Peyton Wynn

ECE 4300
Fite

Research Article Report
Interactive Read-Alouds An Avenue for Enhancing Childrens Language for
Thinking and Understanding: A Review of Recent Research

It has been well established through research that language development in early
childhood is crucial for later academic success and literacy. Language is necessary in
order for children to express themselves and understand and communicate with those
around them. Language and literacy affects nearly every part of life and without adequate
language acquisition, success later in life can be difficult if not impossible. The
development of the foundation of language and literacy skills begins in early childhood,
and effective instruction of preschool aged children is crucial to acquiring these skills.
Literacy instruction, if implemented effectively, has the potential to improve reading
outcomes and language acquisition for all children.
One of the methods that has proven to be effective for preschool children is
interactive read-alouds. However there are many factors that combine to determine the
effectiveness of the interactive read-aloud method in language acquisition. The aspects of
read-alouds that are most crucial to childrens understanding are improving pedagogical
knowledge, book choices, the quality of interactions involving stories, and developing
inferential language skills and vocabulary. With increased pressure to lessen the
achievement gap and improve childrens literacy, instruction has come to focus primarily
on phonics and alphabet knowledge. While these skills are important to learn early on,
narrow focus on these skills detracts from instruction in other areas of literacy that may
be more effective in the long run. Alphabetic awareness and phonological skills are
constrained skills that may be mastered in a limited time frame, while unconstrained
skills such as comprehension and inferential language continue to develop diversely
throughout life.
Using interactive read-alouds to engage young children in stories has been shown
to help them develop their unconstrained literacy skills. During interactive read alouds,
children share ideas and perspectives and are encouraged to think about the story from
different points of view. By expanding upon the story using both the teachers and
students ideas has shown to improve literacy skills and academic achievement.
Interactive read-alouds not only support basic language knowledge, but also help students
to understand larger concepts and delve deeper into the story than just understanding
letters and phonics.
Although there is extensive evidence that read-alouds are effective, and while
they are widely used throughout early childhood instruction, the quality of read-alouds
and their effectiveness in language acquisition varies from one instructor to the next.
There are many key aspects that may be overlooked during read-alouds. In order for read
alouds to truly have their intended impact, teachers must have a clear understanding of
teaching and learning, or pedagogical knowledge. Effective teachers are familiar with
their curriculum and its content, as well as knowing what is most crucial for students to
understand and what strategies they can use to help students reach the necessary
conclusion and gain the skills they need from the lesson. The teachers choice of book is
also important to developing literacy skills. The classroom should contain a vast selection
of quality literature that spans many different genres, in order to expose children to as
many different learning opportunities as possible. This variety should also be maintained
during read-alouds. Most teachers tend to choose narrative stories for read-alouds,
foregoing informational or poetry books. This limits childrens exposure to different
types of books, as they tend to choose similar books to read independently as what they
have heard teachers read. One of the most important aspects of read-alouds is the teachers
ability to draw the students into a discussion of the story, as it strengthens their
conceptual and linguistic knowledge, as well as expanding their vocabulary and helping
them to develop a true understanding for the story and its meaning by looking at it from
different perspectives and discussing it in a more in depth way. In conclusion, research
has made it abundantly clear that early childhood is a crucial time for language
acquisition, and when properly implemented, interactive read-alouds are an effective way
for instructors to facilitate growth of language development. It is important to consider all
of the aspects which make a read-aloud more affective in the classroom, and to be aware
of the skills you are looking to develop with these methods.


Lennox, S. (2013). Interactive Read-Alouds-An Avenue for Enhancing Children's
Language for Thinking and Understanding: A Review of Recent Research. Early
Childhood Education Journal, 41(5), 381-389.