Teaching Ideas and Units - Teaching Strategies

Reading Aloud

Listening, reading
Bands A,B,C,D

What is it?

The teacher or an experienced reader chooses to read to students

What is its purpose?

• To introduce the pleasures of literature to students.
• To provide a common text for sharing.
• To expose students to texts they might not choose to read on their own
• To increase students' knowledge of vocabulary, characterisation, intonation, pace, pause rhythm and sentence structure.
• To increase students' knowledge of the concepts and conventions of print.

How do I do it?

• Think about what you want the students to know and be able to do because of the strategy.
• Talk to the students about the strategy - why you use it and what you want them to gain from it.
• Decide whether any pre-reading activity would assist
• Rehearse
• Model with your own reading
• Choose a text which flows easily, is challenging and enjoyable to students
• Arrange the class so that they are not distracted

How can I adapt it?

• Reading picture books. This opens up comparing the written and visual aspects.
• Students could choose to read aloud after rehearsing
• Students could read aloud to each other in small groups

How can it be used to evaluate students' learning?

• For speaking and listening during discussion

Where can I find out more?

Murdoch, Kath (1998) Classroom Connections: Strategies for Integrated Learning, Eleanor Curtain, Melbourne.
Hancock J., Leaver C. (1994) Major Teaching Strategies for English, Australian Reading Association, Victoria.
More information about reading aloud is presented in Shared Texts