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Effects of Interactive Read-Alouds on Reading Comprehension

Annie Kissinger

EDU 344: Teaching Reading

Franciscan University of Steubenville

Dr. Poyo

November 18, 2020

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Effects of Interactive Read-Alouds on Reading Comprehension

All children come from different backgrounds, walks of life and academic levels. As

educators, we must make it a priority to meet the diverse needs of our students (Reutzel &

Cooter, 2019). Fostering a healthy classroom environment that allows for creativity, engagement,

and discussion can help students feel confident, comfortable and ready to learn. Just the same,

learning activities should be created to foster engagement, discussion and creativity as well. In

particular, activities that promote literacy are extremely beneficial to the student. Learning to

read is the foundation from which all other learning can occur. It is the job of the teacher to lay

down that foundation, so that learning all other subjects can build upon it. In order to teach

literacy, teachers must use evidence based reading practices and strategies that are shown to

promote reading skills. While learning to read is essential, comprehending and understanding a

story is equally as important in achieving academic success. As students advance through each

grade, and learn new literacy skills, progression can differ. Due to socioeconomic statuses and

differences in cultural backgrounds, students vary in their acquisition of literacy skills. In order

to combat these issues, teachers must start introducing effective reading strategies as early as

possible.

One reading strategy in particular that promotes literacy and reading comprehension is

read-alouds. Read-alouds are sessions during which a teacher, parent, or other advanced reader

reads aloud from a book or other text to one or more students (Wright, 2015). Read-alouds that

are interactive allow for whole-group instruction in which the teacher reads aloud a selected text

to the whole class. Throughout the reading, the teacher occasionally pauses for dialogue.

Students think about, discuss, and respond to the text as a whole group and/or individually. Both
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the reader and listeners actively process and comprehend the language, ideas, and meaning of the

text.

Purpose

Many teachers strive to create interactive learning experiences for emergent readers.

Reading comprehension is an essential learning skill that teachers heavily focus on when

teaching. Throughout this action research project, I examined the effects of interactive

read-alouds on the student. Through this research, I aim to answer the question, “How do

interactive read-alouds affect reading comprehension for students?”

I am currently taking Teaching Reading at Franciscan University of Steubenville. In this

class, we are learning about the physiological, psychological, and sociological theories

underlying the development of reading proficiency and the understanding of the complex nature

of reading and writing. This course also places an emphasis on the foundations of reading

development, the development of reading comprehension, assessment and instruction, and the

integration of knowledge and understanding. As I prepared for this action research project and

reviewed my literature, I hypothesized that interactive read-alouds have a direct influence on

reading comprehension for students.

Review of Literature

My first literature review studied how effective read-alouds were in the classroom.

The article outlines a need for educators everywhere to create interactive learning opportunities

for emergent readers​.​ (Wiseman, 2011). Read-alouds are one of the many different reading

strategies that facilitate rich interaction among students in the classroom. Wiseman (2011)

conducted an ethnographic study in an urban kindergarten to collect data on the effectiveness of

read-alouds. The class consisted of 21 children, all African American in a major metropolitan
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city. Ms. Milner, the teacher, had been teaching for 10 years and was using a balanced literacy

approach for teaching reading. The read-alouds consisted of mostly multicultural literacy. The

findings reflected that read-alouds provided opportunities for students to work on open-ended

responses combined with specific reading instruction. Through the collaborative discussions and

interaction among the students, children were able to respond to literature in a way that furthers

their knowledge. The more interactive read-alouds are the more teachers can build on

comprehension, critical thinking, and fluency skills within the classroom​.

The author of this article did a great job at giving the reader a clear picture as to how

interactive learning opportunities offer students a chance to become emergent readers. In the first

part of the article, Wiseman gives us a description of the classroom, the research methods, and a

description of interactive read-alouds. In the second part, she discusses the important aspects of

teacher’s discussing with the students the text to create more interaction. The methodology used

in the article was easy to follow and well structured. The reader can more easily see the bigger

picture discussed throughout the study through this organization. This article is relevant to my

action research project as I am looking into the effects of interactive read-alouds on student

comprehension. The data collected reflects my claim nicely as there is an obvious correlation

between reading comprehension and interactive learning opportunities for students in the

classroom. While the author does not suggest any guiding questions to use during a read-alouds,

for future research I would like to learn more about what questions are more effective to use than

others.

