Does reading aloud help kids learn to read?

[pinkmint]

That's pretty much my question... and forgive me if I sound dumb. Does reading aloud to a child help them learn to read? If anyone is able to explain, I'd be interested. I want to know how and why this works. We do read aloud, I'm just curious. 

 

My oldest child is 6 so we haven't been doing official homeschool for that long. He does recognize a few words but isn't exactly reading yet. Getting him to read is probably my number 1 goal in homeschooling right now, because I know that it opens up a whole other world of a child being able to work more independently. 

 

Bonus question: if you are trying to get your child to learn to read and they aren't quite grasping it, how do you know if it's that you aren't doing it correctly or enough, or if they're not ready yet and you need to back off? 

[maize]

I think that reading aloud helps mostly with reading comprehension, not so much with the mechanics of reading.

[Ellie]

That's pretty much my question... and forgive me if I sound dumb. Does reading aloud to a child help them learn to read? If anyone is able to explain, I'd be interested. I want to know how and why this works. We do read aloud, I'm just curious. 

 

My oldest child is 6 so we haven't been doing official homeschool for that long. He does recognize a few words but isn't exactly reading yet. Getting him to read is probably my number 1 goal in homeschooling right now, because I know that it opens up a whole other world of a child being able to work more independently. 

 

Bonus question: if you are trying to get your child to learn to read and they aren't quite grasping it, how do you know if it's that you aren't doing it correctly or enough, or if they're not ready yet and you need to back off? 

 

It is not enough for most children. Most children will need direct phonics instruction. When you read aloud to them, though, you are providing a role model for them. :-)

 

I didn't read aloud to my children hoping it would help them learn to read. I read aloud to them because I thought that the warm fuzzy mother-child time was important, and also because I wanted to be sure they experienced good books that they might not have chosen on their own.

 

Also, I didn't try to get my dc to learn to read. I taught her how to read, and she progressed at her own speed. I chose a good, solid, proven method--Spalding--and I worked with her until she was reading on her own. There was definitely some backing off involved. :-)

[Hunter]

I think there is a lot about brain development that we don't understand. Reading aloud stimulates areas of the brain, that are also used for other things.

 

Reading aloud increases a child's vocabulary.

 

Reading aloud models reading aloud.

 

And as I said, there is a lot we don't understand.

 

If you get tired of reading aloud, we are so so so lucky to have the plethora of free and low cost audio that is now available. Turn off the TV and turn on an audio book as kids are playing with their legos and coloring.

[amsunshine]

I do believe reading aloud definitely helps a child's reading skills but in a way that is different than and complementary to direct decoding/phonics instruction.  In other words, it's no substitute for direct reading instruction, but it's a necessary part of teaching your child how to read.  The Read Aloud Handbook talks about this and if you haven't read it yet, get a hold of a copy from the library asap!

 

I don't know enough about your particular child or the methods you are using to answer your bonus question.

 

 

[regentrude]

Reading aloud definitely helps:

It increases the child's vocabulary. Learning to read is impossible if you don't know what the words you decode actually mean.

It builds phonemic awareness. Children need to hear spoken language for that.

It wakes an interest in books and stories and enhances understanding of literature. For several years after learning to read independently, children are able to grasp more complex stories when they can listen to it than they can read independently.

 

And when a child sees the writing and follows along with the words as the parent reads, that brings the first decoding experiences. In fact, for some children that is sufficient and they teach themselves to read just by being read to, memorizing the books, and then "reading" them to themselves and figuring out that letters stand for sounds and sounds blend to words. That's how I learned to read before starting school or receiving any actual instruction.

[HS Mom in NC]

A friend's child learned to read by watching mom's finger go under the words as mom read aloud. That's not the norm.

 

As I understand it, a friend whose child is dyslexic reads each reading to her child that way and then does direct phonics instruction with the same reading at least that's how I remember what she said she did.  Don't hold me to it.

 

Reading aloud early on and continuing through the K-12 years builds vocabulary naturally, helps children understand sentence structure and familiarizes them with ideas.  That's all related to comprehension which is part of learning to read.  Phonics is more about decoding which is another part of reading. The two go hand in hand and build on each other.

