How is Comprehension Affected When Reading Aloud Versus Reading Silently?

Abstract

The purpose of this research project was to examine how students comprehend reading best. There are advocates for both reading aloud and reading silently, therefore this project was purposeful to find out which seems to be the most effective for comprehension alone. The objective of this project was to determine if reading silently or reading aloud is more beneficial in terms of aiding comprehension. Comprehension is a vital component to reading. It is the underlying goal in all areas of reading development. This study helped to determine how comprehension is gained more effectively. My goal for my research was to reveal which reading style is more helpful in terms of creating meaning for my students. This will provide educators with research that supports the more beneficial form of reading to use with their students. This project was conducted in a fourth grade classroom. There are sixteen students in the classroom, seven males and nine females. For my research, I worked towards determining which reading style is more effective in terms of comprehension. I used the QRI to compare students' comprehension scores between reading aloud and reading silently. The methods used to determine whether reading silently or reading aloud was more beneficial in terms of comprehension,. was to have fourth grade students read in these two different ways, and to assess students' comprehension after each reading. The data for comprehension while reading aloud was then compared to that of reading silently. Through my research I was able to determine that reading aloud is beneficial in terms of comprehension. When looking at all the data that was collected as a whole, it is apparent that, when there were differences in the percentages, reading aloud was more effective in terms of comprehension; as seen especially in the retelling, explicit questions, and overall questions. The results that I found from the data that I collected were actually quite surprising to me. I expected to find more favorable results when students read silently, but this research proves that this is not always the case. Reading aloud has proven advantages.