My second literature review emphasizes the power of interactive read-alouds. Reutzel

and Cooter (2019) stress how learning to read is one of the most essential skills a child can learn

in school​. ​Wright (2018) emphasized that successful and engaged readers comprehend, learn
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from and enjoy what they read. Comprehension is more than just reading the words on the page.

The ability to use background knowledge and vocabulary to make sense of the text is vital in the

reading process. The purpose of Wright’s article is to emphasize the power of interactive

read-alouds in the elementary classrooms. Read-alouds should be interactive, meaning teachers

and students are actively involved in discussing and thinking about the text. They should also be

purposeful and planned, meaning the teacher selected appropriate text that supports student

learning. Lastly, read-alouds should be used daily in all content areas in the classroom. Wright

brings to light that certain studies have shown the neglect in instruction for Pre-K and elementary

classrooms. In the researchers' study, he​ ​observed 55 kindergarten classrooms for a total of 600

hours. Her findings showed that kindergarten teachers spent, on average, only 8.36 minutes

engaged in read-alouds with students. The goal of teachers everywhere should be to build on

children’s knowledge across a range of domains. Reading aloud to students can bring new ideas

to students in the classroom and support content-area learning goals.

While students are learning to decode more fluently, teachers can use read-alouds to

promote vocabulary development. Teachers are able to explain new vocabulary, through

child-friendly descriptions, pictures and actions, to students in a way that reading by themselves

would not do. Children begin to actively process new words that in turn helps with their

decoding and reading fluency skills. Also, read-alouds offer students an opportunity to learn

more about concepts of print. Through this understanding of the use and function of texts,

students can become more independent readers. Lastly, this article emphasizes how read-alouds

help teach students a large range of skills and strategies that prepare them to become more

independent in their reading. The foundational skills like phonological awareness, letter
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recognition and knowledge of letter-sound relationships are supported within this type of

reading.

Wright was able to perfectly summarize the importance of interactive read-alouds in the

classroom. The study she conducted was well thought out as it emphasized how read-alouds are

so often neglected in elementary classrooms today. While she only mentioned comprehension

briefly, this article is relevant to my final project. While reading comprehension is one of the

many benefits of this type of reading in the classroom, it is not the only one. Educators

everywhere can benefit from this article as it highlights that interactive read-alouds can improve

students' understanding of concepts of print, promote vocabulary development, and teaches

students a wide range of reading skills and strategies. After reading this article, I am more

confident in my ability to efficiently express what makes read-alouds effective in the classroom.

This expression will not only add more depth to my claim in my final paper, but also support my

reasoning for this type of reading in the classroom.

My third literature review studied how effective picture books were in read-alouds.

Picture books, with their rich illustrations and text, in all genres may support learning for all

ages. Braid and Finch (2015) emphasized this support being used in read-alouds. Through the

implementation of read alouds, a child’s depth of thinking and understanding are increased.

Teachers should make it a priority to provide picture books of all genres. Not only are they

eye-catching for children, but they promote critical thinking. Braid and Finch conducted a study

that analyzed the responses of nine and ten-year-old students during a picture book read-aloud in

their classroom. The read aloud took place in a small group setting in New Zealand. The nine

and ten-year-old students were encouraged to respond to the text and to each other. Braid and

Finch created an adapted analysis framework that analyzed the student’s responses during the
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read aloud. This framework is similar to Lawrence Sipe’s, but added on to the five categories of

literacy understanding in that it placed a greater emphasis on a finer analysis of the children’s

responses. The purpose of this study was to investigate the use of picture books in promoting

children’s thinking and understanding and highlight how teachers can guide effective and fruitful

discussions. Picture books were used in this study due to the many opportunities the features of

these books offered. The researchers implemented the read alouds in order to show more

accurate data and results on the students’ responses. The researchers had the students respond

and discuss throughout the read-aloud, not just at the end. The findings of this study showed that

when an interactive read aloud approach in small group settings is combined with selected

picture books, children were able to understand the text more in turn increasing their reading

comprehension skills. When the read aloud was interactive, meaning there were discussions and

engagement opportunities, children were able to construct meaning from the text.