[pinkmint]

Thanks, ladies. We are doing the McGuffey readers (that are viewable on the Easy Peasy all in one website) for the most part. I do read aloud knowing it's good in general, I was just wondering how it relates to them learning to read since reading aloud is so often mentioned when talking about getting a child to read.

[Sherry in OH]

Yes, reading aloud does help prepare children for learning to read.  When the same book is read over and over (as to toddlers who get fixated on certain books), the child learns that words of the story are always the same (and woe to any parent who tries to change them).  The child learns that books are read from front to back and left to right.  They also learn that books are enjoyable and worth reading.

 

If the reader uses a finger to underscore the words as he or she reads them, the child begins to realize that those symbols on the page have meaning.  He or she may recognize letters or even whole words.  For some (few) children this is enough for them to make the leap to actually reading.  Most children require instruction.  

 

With my own children, I haven’t found a strong correlation between reading ability and readiness for independent work.  The ability to entertain themselves and read books I don’t care to read aloud, yes.  For independent schoolwork, temperament and writing stamina have been the major factors.

[Hunter]

I taught myself to read when I was four by memorizing "Go Dogs Go" and then decoding the words and applying the phonograms to new words.

 

Ella Frances Lynch had children memorize poetry and then learn to read by "reading" the memorized poetry.

 

I think my younger sister learned to read by "reading" hymns that she had already memorized. In the past, the Metrical Scottish Psalter was used as an early reader.

[RootAnn]

I believe that there is something in everyone's brain that has to click before you can read. In some people, it clicks earlier than others. In almost everyone, you have to have the instruction to actually learn to read, but all the instruction in the world won't get you to reading fluently if that brain click hasn't happened, IMO. (I'm a mechanical engineer, not someone who has a clue about brains & such, so take that with a spoonful of salt.)

 

Anyway, I have the same theory about potty training (brain clicking, not that potty training is at all related to reading). The big thing is teaching them everything around the actual subject so that when the brain clicks, everything else is in place.

[Tawlas]

We read aloud a TON in this house. Seriously, add it all up and I'd say I'm reading aloud (for history, for science, for writing, for literature, character, geography etc) for about two hours every day. Plus bedtime stories (Fudgemania! is the current) My two older kids are struggling readers while the six year old is a whiz (what a relief cause for a while there I was thinking it was *me*. I wasn't consistent enough, I didn't get them to practice enough - even though we have worked on reading from MANY different angles every single day for the last three plus years! It's finally starting to pay off, though we're not done yet!)

 

I feel very strongly about reading aloud to kids - any kids, not just struggling readers, though that certainly has added benefits. Along with some pretty intense phonics and instruction to gain skills, I want my kids to *love* reading. LOVE. Reading aloud will expose them to more vocabulary and advanced phonics, but also to truly great stories and new worlds and inspiring, hilarious, fantastic characters that would otherwise be out of their reach. Good books help a kid understand the magic of getting carried away in a book, the *why* for reading.

 

I consider it a huge compliment to my patience and dilligence when all four of my kids will pick up a book - one they can read or one they just enjoy looking at - during odd spare moments during the day. And even the two year old will clamour for "read a book" at the breakfast table :)

 

I

[BlsdMama]

Imo, reading helps with writing, prosody, the rhythm of language. Keep reading! I cannot think of a more important activity, academically speaking.

[kiwik]

I think most teachers can tell whether or not a child has been read to a lot. It is probably not just the reading though.

 

It also shows them that reading is fun and worthwhile.

[merry gardens]

Thanks, ladies. We are doing the McGuffey readers (that are viewable on the Easy Peasy all in one website) for the most part. I do read aloud knowing it's good in general, I was just wondering how it relates to them learning to read since reading aloud is so often mentioned when talking about getting a child to read.

 

Have you ever seen a baby hold a book upside down and eat it? :D People don't just come into the world naturally knowing what to do with books. Reading aloud to a child teaches skills essential for reading many people just take for granted.

 

Reading to a child teaches how books are read front to back--and which side is considered "front" vs. "back".

It helps them learn that reading in our language works top to bottom and left to right.

