It sighed and sagged and the doors swung open.”Īs a child goes about her day at school and at home, she’s unlikely to hear another person speaking to her with words such as “creaked” and “sagged.” She’s also not likely to hear an extended metaphor of a bus sounding like a tired, old person, who “sighed and sagged.” “The bus creaked to a stop in front of them. Though there are few words on each page and the main audience is young elementary students, we hear words and turns of phrase that are uncommon in everyday speech, as in, For instance, even simple children’s books often use more sophisticated words than typical conversations among college-educated adults.Ĭonsider the sweet, simple text of The Last Stop on Market Street, by Matt de la Peña, which won the Newbery Medal. Researchers have revealed how written language surpasses speech in building oral language skills (which build reading comprehension). The nonfiction book teaches concepts and vocabulary in its respective field of, say, science, history, or culture. The more children are read to, the more their oral language expands: The fiction book utilizes words that are rare in everyday speech. However, when we read aloud to children, we pass along a rich “database” of oral language. If an author alludes to the Civil War, but the child has never heard of the Civil War, then that child’s comprehension of the text is likely to suffer. Similarly, children’s limited experience with the world hinders their reading comprehension. For instance, I’m generally a “good reader,” but my reading comprehension of a mechanical engineering text would be pretty poor because I know so little about that entire domain. We need to know the words, ideas, and concepts that an author refers to in order to comprehend her text well. Oral language is the backbone of reading achievement. This reading achievement goal is important to consider as reading achievement relates to almost every aspect of school success–and beyond. Let’s dive a little deeper into the why’s and how’s of the read-aloud’s impact on reading achievement. īold claims like that from researchers may surprise you, like Roger. Reading Aloud Builds Reading Achievement and Much MoreĪs I noted in last week’s first post in this month’s series in honor of National Literacy Month, reading aloud–has been called the “single most important activity for building the knowledge required for eventual for success in reading” (from a national report, Becoming a Nation of Readers ). If Roger knew the power of the read aloud on achievement, these doubts would likely disappear. Should he sacrifice any of their quality time on “just reading aloud” while Zion also needs support with schoolwork, for instance? While Roger has a general sense that reading together would be fun, he fears that he should be more proactive with his limited mentor-hour time. Would Zion get as carried away with stories and information about the world as he does? Tom Clancy, Harlan Coben, Lee Child, The Wall Street Journal, and many others are pleasant companions of his through life.Īs a Kids Hope Mentor, Roger wonders about reading aloud to his mentee, Zion.
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