Reading Aloud by Teachers

Reading aloud by parents and other in-home caregivers (Bus, Ijzendoorn, & Pelligrini, 1995; Fox, 2001; Trelease, 2001) and by teachers (Anderson, Hiebert, Scott, & Wilkinson, 1985; Barton & Booth, 1990; Blok, 1999; Elley, 1998) is a well-known practice for enhancing literacy. Many benefits have been proposed for reading aloud to students. Some of these are discussed below. Furthermore, the sole role of reading aloud is not as the predecessor to silent reading. Indeed, teachers of upper primary, intermediate, and secondary school students who are already reading on their own also find reading aloud to be a useful practice (Jacobs & Loh, 2001; Trelease, 2001).

Benefits of reading aloud

The list below contains some of the purported benefits of reading aloud divided into two groups: benefits for students who are learning to read and benefits for all students.