 

It exposes the child to symbols on paper that are better known as the alphabet. It teaches the concept that symbols somehow connect to words. It demonstrates the larger concept of why we have them work with letters and what eventually comes of working with letters. Many may start to recognize the shape of letters and pattern of words in familiar books.  

 

Many picture books for children teach the basic concept of stories having a beginning, middle and an end. While some picture books for children are just individual vocabulary words, most include phrases, sentences, paragraphs and plots. They start simple and build, preparing a child to understand larger and more complex plots.

 

It inspires them to want to learn how to read!

 

Even once they start learning to read, reading aloud exposes them to material they can comprehend but aren't yet able to read for themselves.

[HomeAgain]

I think it does, more than we can imagine.  When reading to a new reader, I demonstrate chunking techniques, or how to use pronunciation guides (like in the many dinosaur books we have!).  With one who has the basics, that's where the fun begins.  Reading a book is like being absorbed into a play.  We get to act out the story and put meaning to those little parentheses and quotes and italics and rhymes or rhythmic speech. :D  It teaches a child HOW to read. 

[El...]

I think experiencing reading aloud is the bait on the reading hook!  Reading aloud shows a child that there are stories in books, and they can get them out by reading. 

 

I read aloud quite a bit for my little kids, but when Dd had finished her phonics program and was right on the edge of reading, I withdrew her reading aloud time (just by being too busy) for a few weeks, and she quickly became a solid reader out of desire for the stories.  Obviously that won't click so fast for every child, and I was closely watching her reaction, but she was ready to read well. 

[LMCme]

The general teaching, in medical and, from what I understand, educational circles, is that you can gain all of the reading skills except decoding from reading aloud, and that it is very difficult to teach decoding to a child who completely lacks the other reading skills.  Other reading skills would be sequencing, character recognition, cause and effect, sentence structure, vocabulary, etc.  Thus, the push to have parents read aloud to their children until at least 8 years old -- because often when they start to learn to decode at around age 5, the emphasis switches to having them decode as much as possible, and you wind up with the 'fluent reader' who has no idea what they are reading.  Around 3rd and 4th grade, in conventionally schooled children, you start seeing the shift from 'learning to read' to 'reading to learn', and a lot of children suddenly start to struggle if the only thing they have learned is how to decode.

 

Best,

LMC

[J-rap]

Also, different parts of the brain hear language as opposed to speaking it as opposed to reading it as opposed to writing it.  They do all intersect and work together, but they are different skills.  The skill of hearing language -- of really listening to it and comprehending it, as well as learning how to pay attention in the first place in order to do that, is something the brain needs to learn in order for the whole of language to be complete and functioning as it should.

[AppleGreen]

I throughly enjoyed this podcast last year http://amongstlovelythings.com/9. Sarah Mackenzie interviews a college professor, Dr. Catherine Pakaluk, on some of the research on reading aloud. It was quite interesting. 

 

As my nine year old says, "I can sound out the word, but if I have never heard it, it doesn't really make sense." Reading aloud is an integral piece of the learning to read puzzle, IMO. 

 

 

 

 

[Kalmia]

Reading aloud throughout childhood (and beyond) is the best thing in the world for a child.

 

Most definitely take Jim Trelease's book The Read Aloud Handbook out of the library. If they don't have it. PM me your address and I will send one to you. I have FIVE copies!

 

Also watch all of Sara Mackenzie's podcasts. Start with number one and work your way up. Several have religious content which may or may not align with your views, but even if they do not, the read aloud content in them is totally worth wading through the rest. http://amongstlovelythings.com/read-aloud-revival-the-podcast/

 

As for phonics instruction. You should be able to get one of these at your local library:

 

http://www.amazon.com/Writing-Road-Reading-6th-Rev/dp/0062083937/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442447390&sr=8-1&keywords=the+writing+road+to+reading

 

library.http://www.amazon.com/Ordinary-Parents-Guide-Teaching-Reading/dp/0972860312/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1442447329&sr=8-1-fkmr1&keywords=jesse+wise+everyday

 

You may also enjoy watching Denise Eide's (author of The Logic of English) instructional videos on teaching children to read.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[calihil]

I've been teaching my now 6.5 year old to read for over a year now and yes, reading aloud definitely helps. The more you read, the more words they can at least recognize as they try to sound out words for themselves while reading.

