver, mention, occurrence, insist) Tier Three: lower frequency, content-specific, and best learned in the content area (e.g., ukulele, parallel, microscopic) Tier Two words are usually more specific and more sophisticated labels for familiar concepts that can be explained using Tier One words (e.g., sad/forlorn, big/enormous). Tier Three words typically are typically learned at the same time as a new concept. Initial Word Introduction Creating child-friendly definitions 1. Ask yourself, When do I use this word? Why do we have this word? 2. Use everyday language to explain the meaning of the word. 3. Keep focused on the central meaning or concept of the word rather than the multiple meanings of the word. 4. Try to include something, someone, or describes in your explanation to clarify how the word is used. Dictionary definition: ready to fall asleep: inducing or tending to induce sleep; indolent, lethargic; giving the appearance of peaceful inactivity Child-friendly definition: Drowsy describes that feeling when you are getting sleepy and you have trouble keeping your eyes open.

Create and Use Instructional Contexts

sentences or paragraphs designed to make word meaning transparent used along with (not instead of) student-friendly explanations 1. Use teacher think-alouds to demonstrate how the context helps to clarify meaning. 2. Engage students in the deriving-meaning process by asking questions that help them clarify how and why they figured out the words meaning. 3. Require students to use and interact with the word by thinking about its meaning

Word associations Have you ever . . . ? Applause, applause! Idea completions

To plan a text talk lesson . . . Select a book to read aloud to your students. Pick a book that has a variety of Tier 2 words to choose from and pick 3 to 5 words. Create a student-friendly definition for each word, and come up with examples and activities to use. The following steps summarize the typical text talk lesson format: Step One: Step Two: Read and discuss the story with your students. Introduce the targeted words one at a time.

Step Three: Ask students to repeat the word. Step Four: Step Five: Step Six: Introduce your student-friendly definition. Share examples of the word in contexts that are different from the context in the story. Engage students in thinking about and using the meaning of the word.

Step Seven: Ask students to repeat the word again to reinforce its phonological representation. Step Eight: Create activities where students are required to interact with the targeted words.

After reading and discussing the story, the teacher leads the students in steps 2-8 for each target word.

Talking about Books

One way to promote the development of oral language skills in the classroom is the implementation of literature circles, in which students have the opportunity to talk about and share their ideas.
(Fisher, Flood, & Lapp, 1999)

Talking about books challenges and stimulates learning and provides an interesting topic of conversation. Talking about books helps children reach a deeper understanding of the meaning of the text. Discussing books also engages students in academic talk that is expected in school.

Book Clubs During book club meetings, students learn to

State their points to others Back up their remarks with the words in the text Politely discuss and defend their remarks Read into the words in the text, or make inferences about what the author is saying Discover new or multiple meanings for words and new perspectives on themes Collaborate with others to build an understanding

Literature Circles During literature circles (Daniels, 1994), each member of the group has a structured role to play in the discussion. Discussion Director: guides the discussion, keeps group members on task Connector: makes connections to other texts, to the world, and to experiences Passage Master: selects passages to clarify, challenge, question, or emphasize Illustrator: graphically depicts a key point or event from the text Questioner: records questions that came up during reading to share with group Summarizer: develops a statement that conveys the gist of the text in a few words Reciprocal Teaching Reciprocal teaching (Palincsar & Brown, 1984) is an activity that features dialogue between teachers and students regarding segments of text. Summarizing: highlighting the key ideas up to this point in the reading Questioning: generating questions about unclear points or connections to other content Clarifying: addressing confusing points, clarifying the meanings of new words Predicting: generating ideas about what will be learned next or what will happen next in a narrative

Effective Questioning Why should we ask questions when we read?

I have no special talents, I am only passionately curious.

Albert Einstein

Curiosity prompted Einstein to solve a great mystery of the physical universe. How can we, as teachers, evoke that curiosity in our students?

Questions are the key to understanding. Questions clarify confusion. Questions stimulate research efforts.

Questions provide the impetus to read for deeper understanding. Research shows that questioning strongly supports and advances students learning from reading. Questioning is effective because it

Gives students a purpose for reading; Focuses students attention on what they are to learn; Helps students think actively as they read; Encourages students to monitor their comprehension; and Helps students to review content and relate what they have learned to what they already know.

Teaching students to ask their own questions improves their active processing of text. Questioning helps students determine whether or not they understand what they are reading. Students can learn to ask questions that help them integrate information from different segments of text.

Final Thoughts
Observations reveal that teachers do most of the talking in classrooms, making about twice as many utterances as do students In over half of the interactions that teachers have with students, students do not produce any language.When students do respond, typically they provide only simple information recall statements. This pattern of teacher/student interaction not only limits a students opportunity to create and manipulate language freely, but also limits the students ability to engage in more complex learning.
(Ramirez, Yuen, & Ramey, 1991)

Our goal, therefore, should be to ensure active student learning through interactive teaching. Engaging students with books and in discussions surrounding those books will enhance both vocabulary and text comprehension.