Braid and Finch efficiently conducted this study as the results were clear and pointed

towards the effectiveness of interactive read alouds with picture books. Using the response

analysis framework, the researchers were able to look at the data and group it into levels. This in

turn helped make a stronger argument for the effectiveness of picture book read alouds.

Although it was a bit difficult to follow the analysis framework, the different graphs, charts and

tables were able to highlight this framework in a way I better understood. Despite how my action

research topic emphasizes all types of books used for interactive read-alouds and this article

specifically discusses picture books read alouds, the data from this study is still useful for my

research. Picture books can be used for all different genres of text and still be engaging and

eye-catching for young children​. ​For future research, I would like to see if there is a difference in

read-alouds with books of different genres in terms of reading comprehension. It would be

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interesting to see if students are engaged in interactive read-alouds of picture books versus small

chapter books.

My fourth literature review emphasized the need for pre-service educators to receive

training on how to implement read-alouds and other reading strategies. The author emphasized

that the effectiveness of read-alouds is greatly enhanced by the expression of the teacher.

Reading with expression is an area many pre-service teachers and teachers struggle with. With

the right instruction and support, they can be better prepared for the classroom. Kerry-Moran

(2016) highlights strategies taken from the field that educators may use to work on the

expressive quality of the teacher read-alouds. Not only do effective read alouds enhance reading

comprehension, but also they encourage a love of books and more independent reading. The read

alouds strategy suggestions are structured for student success. The purpose of this study is to

provide educators and pre-service teachers strategies that foster effective expressive reading in

read-alouds in the classroom. When encouraging preservice educators to read aloud with

expression, expectations must be clear and concise. Some of these expectations are highlighted

in table one of the article. For example, all words spoken must be clear and easily understood,

pitch and volume are varied so that a range of high, mid, and low tones are used to emphasize

actions or characters, no monotone at all, pauses are varied appropriately, etc. The components

of expression can be easily understood through tables and rubrics. When implementing

read-alouds in the classroom, teachers must also choose books of all genres. When selecting

material, educators should consider the quality of the literature, how and if the text can connect

to the curriculum, the interests of the students and the development level of the children. When

speaking, teachers should make an effort to use contrast to increase vocal variety. This is the

most common mistake of preservice teachers. These mistakes consist of dropping the ends of
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sentences repeatedly in a story which in turn fails to gain the interest of most students. By

breathing better when speaking, improving enunciation through exercising the muscles of the

face, tongue and mouth, manipulating pitch and tone, and changing pace and using pauses,

preservice teachers can make read-alouds that much more impactful to the students. Teachers

also need to consider the visual elements of read-alouds, not just the text. As children listen and

respond to read-alouds, their eyes and ears are involved. By paying attention to illustrations and

text clues, and using appropriate facial expressions, pre-service educators can give students

enough time to take in the illustrations while still hearing the words read aloud. To better prepare

themselves for the classroom, preservice educators should seek out opportunities to read-aloud in

their community. They should also practice shadow reading the expressive reading of others.

There are different audio books students can find to practice this.

This article effectively outlined different expressive strategies and practices preservice

educators can work on to better read aloud to their students. In order for students to create

meaning and comprehend the text, the read-aloud must be implemented in a way that interacts

with the student and engages them through expression. This article is relevant to my project in

that I am researching the benefits of effective interactive read-alouds. To better explain my topic

in my research, I need to be able to define what an effective read-aloud consists of. This article

paints a picture of what expressive reading is and how it affects the engagement of students​.​ For

future research, I would like to look into guiding questions teachers can use throughout

read-alouds to better open up for discussion and comprehension among students.