[73349]

DS is 7.5 and in second grade. It makes a huge difference, when he encounters a word in print for the first time, whether the word is already familiar.

The two things we do that make more words more familiar are reading aloud to him (generally I do it about 20 times a week; sometimes Jim Weiss does it for me :) ) and having enriching experiences such as field trips.

 

I sometimes read him things I know are above his level even as a read-aloud, but replace a few of the hard words with easy words or simplify a few sentences, so he still gets the flavor without getting lost. For example, I've just started reading him The Forest Unseen. We just do a couple of pages at a time, and it's enough to paint a picture for him (though of course he has also been to forests; we live in the region the author describes).

[Mama Geek]

I have read to my 5 (turned 5 in June) year old since the day she was born.  Last winter I covered a phonics program with her and finished up early this spring.  She is now reading chapter books and reads words which were are more complex and were never directly covered because she is familiar with the words.  There are still a few phonics rules that we have go through now and then, but it has been well worth us reading aloud to her.  She has also picked up tone when reading because we do that when reading to her.  She finished reading aloud Mr Popper's Penguins with a small amount of help a few weeks ago.

[Tsuga]

It is not enough for most children. Most children will need direct phonics instruction. When you read aloud to them, though, you are providing a role model for them. :-)

 

I didn't read aloud to my children hoping it would help them learn to read. I read aloud to them because I thought that the warm fuzzy mother-child time was important, and also because I wanted to be sure they experienced good books that they might not have chosen on their own.

 

Also, I didn't try to get my dc to learn to read. I taught her how to read, and she progressed at her own speed. I chose a good, solid, proven method--Spalding--and I worked with her until she was reading on her own. There was definitely some backing off involved. :-)

 

I agree.

 

In addition, I work with educators around the world. In one area, they did this fascinating thing where they would always say the following before reading a text:

 

"Read along with me in your head."

 

Every time.

 

When I started doing that with my little one, though she would get distracted occasionally, I could see that she was actively trying to read along. She would ask, "Where are you?"

 

DD1 never did that.

 

I don't think reading aloud automatically works, but reading aloud actively and directly instructing the child, every time, to actively try to read along, can be beneficial.

 

I don't think reading aloud -> learning to read. It does help, but it's often not enough.

[dsmith]

I learned to read from being read aloud to by my mom. She always held the book where I could see the words. From what she told me, it just clicked one day and I was reading. My son knew how to read before he went to school from a combination of being read aloud to and various activities. We both learned to read before being introduced to phonics, so we have similar issues with pronunciation at times. I am on howjsay.com all the time, lol. Thankfully, when he was in Montessori school the teachers would bring higher level reading materials for him and a few other kids. When I was in school I had to suffer through Dick and Jane.

[mom31257]

I know my mom read picture books to us when we were little, but I never remember her reading a long, chapter type book aloud. My older sister played school with me every day when she got home from school. When I went to Kindergarten I could already read as well as do quite a bit of math. 

 

Despite never having many books read aloud to me while in elementary school, I was in the top 1% of my class the entire time I was in school. I see the value in the time spent but it's not the only key to success for a student. 

 

 

 

 

[KrissiK]

I'm working at teaching my 6 year old how to read. She struggles. However, one thing about reading aloud is that it increases a child's vocabulary and a child can sound out and understand a word she knows much better than a word she doesn't know. For example c-a-t is easy because most children are familiar with cats. But the word v-i-m, while it is a three letter word as well, may be more difficult because it's not a word that is in a child's working vocabulary.

[pehp]

I think it's essential.  With my son, we plodded through OPGTR for a year or so, very slowly grasping phonics, and suddenly the lightbulb moment occurred and fluency happened literally overnight.  I think the phonics set the foundation, but the reading aloud--many many books, for years--is what really lays down the pathways and turns them into fluent and confident readers (learning issues notwithstanding, of course).  I taught myself how to read at 3 simply by watching the words as my mom read to me.  

