Reading Aloud by the Elementary School Teacher

Abstract

This study was designed to investigate the read aloud practices of elementary school teachers. It also examined those practices in regards to the differences exhibited among the different grade levels. Seventy-six teachers responded to the questionnaire developed by the researcher. The responses of the returned questionnaires were tallied and recorded according to the frequency and similarity of responses. A descriptive analysis was then made of the responses according to the two questions posed by the researcher. The findings of this study revealed that many teachers are reading aloud to their students on a regular basis. Many purposes were mentioned, but the majority of teachers read aloud for enjoyment. Most of the teachers selected a wide variety of literature to read to their students. Many activities accompanied the read aloud sessions. The most popular were to hold book discussions and assign art and writing projects. Almost all of the teachers reported that their students enjoyed listening to stories and many of the children would select books that the teacher had previously read to the class. Implications for future research included examining the read aloud practices of middle and high school teachers and addressing the role of the parents in reading aloud in the home environment.