My fifth literature review studied the moves teachers make as they create spaces for

dialogue during read-alouds. Reading aloud to students is a consistently recommended practice

for elementary language arts classrooms to promote students' understanding and engagement
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with text, motivation to read, and development of reading processes (Chamberlain, Peterson,

Sharp, Shih, Worthy, 2012). The authors discussed how there is not much research on the moves

made by teachers as they create dialogue during read-alouds. In typical classrooms, time and

space for open-ended dialogue/discussions are rare in regards to literature. When students and

teachers are able to have dialogue during read-alouds, there is a common purpose, not a set

agenda like most discussions do. Dialogue allows space for all voices to be heard, and

individuals to work together towards sharing a common content. What makes a read-aloud more

interactive and fruitful for students is asking higher-level questions to create purposeful talk.

This type of talk allows for active meaning construction, reflection and inquiry. Students should

feel a part of their own learning and acquisition of knowledge, rather than being passive

receivers.

Worthy, Consalvo, Russell, and Bogard (2011) conducted an ethnographic study of Mae

Graham’s second-grade literacy workshop classroom. The purpose of this study was to address

the gap in research through an in-depth analysis of read-aloud discussions. The research question

was , “In what ways does Mae, the second grade teacher, facilitate open-ended dialogue about

literature? What kind of talk took place among the students during open-ended dialogue about

literature? The researchers observed in the classroom and analyzed read-aloud discussions from

Mae's classroom. It was noted that the classroom environment fostered engagement and

student-initiated talk during open-ended read-aloud discussions. The researchers observed a total

of 38 language arts periods (110 minutes in length) in the classroom; 30 of these observations

were videotaped, and 18 of those were used for the study. Mae’s moves that fostered open-ended

dialogue created personalized spaces for all the students to participate and increased the sharing

of ideas and emotions among the students. Some of the positive moves Mae used to foster
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dialogue were creating instances where moral dilemmas were posed for students to respond to,

using prior knowledge of students to construct spaces for all to participate, and fostering critical

responses to events. Mae was able to efficiently create a community of respectful and supportive

listening and conversation. The authors believe this research shows the power of read-aloud and

dialogue in providing spaces for students to use language meaningfully; listen actively, and

develop and share their ideas, opinions and feelings.

The authors of this article dived into an important aspect of read-alouds; how important

interactive experiences that foster dialogue are. The claim that interactive read-alouds create

spaces for meaningful learning and comprehension is supported heavily through this in-depth

research. Though there wasn’t research on reading comprehension results, the findings showed

that students were more engaged and thinking more deeply. This article is relevant to my action

research in that it supports my claim that the more interactive the read-aloud, the more engaged

students. When a teacher that uses prior knowledge of their students, more spaces can be created

for interaction during read-alouds. The more engaged students are, the more they are able to

comprehend. In terms of gaining more information on this topic, I would like to research more

about correct phrasing of open-ended questions, or questions that are useful in open-ended

discussions that foster this kind of engagement.

My final literature review discusses the short term and long term effects of read-alouds.

While reading aloud to children has thought to be a useful tool that fosters language

development, improves reading behavior and increases reading comprehension scores in

elementary school, research varies as to how effective reading aloud to children can be in terms

of short term and long term effects. Klein and Kogan (2013) hypothesized that there is a positive

short and long-term effect of a high frequency of reading aloud in early childhood classrooms on
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the language development of children. They argue that reading aloud has a positive effect on the

vocabulary knowledge of young individuals at the beginning (hypothesis 1) and at the end of

kindergarten (hypothesis 2). They also argue that reading aloud to students creates long-term

effects on reading comprehension at the end of primary (hypothesis 3) and secondary school

(hypothesis 4) (Klein & Kogan, 2013). The authors findings were based on two datasets. For

hypothesis 1 and 2, the findings stemmed from the research project “Preschool Education and

Educational Careers among Migrant Children”. In this study, German and Turkish families, with

kindergarten aged students from 30 cities of a local region in South-West Germany, were

interviewed. After a computer-assisted personal interview (CAPI) with the parents, the German

version of the psychological developmental test “Kaufman-Assessment Battery for Children”

(K-ABC) was conducted with the kindergarten aged children. The children were tested in two

waves, one at the beginning of the year and the other at the end of kindergarten. In total, 1,083

families were studied. The study, regarding hypothesis 3 and 4, analyzed students at the end of

primary or secondary school. The researchers used data from the German part of the project

“Young Immigrants in the German and Israeli Educational Systems”, where children and parents

were interviewed. The families were from the same region in South-West Germany as the

kindergarten families were. Many of the interviews (57 %) were conducted at the homes of the

families. The remaining interviews with the students were conducted in school, where students

also took a standardized reading comprehension test (LAU 5/LAU 9). In total, 465 families were

studied.

