Huntsville Public Library

Reading aloud to children is a winning strategy when it comes to the making of readers.

We need to remember that reading is an acquired skill and like any skill requires practice to achieve proficiency. Beginners at any skill level are likely to repeat the activity necessary to the learning process if they can be successful and derive pleasure from participation.

Listening to stories read aloud puts the non-reader or the beginning reader in a risk-free environment where it is impossible to fail or feel incompetent. The experience can become one of pure enjoyment.

The pleasure leads to a desire for repetition. The pleasure also leads to a desire for increased participation. A child who is read to wants to get involved, and getting involved means learning to recognize letters and words, phrases and sentences and the shape of the narrative — beginnings and endings, cause and effect, plot, setting and characters. Regular story times mean regular practice, a learning experience with no negative implications and so many positives.

Reading aloud is not an activity that should stop when children begin to read on their own. Reading intelligently must include not just the mechanics of following and comprehending the meaning of words on the page, but also the process of understanding and evaluating the message of the narrative.

The next step is the ability to translate this opinion into speech or written communication. How better to learn these additional skills than by continuing the story times, adding more discussion and interaction to the read aloud experience? With gentle prompting and wise guidance from the participating adult, the child will come to discover more and more about the pleasurable complexities of books and reading, develop habits of discernment and rhetoric, and an appreciation for imagination.

In spite of the many and varied solutions offered to address the problems of literacy, studies have shown that reading aloud to children on a daily basis, from an early age, improves the child’s independent reading skills and motivation and is the simplest, least expensive way to foster in children a lifetime love of books and reading.

Visit the library today and discover the wealth of books suitable for reading aloud.