1 Reading aloud

Reading aloud to children from their earliest years matters. Inviting their playful engagement and attention though the use of actions, sounds, words, chants and props, and participating in connected book chat helps to enrich their narrative understanding and pleasure. In later years, retaining time in school for reading aloud remains crucial to nurturing the habit of free reading. However, while it is often recognised in policy and practice, and teachers value this time with their class, the pressure of curriculum coverage tends to reduce opportunities to engage in this shared reading experience (Merga and Ledger, 2018).

Some studies into reading aloud focus on its value for developing literacy skills by tracking gains in vocabulary, comprehension and decontextualised language. For example, Zucker et al. (2013) show that reading aloud with ‘extratextual talk’ is associated with vocabulary gains in early years. Other studies identify that children must not only hear, but be prompted to use the new words in order to sustain long term gains (Wasik and Hindman, 2014). The latter study highlights the value of teachers using contextualized text talk (in the book) and decontextualised text talk (beyond the book), as part of read-alouds. Although in many cases the claimed benefits are modest (Hall and Williams, 2010), the work of Kalb and van Ours (2014) in Australia does indicate that reading aloud recurrently to 4-5-year-olds enhances their reading, mathematics and cognitive skills at age 8-9.

Other studies undertaken in classrooms tend to examine reading aloud as it happens and focus on affective and behavioural consequences, such as developing a sense of belonging. This, Wiseman (2011) observes, can be particularly valuable for children from marginalised groups, such as those speaking English as a second language and struggling readers. Read alouds are often pitched at a level above what most children could access alone. Whilst cognitively challenging, hearing engaging texts places few literacy demands upon children, which enables them to experience increased autonomy and fluency, and focus on comprehension (Kuhn et al., 2010).

Watch the following video of Ellie, a teacher at Elmshurst Primary School, London reading to 9-10-year-olds in her class.

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Transcript: Video 1

[TEXT ON SCREEN: Reading aloud brings the narrative to life]

ELLIE:

So today we’re going to be reading a book called The Promise. It’s by a lovely author called Nicola Davies and it’s been illustrated by Laura Carlin.

Nothing grew. Everything was broken. No one ever smiled.

I ran off without a backward look, thinking of all the food and the money in her bag. But when I opened it, there were only acorns. I stared at them, so green, so perfect and so many, and understood the promise I had made. I held a forest in my arms, and my heart was changed.

Trees! First here and there, and then everywhere. People came out the streets to see. They touched the leaves in wonder, and they smiled.

[TEXT ON SCREEN: Reading aloud helps children to make connections]

CHILD 1:

I feel like it’s going to be a nightmare to live there.

ELLIE:

A nightmare to live there. Wow. Why do you think a nightmare?

CHILD 1:

Because, like, it’s so dull, it’s dusty, and I feel like it’s going to be bad for your health.

ELLIE:

Oh, I love that. You got that from the first page, didn’t you? You know, it was very dusty.

CHILD 2:

Miss. Remember he said that, my heart was like, is like a dead tree but now because of the acorns the trees are going to grow and it said that her heart was changed.

ELLIE:

Oh, so her heart is no longer to be compared to a dead tree. What else could our heart-- heart might be compared to something else now?

CHILD 3:

A living tree.

ELLIE:

A living tree. Her heart’s been changed. I love that. Well done for making that connection from earlier on.

CHILD 4:

It shows that there’s hope about that changing, like making better cities. Like, for example, Syria is all broke down and it’s dull, you know. And now if everyone has hope, you can make it into a nice city, like.

[TEXT ON SCREEN: Reading aloud prompts discussion and interaction]

ELLIE:

And another.

CHILD 5:

That one looks like it’s China.

ELLIE:

Oh, why? Because you can see the lanterns. Gorgeous lanterns, aren’t they? Red and vibrant. And we know that red is the colour---

CLASS:

Of hope. Of hope.

ELLIE:

This girl is trying to change the world and her bag of acorns gets stolen, but she-- and she smiles again. Why is she smiling about that?

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

Dorrie, why is the girl smiling?

CHILD 6:

The girl is smiling because she would say, only if you plant them, he would say yes. And in his city, he would plant them, and then they would make beautiful trees and flowers.

ELLIE:

So now she’s almost passing on this experience to someone else, and smiling knowing that a heart can--

CLASS:

Change.

ELLIE:

Just like hers, her heart changed. Do you notice anything in other people’s faces?

[TEXT ON SCREEN: Reading aloud encourages deeper engagement]

CLASS:

They all look sad. They all look sad. The all do look very depressed and tired of the city.

ELLIE:

Yeah. They look quite tired, depressed and they do look sad. And remember, no one ever smiled, and that’s just confirming that for us. Sneha.

CHILD 7:

They all look grey and dull.

ELLIE:

They’re also grey and dull just like the city. So the people are grey and dull and mean, hard, and ugly just like the city itself.

So when it says she’s got a forest in her arms, what she realised, she’s realising the potential of these acorns. That what’s going to happen to them Habul. They’re going to--

CHILD 8:

They’re going to grow.

ELLIE:

They’re going to grow and flourish. Ayan.

CHILD 9:

Miss, they could die because of the weather, it’s probably not going to rain and it’s probably not going to be--

ELLIE:

Because it did say, didn’t it, that the city was mean, hard, and ugly. Shall we find out?

Why is her head full of these leafy visions all of a sudden? Khadijah.

CHILD 10:

Because she’s, like, never-- she’d maybe never seen trees. And then when there’s going to be trees in her city, she’s going to be happy she’s going to see them every day. Like, it’s going to be a normal thing to her.

ELLIE:

So she’s imagining a world where actually seeing trees and leaves is going to be normal.

[TEXT ON SCREEN: Reading aloud is a shared, social experience]

And last night in a lonely alley, a young thief fought me for my sack of acorns. I smiled and made the old bargain, knowing how a heart can change, and knowing that my planting will go on. The end.

CLASS:

Whoa.

End transcript: Video 1

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Video _unit6.1.1 Video 1

There are many benefits of hearing stories and other texts read aloud regularly. Listening to rich engaging texts offers a foundation for later understanding and helps sustain a love of reading throughout education. It enriches children’s inner treasure chests of words (Sullivan and Brown, 2015): in fact, the word ‘vocabulary’ in German ‘wortschatz’, literally means ‘word treasure’.

Look at Figure 2, which shows the range of language used in Look Up! by Nathan Byron and Dapo Adeola. Brilliant books are packed with new vocabulary, so hearing and reading such books can enhance children’s prior knowledge and understanding, and enrich their capacity to access the curriculum.

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Figure _unit6.1.1 Figure 2 Some of the vocabulary used in Look Up!

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The centre of the image shows the book cover of Look Up! Around it are examples of wider vocabulary used in the book: I defied gravity; Glued to his game; Myth; Astronaut, star-cathcer, space traveller; My famous victory dance; Binoculars; My head is floating in the clouds; Rare are exotic life forms; Telescopes; Orbit; Metoer shower.

Figure 2 Some of the vocabulary used in Look Up!

As well as fiction, non-fiction texts also introduce children to subject-specific higher-level vocabulary, which they are unlikely to come across in everyday life (Beck, 2002). Teachers who read aloud to inspire and motivate choice-led independent reading are also introducing the young to the grammar of written language and building something known as ‘books in common’, which you will learn about in the next section.