[kubiac]

Apparently back in the 1930s they would read the newspaper funny pages aloud on the radio and my uncle taught himself to read by listening to the broadcast and following along in print.

A modern variation on this would be to the Scholastic Video/Weston Woods DVDs from the library and pair them with the books. And back when I was little they had cassette tape recordings where they would say, "turn the page at the sound of the chime." Surely they have similar these days? Maybe just YouTube videos?


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[gstharr]

Start with Cat in the Hat, Read it until you are sick of it, but your child has memorize every word of it.  Then take each word and phonicsize it (e.g. cat. rat , bat , that, mat). My son learned to read within a month after mastering Cat in the hat and this method. btw I made flashcards that phonicsized it.

[Guest]

That's pretty much my question... and forgive me if I sound dumb. Does reading aloud to a child help them learn to read? If anyone is able to explain, I'd be interested. I want to know how and why this works. We do read aloud, I'm just curious.

 

My oldest child is 6 so we haven't been doing official homeschool for that long. He does recognize a few words but isn't exactly reading yet. Getting him to read is probably my number 1 goal in homeschooling right now, because I know that it opens up a whole other world of a child being able to work more independently.

 

Bonus question: if you are trying to get your child to learn to read and they aren't quite grasping it, how do you know if it's that you aren't doing it correctly or enough, or if they're not ready yet and you need to back off?

To the bonus question: i am not a believer in the philosophy that suggests kids learn to read when they are "ready." I believe in systematic phonics instruction, coupled with a large amount of modeling and comprehension, which does come from reading aloud. As SWB said so well in WTM, virtually everyone taught systematic phonics instruction learns to read, including adult learners and ESL students. Teaching the phonetic code need not be difficult or heavy-handed. It is also possible to do it at little or no cost; I used the very cheap, red spiral bound Alpha Phonics book for teaching my first two kids to read, which they learned at ages 3 and 4.

 

I didn't "try to get them" to read, but we worked on learning to read in one way or another every day. Whether it was manipulating magnet letters, running my finger under words in a Bob book, or doing short, intentional lessons in Alpha Phonics, we "played" or worked at learning to read continually until they could read, and then continually worked to build fluency.

 

I also was always a big believer in reading aloud. I still read aloud to my 10-year-old, both non-fiction and fiction. Homeschoolers probably don't find that odd, but I guarantee you non-homeschoolers often do! ("You still read before bed with your fifth grader???")

[HS Mom in NC]

To the bonus question: i am not a believer in the philosophy that suggests kids learn to read when they are "ready." I believe in systematic phonics instruction, coupled with a large amount of modeling and comprehension, which does come from reading aloud.

 

I also was always a big believer in reading aloud. I still read aloud to my 10-year-old, both non-fiction and fiction. Homeschoolers probably don't find that odd, but I guarantee you non-homeschoolers often do! ("You still read before bed with your fifth grader???")

 

We read aloud to ours until they go to college. Yes, people think that's weird because most people don't read much as adults and can't fathom reading aloud adult books and discussing them at length with teens.

 

"When they're ready" a phrase that means different things to different people.  When they're ready should mean something systematic is going on to assess their readiness, but many people use it to mean when their child begs for phonics instruction. My oldest was ready at 4 and learned to read aloud any adult book like an adult by her 5th birthday.  She never needed to practice or repeat anything, she just absorbed it and instantly applied it perfectly.  We knew that wasn't normal. She was clearly ready at 4 because she was able to get reading with it.

 

When my middle daughter was 5 we got out the phonics, did 2-3 weeks of systematic instruction twice a day for 10 minutes.  Not much stuck beyond letter sounds. (We don't teach letter names until they're reading because it's inefficient and can cause reading problems with some children-the whole world is a personalized license plate and they they confuse letter names with letter sounds.) So, we put it away for about 3 months and kept reading aloud to her.  Then we got it back out and did the twice daily lessons and again but not much stuck.  So we kept doing that at 3 month intervals and just before her 8th birthday it clicked and she started being able to take in and apply what we were doing.  By the time she was 11 she could read aloud any book like an adult. So I think there is something to "when they're ready" but I that has to do with an ability that's being systematically tested, not some desire articulated by the child. 

