Read Aloud Teaching Strategies
Read Aloud Teaching Strategies
Read aloud teaching strategy is the process of reading material to children orally. It is a method that many teachers have adopted in teaching from time immemorial. Reading aloud in my opinion as a child educator has many advantages to the development of a child and even the teacher. As a child educator, I happen to engage with children in the class and also in various settings apart from the typical class environment. Children have been able to gain confidence and a built personality from the process of reading aloud. I do not agree with the decision passed by the Board of Education regarding the abolishment of this kind of teaching strategy adopted by teachers.
| My opinion as a child educator | Opposing arguments |
| · Readers can realize and achieve a higher comprehension level by reading deep and meaningful texts than just emphasizing specific single units (Pergams, Jake-Matthews, and Mohanty, 2018).
· It also increases their span of attention by promoting a slower means by which ideas and events unfold (Wiseman, 2011). The increased attention span increases the children’s overall attention span. · Reading aloud strengthens cognition. A well-written textbook can expose students to a language that is more sophisticated and can enhance the students’ cognitive potentials (Warner, Crolla, Goodwyn, Hyder, and Richards, 2016). |
· Reading aloud does not develop a stronger vocabulary (Josephs and Jolivette, 2016). It makes the students focus more on pronunciations rather than comprehension
· Reading aloud does not make the reading text lively. It results in a majority of the students falling asleep in a classroom as the reading session goes on (Warner and Crolla, 2015). When the students fall asleep the lesson becomes dormant, and they end up not able to give a report or even handle various questions asked based on that particular text. · Reading aloud has no use to the learners, and it only consumes time Pentimonti and Justice, 2010). Reading aloud does not give room for scaffolding when reading begins. |
Reading aloud is very significant because it increases the overall attention and concentration span of children. Attention span is essential because, when a child is alert in class, s/he can grasp a lot of information that is read and will be able to answer various questions correctly at the end of the lesson (Wiseman, 2011). It also enables the child to pay attention not only to class work but also to any form of a message passed.
Researchers, however, say that it does not help students in any way since it makes them lose focus and sleep in class instead of concentrating in class activities (Warner and Crolla, 2015). They further argue that sleeping in class results in poor performance as a result of not being in a position to answer questions from the read texts.
References
Pentimonti, J. M., & Justice, L. M. (2010). Teachers’ use of scaffolding strategies during read aloud in the preschool classroom. Early childhood education journal, 37(4), 241.
Warner, L., Crolla, C., Goodwyn, A., Hyder, E., & Richards, B. (2016). Reading aloud in high schools: students and teachers across the curriculum. Educational Review, 68(2), 222-238.
Wiseman, A. (2011). Interactive read aloud: Teachers and students constructing knowledge and literacy together. Early Childhood Education Journal, 38(6), 431-438.