Their findings showed advantages in vocabulary knowledge that children gain from a

high frequency of reading aloud from the beginning of kindergarten to the beginning of primary

school. Advantages in reading comprehension for children who were read to frequently in their
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early childhood were present at the end of primary school. However, these positive effects did

not show in the results for the end of secondary school.

The authors of this article did a great job at researching all the different grade levels and

the effect of read-alouds. With a vast amount of families and students, the research was able to

efficiently support their claim. The methodology was hard to follow as there was a lot of data

collected for many different hypotheses. I was able to narrow down 4 out of the 8 hypotheses as

they relate to my action research topic. The first four hypotheses relate to my topic as I am

looking into the effects of reading aloud to students in elementary school in regards to reading

comprehension. The tests used in the study and interviews painted a clear picture of the

relationship among comprehension and reading aloud. I also gained valuable insight on how read

alouds are just as important at home as in the classroom. In regards to further research, I would

like to look into what types of literature were used during the read alouds.

Methodology

To begin my research, I applied the knowledge I gained in my Teaching Reading class

and my literature reviews to evaluate how educators view the effectiveness of read-alouds. Due

to COVID-19, my classmates and I were unable to go into the field to obtain data for our action

research projects. During this pandemic, many schools have resulted in online learning to avoid

the spread of the disease, so it posed a problem for us going into actual classrooms. As a result, I

created survey questions on google forms regarding interactive read-alouds and their effect on

reading comprehension. I sent out the survey to teachers from my elementary school St. John

Academy in Virginia and educators from Franciscan University. I specified that I wanted only

early childhood educators to fill out the survey. 5 educators, ranging from Kindergarten to fifth

grade, completed my survey. The survey questions I created were “what grade level do you
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teach”, “what are the characteristics of interactive read-alouds”, “have you received training on

how to implement read-alouds”, “how often do you implement read-alouds in the classroom”,

“do you think read-alouds affect student reading comprehension”, “rating the effectiveness of

read-alouds in each grade level”, and “ are students are more engaged during your read-alouds.

Findings

Despite my many attempts in finding educators to fill out my survey, I unfortunately was

only able to get 5 responses. Regardless, the conclusion I came to is still the same. The

anonymous responses supported my initial claim that read-alouds directly affect reading

comprehension. While the 5 responses ranged in grade level, 1 Kindergarten teacher, 1 first

grade teacher, 1 second grade teacher, 2 third grade teachers, 2 fourth grade teachers and 1 fifth

grade teacher, they all believed that talking about the pictures on each page and reading with

proper, pitch, tone and enthusiasm were characteristics of interactive read-alouds. Two educators

even went on to say that asking students engaging questions about the text, and opening up for

discussion are important characteristics too. When asked if they had ever received training on

how to implement read-alouds, 4 educators did, while 1 did not.

When asked how often they implement read-alouds, the educators answer varied. Some

of the teacher said they implemented them sometimes, and the others implemented them

frequently. This data suggests that while teachers know the importance of read-alouds, there

might not be enough time in a school day to implement it daily. While all the educators believed

that read-alouds directly affect student comprehension and that their students are more engaged

during read-alouds, their explanations varied. One educator noted that “modeling comprehension

strategies shows students how to put these practices into action,” while another said that,

“read-alouds allow for interactive discussions with the text and images. Students engagement
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levels go up when they are part of the discussion.” When asked of the effectiveness of

read-alouds in each grade level, there was a bit of a difference in responses. All the anonymous

responses believed read-alouds to be very effective in grades Pre-K-4th, but in 5th and 6th the

answers varied. Two educators believed that read-alouds are somewhat effective in sixth grade,

and 1 believed read-alouds to be somewhat effective in fifth grade.

Figure 1

Did You Ever Receive Training on How to Implement Read-Alouds in the Classroom?

