http://www.brookfieldnow.com/news/elmbrook-turns-page-with-new-literacy-curriculum-l39s9n8-206506701.html
Reading aloud to Kindergartners at Dixon Elementary in Elmbrook is being reduced, because it is “passive.” (“Elmbrook turns page with new literacy curriculum,” May 7).
Hardly.
The research on reading aloud to children
is very impressive: Children who are read to regularly outperform children not
read to on a wide variety of measures of language and literacy: they develop
higher levels of vocabulary, grammar, and a better knowledge of how stories are
constructed, which helps make book reading more comprehensible.
Even more important, read-alouds increase
enthusiasm for reading. Anyone who has worked in elementary school (anyone who
has been to elementary school) has seen this: The teacher reads Charlotte’s Web
to the class; the book disappears from the school library and local bookstores.
Children go from there to Stuart Little and The Trumpet of the Swan, and
eventually to fine authors such as Judy Blume. The result is a lifetime reading
habit, and very high levels of literacy.
Stephen Krashen
Some sources:
Brassell, D.
2003. Sixteen books went home tonight: Fifteen were introduced by the teacher.
The California Reader 36 (3): 33-39.
Bus, A., M. Van
Ijzendoorn, and A.Pellegrini. 1995. Joint book reading makes for success in
learning to read: A meta-analysis on intergenerational transmission of
literacy. Review of Educational Research 65: 1-21.
Krashen, S.
2011. Reach
Out and Read (Aloud): An inexpensive, simple approach to closing the equity gap
in literacy. Language Magazine 10 (12):
17-19.
Trelease, J. 2006. The
Read-aloud Handbook. New York, NY: Penguin Books.
Wang, F. Y., and S.Y. Lee. 2007. Storytelling is the bridge. International
Journal of Foreign Language Teaching, 3(2), 30-35.
Read-alouds give children the opportunity to hear what reading should sound like in their heads when they read to themselves. A skilled teacher can use the read-aloud to bring reading and writing skills to life for her students. In addition to all the skills and habits that reading aloud to a class can develop, it also builds a sense of community. It is a special time of the day when the class shares the wonder of words and the excitement or reading. I've always viewed it as a class bonding time.
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