References and Resources

Adams, M. J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press. Beck, I. L, McKeown, M. G., & Kucan, L. (2002). Bringing words to life: Robust vocabulary instruction. New York: Guilford. Chomsky, C. (1972). Stages in language development and reading exposure. Harvard Educational Review, 42, 1-42. Cole, K. N., Maddox, M. E., & Notary-Syverson, A. (1998). Talking & books. Seattle: Washington Learning Systems. Daniels, H. (1994). Literature Circles: Voice and choice in the student-centered classroom. York, ME: Stenhouse. Dickinson, D. K., McCabe, A., & Anastasopoulos, L. (2003). A framework for examining book reading in early childhood classrooms. In A. van Kleeck, E.B. Bauer, & S. Stahl (Eds.), On Reading Books to Children: Parents and Teachers (pp. 95-113) Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum. Fisher, D., Flood, J., & Lapp, D. (1999). The role of literature in literacy development. In L. B. Gambrell, L. M. Morrow, S. B. Neuman & M. Pressley (Eds.), Best practices in literacy instruction (pp. 122135). New York: Guilford. Green, E. B., & Lynch-Brown, C. (2002). Effects of teachers reading-aloud styles on vocabulary acquisition and comprehension of students in early elementary grades. Journal of Educational Psychology, 84, 465-473. Justice, L. M., & Ezell, H. K. (2004). Print referencing: An emergent literacy enhancement strategy and its clinical applications. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 35, 185193. Lane, H. B., & Wright, T. L. (2007). Maximizing the effectiveness of reading aloud. Reading Teacher, 60, 668-675. Meyer, L. A., Wardrop, J. L., Hastings, C. N., & Linn, R. L. (1993). How entering ability and instructional settings influence kindergartners reading performance. Journal of Educational Research, 86, 142-160. Morrow, L. M., & Gambrell, L. B. (2002). Literature-based instruction in the early years. In S. B. Neuman & D. K. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook of Early Literacy Research. New York: Guildford. National Education Association. (2004). A parent's guide to helping your child learn to read. Available from http://www.nea.org/parents/learntoread.html Palincsar, A. S. & Brown, A. (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering and comprehension monitoring activities. Cognition and Instruction, 1, 117-175. Ramirez, J. D., Yuen, S. D., & Ramey, D. R. (1991). Longitudinal study of structured English immersion strategy, earlyexit and late-exit transitional bilingual education programs for language-minority children. Final report to the U.S. Department of Education. Executive Summary and Vols. I and II. San Mateo, CA: Aguirre International. Reach Out and Read National Center. (n.d.) Retrieved November 8, 2004. from http://www.reachoutandread.org/. Scarborough, H. S., & Dobrich, W. (1994). On the efficacy of reading to preschoolers. Developmental Review, 14, 245302. Senechal, M. (1997). The differential effect of storybook reading on preschoolers acquisition of expressive and receptive vocabulary. Journal of Child Language, 24, 123-138. Sharif, I., Ozuah, P. O., Dinkevich, E. I., & Mulvihill, M. (2003). Impact of a brief literacy intervention on urban preschoolers. Early Childhood Education Journal, 30(3), 177-180. Smith, K. P. (1989). Children among the poor. Demography, 26, 235-248. Stahl, S. (2003). What do we expect storybook reading to do? How storybook reading impacts word recognition. In A. van Kleeck, S. Stahl, & E. B. Bauer (Eds.), On reading books to children: Parents and teachers. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Stanovich, K. (1998). Literacy experiences and the shaping of cognition. Paper presented at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association, San Diego, CA. Strickland, D. (2002). Early intervention for African American children considered to be at risk. In S. B. Neuman & D. K. Dickinson (Eds.), Handbook of Early Literacy Research. New York: Guildford. Teale, W. H. (1986). Home background and young children's literacy development. In W. Teale & E. Sulzby (Eds.), Emergent literacy: Writing and reading (pp. 173-206). Norwood, NJ: Ablex. Teale, W. H. (2003). Reading aloud to young children as a classroom instructional activity: Insight from research and practice. In A. van Kleeck, S. Stahl, & E. B. Bauer (Eds.), On reading books to children: Parents and teachers. Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum. Trelease, J. (1979). The read aloud handbook. Harmondsworth, UK: Penguin. Whitehurst, G. J., Falco, F., Lonigan, C., Fischel, J., DeBaryshe, B., Valdez-Menchaca, M., & Caulfield, M. (1988). Accelerating language development through picture book reading. Developmental Psychology, 24, 552-599.

The information that is included in the conference materials or provided by conference presenters is intended to serve as a resource for participants. It should not be construed in any way as an endorsement by the U.S. Department of Education (Department) of particular materials, products, services, or approaches or as an attempt by the Department to mandate, direct, or control the curriculum, program of instruction, or assessments of a State, local educational agency, or school. Consistent with the Reading First statutory requirements and the approved State grant application, States and localities have the flexibility to determine how best to use Reading First funds to help ensure that every student can read at grade level or above by the end of the third grade.