Interactive+Read-Alouds

Fisher, D., Flood, J., Lapp, D., & Frey, N. (2004). Interactive read-alouds: Is there a common set of implementation practices? //The Reading Teacher, 58//(1), 8-17. Retrieved June 21, 2009 from Academic Search Complete.


 * Quotes || Reaction ||
 * 1. "While most educators agree that teachers should read aloud to their students on a regular basis, the specifics of how to conduct the read-aloud are less clear. The vast majority of the studies available on teacher read-alouds (e.g., Bintz, 1993; Elley, 1992; Ouellette, Dagostina,, & Carifio, 1999) report only the outcomes of read-alouds." (p. 8)

2. "Many teachers have demonstrated that read-alouds are an effective way to introduce students to the joy of reading and the art of listening (Morrow, 2003) while developing their vocabularies, experiential backgrounds, and concepts of print and story. Through a read-aloud, teachers can model reading strategies and demonstrate the ways in which the language of the book is different from spoken language (Hedrick & Pearish, 2003)." (p. 8-9) 

3. "We decided to study the read-aloud practices of teachers who enjoyed the reputation of being exceptional models of read-aloud instruction and whose students consistently performed at or above the school norms on reading achievement. We decided that once we had identified the procedures of these 'experts' as they conducted a read-aloud, we would next observe additional teachers to see if the procedures were used widely." (p. 9)

4. Data from the experts enabled us to identify seven components of an effective interactive read-aloud. All of the expert teachers included each of the following components during their read-alouds: (1) Books chosen were appropriate to students' interests and matched to their developmental, emotional, and social levels. (2) Selections had been previewed and practiced by the teacher. (3) A clear purpose for the read-aloud was established. (4) Teachers modeled fluent oral reading when they read the text. (5) Teachers were animated and used expression. (6) Teachers stopped periodically and thoughtfully questioned the students to focus them on specifics of the text. (7) Connections were made to independent reading and writing. (p.10-13) 

5. "The two populations differed on prior practice of the selected text and the connecting of the read-aloud to other classroom events. Because of lack of practice many of the teachers struggled with fluent reading. They also did not assign appropriate independent literacy activities to introduce or extend the focus of the selected text." (p. 15)  6. "Because reading for enjoyment is a significant reason for read-alouds, students need to be told often that one of the purposes of reading or being read to is enjoyment." (p. 15) || 1. More attention seems to have been given to this topic in recent years. I found several articles about how to conduct read-alouds. Although many of the articles contained similar characteristics, no two articles propose the same method for conducting read-alouds.

3. The methodology of this study is interesting to me since it is so different from the other studies I located.

4. These seven components provide a template for teachers planning effective read-alouds.

5. The "non-expert" teachers were weak in the area of prior practice. I wonder if this is related to teachers making poor book choices. These teachers also did not extend the read-alouds, possibly because many teachers use the read-aloud as a filler activity rather than to teach reading skills. ||  Tags: read-aloud, research lite, reasons for reading aloud , reading aloud effectively