Archived Information

State of the Art: Reading - November 1993

image omitted 5. Storybook reading, done in the context of sharing experiences, ideas, and opinions, is a highly demanding mental activity for children.

I define shared reading as any rewarding reading situation in which a learner--or group of learners--sees the text, observes an expert (usually the teacher) reading it with fluency and expression, and is invited to read along. The learner is in the role of receiving support, and the teacher-expert accepts and encourages all efforts and approximations the learner (the novice) makes. Each reading situation is a relaxed, social one, with emphasis on enjoyment and appreciation of the stories, songs, rhymes, chants, raps and poems. The literature is carefully chosen for its high quality of language and illustrations and often includes rereading of favorite stories and poems. Following shared reading, students have opportunities to reread the literature independently. 
                                              (Routman 1991, p. 33)
Storybook reading is most effective for developing children's ability to understand stories when it involves far more than reading aloud the words of an author (Teale and Sulzby 1987; Morrow 1988). Readers construct meaning about what they read using their background or prior knowledge. Moreover, readers construct meaning as they interact with peers and adults in discussing stories (Jett-Simpson 1989). Similarly, the discussion among readers and listeners that occurs in response to shared text is an important part of the story-time experience. Using interactive strategies such as story-based discussions along with storybook reading helps children construct meaning and understand stories that are read to them.

Recent research indicates that it is important to provide children daily with positive experiences involving stories and other literature (Morrow et al. 1990). Opportunities for such experiences include reading and retelling stories, discussing stories critically, role-playing, responding to stories both orally and in writing or through expressive art (e.g., drawing), and sharing books with peers. Children support one another in their efforts to understand and reflect on stories (Eeds and Wells 1989). When children participate in one-to-one read-aloud events, the quality and complexity of their responses increase. Also, when children have repeated experiences with stories, their interpretive responses become more varied and more complex.

Children's stories, both oral and written, have been the subject of important research on the development of children's ability to construct coherent text. As children hear stories told and read, they learn the structure as well as the linguistic features of stories or narrative text (Cox and Sulzby 1984). Children often display this knowledge by "talking like a book" when they pretend to read their favorite stories (Pappas and Brown 1987). There is ample research evidence to show that teachers who read aloud to children foster their ability to deal effectively with narrative text (i.e., stories). Children are engaging in their most intellectually demanding work when they share ideas and opinions about stories, and share experiences related to stories read or told to them (Dyson 1987).
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[Modeling is an important form of classroom support for literacy learning.] [Table of Contents] [Responding to literature helps students construct their own meaning which may not always be the same for all readers.]