 

The older two have been voracious readers since they learned to read.

 

My youngest was more typical being ready around 6.  She's 10 and doesn't quite read like an adult yet, but that's not far off. She enjoys reading but isn't a kids who will read for several hours a day for pleasure right now like the older two.

 

I think it's very possible to kill a love of reading by hammering tediously away at phonics for YEARS before they're ready when simply waiting a year or two or three would turn it into a much easier, more pleasurable task.  I think new mommies are very susceptible to peer pressure to current trends and schooling out of fretful fear and the first place it shows up with insisting on early phonics without any sort of readiness assessment going on at all.  Do some preschoolers and kindergartners need phonics?  Yes.  But not most of them. Some 6 and 7 years don't either and few mommies (newer or older) are willing to even consider that thought.

[amsunshine]

I also was always a big believer in reading aloud. I still read aloud to my 10-year-old, both non-fiction and fiction. Homeschoolers probably don't find that odd, but I guarantee you non-homeschoolers often do! ("You still read before bed with your fifth grader???")

 

 

Lol!  We still read aloud with my 7th and 8th graders, and intend to continue through high school.  Can't wait for Pride and Prejudice!!

[Mom22ns]

I also was always a big believer in reading aloud. I still read aloud to my 10-year-old, both non-fiction and fiction. Homeschoolers probably don't find that odd, but I guarantee you non-homeschoolers often do! ("You still read before bed with your fifth grader???")

 

My oldest was in public school through 5th grade and we were still reading aloud at home. Certainly not all ps families would find that odd. Of course we continued to read aloud until the kids were in high school and even a lot of homeschool families find that odd. :)

 

To the original question, both of my kids learned to read at very early ages (2 and 3) with no instruction, just by following as I read aloud. I know that isn't the norm and they still received direct phonics instruction in K-1, but they were reading well long before that. I think the lists of benefits from reading aloud already given in this thread are valid, but I also think it actually helps children learn to read.

[LaughingCat]

I think for some kids it does help them learn to read.  DD the younger is a perfect example of that.  She picked up reading 'naturally' from being read to.

 

OTOH, I think there is a school of thought out there a home where reading aloud is prevalent assures that a child will learn to read with just some exposure to phonics.   Personally I think I would have acted a lot sooner to help DD the older (dyslexic) if this school of thought weren't so prevalent in the 'general' learn to read literature/education world.    I know I believed in it from reading things such as The Read Aloud Handbook, and DD's early elementary teachers definitely believed it, as they all assumed that DD's struggles meant I must not be reading aloud to her and just needed to start doing so.

 

My thought now is that if they aren't quite getting it, then looking for a more supportive reading program won't hurt and could really help.    OTH, I definitely agree that "hammering tediously away at phonics" is not useful.    So rather than just switch to another 'popular' reading program, I would suggest looking at threads about struggling readers, especially on the learning challenges board -- you don't need to jump straight to Barton (very popular remedial program on these boards) for a 6 year old but moving to something the 'next step up' in support or that pinpoints their exact  issues can be well worthwhile.

 

[KathyBC]

IMO, 6 is a great age to spend 10-20 minutes a day on targeted phonics, separate from reading aloud. I wouldn't worry about lack of independent reading until 7-8, though as always, trust your gut instinct.

 

And if a child is having difficulty learning to read, reading aloud often cancels completely the potentially accompanying knowledge gap/vocabulary lag.

[Chris in VA]

This is a good article on reading aloud and its effects.

 

It's the single best predictor of reading success.

[kubiac]

Sidebar, a quote from the great New Zealand reading advocate Dorothy Butler, who passed away this week at age 90:

 

"It is my belief that there is no 'parents' aid' which can compare with the book in its capacity to establish and maintain a relationship with a child. Its effects extend far beyond the covers of the actual book, and invade every aspect of life. Parents and children who share books come to share the same frame of reference. Incidents in everyday life constantly remind one or the other--or both, simultaneously--of a situation, a character, an action, from a jointly enjoyed book, with all the generation of warmth and well-being that is attendant upon such sharing."