[NIFL-4EFF:2432] Reading aloud to adults

From: MWPotts2001@aol.com
Date: Fri Jul 18 2003 - 12:57:30 EDT


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In a message dated 7/18/03 3:27:17 AM, AWilder106@aol.com writes:

<< So READING ALOUD has to be an important resource for a teacher--tapes are 
fine. The kind of book reading we call "reading" depends on the student having 
a grasp of this kind of expression.  Not only does it enhance predictability 
and accustom the student to speech patterns, it enhances the areas of the 
brain that handle language.

 >>

Thank you, Andrea for this highlight.  Years ago, when I suggested reading 
aloud to adults, one of my colleagues told me that I was dead wrong.  No matter. 
 I wrote and presented workshops in which I not only suggested that teachers 
read aloud to their adult students, I read aloud to these teachers.  OK.  So 
they would try it.  Here is the feedback (a collection from several years of 
engaging teachers of adults in the read-aloud process):

The Literacy Center is a place where Teachers read aloud to students because

ÿ Listening to good literature nourishes students’ eagerness to learn, and 
provides a way for teachers to direct learning toward content that will be 
useful to adults in the world in which they live.  Reading aloud presents books as 
sources of pleasant, valuable and exciting experiences.

ÿ Sharing the reading experience provides physical and social supports, which 
expand the developmental potential of students, no matter what level they are 
experiencing as silent readers.  Everyone has the opportunity to learn what 
is necessary.

ÿ This support through reading aloud helps diminish the affects of language 
differences on learning.  Everyone in the room has a common literary 
experience—anchor experiences. Developmentally competent students can learn knowledge 
and skills when the learning environment and teaching style supports them.

ÿ Reading aloud increases phonological awareness; Phonics taught while 
reading emphasizes phonics as part of the reading process.

ÿ Reading aloud enhances listening skills when students are encouraged to 
listen actively. They learn to
Attend to oral information
Use good listening strategies
Monitor comprehension
Connect information from listening experience with prior knowledge.

ÿ Reading aloud provides a knowledge base and enlarges vocabularies that 
students  will use as prior learning, helping them to make sense of new learning 
when they are on their own. Building visual images, then storing those images 
by increasing opportunities to hear messages help students to retrieve those 
images when necessary.  As they listen to stories, students use their 
imaginations to explore people, places, times and events beyond their own typical 
experiences.

ÿ Reading aloud aids comprehension.  Teachers adopt monitoring strategies 
that help students
Think about the story, ask questions, extend learning
Map the characters, demonstrate change and evaluate relationships
Map the plot or events in the story, analyze story elements, such as setting, 
characters, problems, actions/consequences and resolutions
Make predictions and interpretations
Summarize and critique
Reflect and evaluate
Solve problems as a group.  



ÿ Reading aloud provides teachers with opportunities to share sophisticated 
ideas and themes from books that may be too difficult for students to read 
alone but not too difficult to understand. Reading aloud teaches the language of 
books, which differs from language heard in daily conversations, on television, 
and in the movies. Book language is more descriptive and uses more formal 
grammatical structures.

ÿ Teachers read to highlight concepts in all disciplines, such as math, 
social studies, art, music.


Please note that all of the Equipped for the Future Read With 
Understanding/Components of Performance are addressed in read-aloud activities.

All the Best,

Meta Potts, Moderator 4-EFF List



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