Quote of the Day:
“It has been contended that one of the most important things a parent can do, beyond keeping children healthy and safe is to read to them” (Joyce, as cited in Ledger and Merga, 2018, p. 135).
With today being the first official day, here in Manitoba, of school closures due to COVID-19, I am considering how to best support families who are at home with their children over the next few weeks. I am especially interested, as I am sure other teachers and parents are, in maintaining the growth in reading skills that students have developed over the course of the school year, thus far.
Over the next few weeks, my blog posts will highlight various evidence-based practices (EBPs) to support children in developing literacy skills. In this section of my blog, I will highlight the research in support of these EBPs, and then will provide a user-friendly synopsis in the Parent Resources section of my site. These brief summaries will list the steps parents can follow, to implement the various practices at home.
The first topic in my “Evidence-Based Practices Series” is reading aloud to children. Reading aloud with kids is something that many parents already do, and perhaps may decide to do more often, during the time they spend at home with their kids this month.
Parents can feel confident that they are making a difference for their kids, when reading aloud with them, especially considering that “the single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual success in reading, is reading aloud to children,” according to a report commissioned by the US Department of Education (Anderson et al., as cited in Ledger & Merga, 2018).
Ledger & Merga (2018) carried out a research study in which students’ perceptions to being read aloud to, were highlighted. They defined Read-Alouds as “the shared reading experience between a child and a parent/guardian or teacher” (p. 125). A Read-Aloud can be a parent reading the whole book to the child, or child and adult taking turns reading.
I was very surprised to learn how infrequently children are read aloud to, by both their teachers and their parents (or at least how infrequently it occurs, according to the students who were interviewed!) Although, I have to say, considering that many researchers are beginning to place more value on students’ perspectives, when looking at ways to improve learning, I found this study to be very progressive (Cook-Sather, 2006)!
74% – 79% of students who took part in the study, which included students up to 12 years of age, stated that they enjoyed being read to. In fact, Ledger and Merga (2018) found that most kids wish that their parents and teachers did so more often (p. 131).
The list of skills that are developed as a result of teachers and parents reading aloud to kids include: increased vocabulary, reading comprehension, cognitive skills, syntactic development, encouragement of children to read books themselves, including children who are less able to read (Ledger & Merga, 2018, p. 125).
Additionally, questioning skills, engagement in dialogue with another person, and even inquiry-based learning, are all developed in children, when they are being read aloud to, according to Trelease (as cited in Ledger & Merga, 2018, p. 125).
Most importantly, the development of a positive attitude toward reading, and the decision to read for fun, can be developed through reading aloud to children, and can actually prevent difficulties with literacy later on in life (Ledger & Merger, 2018, pp. 125 – 126). The positive impact of taking part in Read-Alouds continues for kids, even after they have become independent readers.
There are also ways to make Read-Alouds more effective at improving literacy skills. When parents use story time to talk about the meaning of the story, to explain vocabulary and to connect the story to the child’s own life in a more interactive style, it has been shown to have the highest impact (p. 555). Story time can even be used to directly teach pre-reading skills, in a natural and fun way. Duursma et al. (2008) provide an explanation for how reading aloud can help students to develop phonological awareness, when the adult directs students’ attention to the initial sounds in words (p. 554):
“Many alphabet books…contain the letter name accompanied by pictures of objects whose names begin with the critical sound, such as D, for example a dog, deer or doctor. When parents stress the initial sounds in these words while reading with their children, they are teaching awareness of phonemes or shared phonemes across words. Since children who have difficulty with phonological awareness can develop reading difficulties, parents might help prevent these difficulties by exposing children to a wide variety of literacy materials and helping them become aware of the relationship between letters and sounds” (Duursma et al., 2008, p. 554).
It is important to note that, as Ledger and Merga (2018) found in their interviews with students, some things caused kids to dislike being read aloud to. For example, students did not like it when the adult over did it, in asking them questions about the book, or when they put too much of a focus on words (p. 130). At school, some students disliked the frequent interruptions of the story that occurred, when the teacher needed to pause to remind other student about their behavior (p. 131).
It is imperative to consider the attitude that the child is developing about reading, as you read with them. If the experience is relaxed and fun, the child will be more likely to approach books in the future with positive feelings (Ledger & Merga, 2018, p. 126). This may eventually lead to students choosing to read books just for the fun of it. Some ways to increase the positive emotions kids may have while reading include, allowing the child to choose the book, using books that are funny, or ones that focus of topics of interest to the child, and developing a regular routine, such as reading books at bedtime. Also, it is important to be careful not to put “undue weight …on skill development at the expense of enjoyment and entertainment (p. 134)
In terms of interventions for struggling readers, which is the main focus of my blog, it is interesting to note the following:
1) Richard Allington (2012) recommends that when having children read, we ensure that the books we use are easy, or just right for the child: “Good readers read with accuracy almost all the time. The last 60 years of research on optimal text difficulty—a body of research that began with Betts (1949)—consistently demonstrates the importance of having students read texts they can read accurately and understand. In fact, research shows that reading at 98 percent or higher accuracy is essential for reading acceleration. Anything less slows the rate of improvement, and anything below 90 percent accuracy doesn’t improve reading ability at all (Allington, 2012; Ehri, Dreyer, Flugman, & Gross, 2007, highlighting mine).
2) Parents who read aloud to their children prevent challenges with reading, once the child enters school. A recent analysis of 29 studies suggested that read-aloud interventions “provide children at risk of reading difficulties with higher literacy outcomes than those who did not participate in these interventions” (Swanson et al., as cited in Ledger & Merga, 2018, p. 125).
3) Read-Alouds were categorized under the heading “Literature-Based Program” on the Best Evidence Encyclopedia website. See http://www.bestevidence.org/. This site classifies programs according to the “overall strength of the evidence support in their effects on reading achievement” (Slavin et al., 2009). A score of +0.21 was given, which would place it in John Hattie’s “likely to have a positive impact on student achievement” category (Fisher, Frey & Hattie, 2016).
If you are a parent, do you expect to spend more time reading aloud with your kids over the next few weeks or months, due to the school closures?
What strategies do you use to make story time fun or relaxing?
What books have you found your students enjoy the most?
References
Allington, R. L., & Rachael E. Gabriel. (2012). Every Child, Every Day. Reading: The Core Skill, 69 (6), 10-15.
Allington R. L., & Gabriel, R. E. retrieved on March 24, 2020 from http://www.ascd.org/publications/educational-leadership/mar12/vol69/num06/Every-Child,-Every-Day.aspx
Cook-Sather, A. (2006). Sound, presence and power: “Student Voice” in educational research and reform. The Ontario Institute for Studies in Education of the University of Ontario. Curriculum Inquiry, 36 (4), 359-390.
Duursma, E., Augustyn, M., & Zuckerman, B. (2008). Reading aloud to children: The evidence. Archives of Disease in Childhood, 93, (7), 554-557.
Fisher, D., Frey, N, & Hattie, J. (2016). Visible learning for literacy: Implementing the practices that work best to accelerate student learning. Corwin.
Ledger, S., & Merga, M. K. (2018). Reading Aloud: Children’s attitudes toward being read to at home and school. Australian Journal of Teacher Education, 43 (3), 124-139.
Slavin, R.E., Lake, C., Cheung, A., & Davis, S. (2009). Beyond the basics: Effective reading programs for the upper elementary grades. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University, Center for Data-Driven Reform in Education. Retrieved on March 23, 2020 from http://www.bestevidence.org/reading/upper_elem/upper_elem_read.htm.
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