Figure 2

Please check all the boxes that are characteristics of interactive read-alouds.

 
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Figure 3

Are there any other characteristics that make read-alouds interactive that I didn't list above? If

not, please put N/A.

Figure 4

On a Scale of 1-4, How Often Do You Implement Read-Alouds in the Classroom? (1=rarely,

2=sometimes, 3=frequently, 4=daily)

Figure 5

During Read-Alouds, Do You Find That Students Are More Engaged?

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Figure 6

Rate the effectiveness of read-alouds in each grade level.

Figure 7

Do you find that read-alouds directly affect your students' comprehension?

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Recommendations

Based on the data I collected from my survey, along with the literature reviews, I am able

to conclude that interactive read-alouds directly affect reading comprehension for students.

While I wasn’t able to collect data from a classroom myself, the conducted studies I researched

showed a direct correlation. All of the data I collected from my survey, and the data collected in

the literature reviews proved that read-alouds are effective reading strategies that promote

reading comprehension in grades Pre-kindergarten through 5th grade. While only some of the

data from my literature reviews suggested read-alouds are only effective throughout elementary

school, I am unable to conclude the direct influence read-alouds have on comprehension in

grades after 5th. From this action research project, I am able to see several paths for future

research about this topic.

There were many limitations to my action research study. The COVID-19 pandemic has

stressed the importance of social distancing and mask wearing, so I was unable to go into the

classroom to obtain data myself to back up my hypothesis. Also, despite my attempts to send my

survey to many different elementary educators, I did not receive many responses. Though my

responses supported my claim, it was not enough data to effectively support my research

question.

Throughout this study and the information I collected from various articles, I have

become more aware of multiple paths for future research. I would like to examine and collect

data myself in a classroom on the effectiveness of read-alouds. Through my research, I have

discovered “moves” teachers make during interactive read-alouds that affect comprehension.

Being able to learn about these moves will allow me to better implement read-alouds in my

future classroom. Also, many of the articles suggested other effects read-alouds have on students.
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In future research, I would like to conduct a study to see how fluency, word recognition,

language skills, expressive reading skills in students are affected by interactive read-alouds.

Furthermore, I would like to see how impactful read-alouds are for students beyond fifth grade.

While there was not much research on this topic, I find it intriguing and would like to see just

how effective read alouds are for every grade level.

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References

Braid, C., & Finch, B. (2015). Ah, I know why...: Children developing understandings

through engaging with a picture book. ​Literacy,​ ​49​(3), 115-122.

Kerry-Moran, K.J. (2016). Improving preservice teachers’ expression in read-alouds. ​Early

Childhood Education Journal​ 44, 661–670 (2016).

Klein, O. & Kogan, I. (2013). Does reading to children enhance their educational success? Short-

and long-term effects of reading to children in early childhood on their language abilities,

reading behavior and school marks. Child Indicators Research, 6(2), 321-344​.

Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R. B. (2019). Teaching children to read: The teacher makes the

difference (8th ed.). NY, NY: Pearson.

Wiseman, A. (2011). Interactive read alouds: Teachers and students constructing knowledge and

literacy together. ​Early Childhood Educ Journal​ ​ ​38, 431–438.

Worthy, J., Chamberlain, K., Peterson, K., Sharp, & Shih, P. (2012). The importance of read

aloud and dialogue in an era of narrowed curriculum: An examination of literature

discussions in a second-grade classroom. Literacy Research and Instruction, 51, 308-

322.

Wright, T. (2018). Reading to learn from the start: The power of interactive read-alouds.

American Educator​, American Federation of Teachers.

Wright, W. (2015). Foundations for teaching english language learners: research, theory, policy,

and practice. Philadelphia, PA: Caslon, Inc.

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Appendix

Link to the Google Forms Survey Questions:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ZFUuUQAUYlmqfgGWIaXbI7FqTXy-UuUPzy_-IC40

_Wg/edit#gid=241128226

Link to the Google Forms Survey

Questions:​https://docs.google.com/forms/d/1cm0DFbMjmddOL-GtNBta5PT8ZgDPJhN8auWfq

nzyvKI/edit#responses