The purpose of this study was to identify the effects of read alouds on eighteen second graders' vocabulary acquisition and comprehension when listening to stories with and without companion texts. Following each reading session, the students were required to complete a 100 word cloze comprehension test, as well as a brief vocabulary test based on…

A study investigated children's comprehension of stories read to a small group, and to a whole class. Ten storybooks were read to two classes of first grade children from the same school in suburban New Jersey. Five children randomly selected from one class listened to the stories as part of a whole class. From the other first grade class, five…

A study examined whether parents begin to diminish the amount of time spent reading aloud to their children once the children begin to learn how to read. Subjects, 395 parents with children in first through fourth grades, responded to a survey about their read aloud sessions with their children. Results indicated that as children began to learn…

This study describes the function of illustration in the books written by Maurice Sendak and Mercer Mayer. Fifty children between the ages of four and six years old, together with a parent, listened to two books by each author, during three storytime sessions. Children's spontaneous responses to the readings were recorded on videotape. Response…

A study determined if reading aloud to fourth-grade students would have a positive effect on their attitudes toward reading, and if there would be a difference between the attitudes of boys and girls. In Jersey City, New Jersey, 28 fourth-grade students were read aloud to on a daily basis for 15 minutes over 14 weeks. A pretest and posttest were…

A study investigated what pregnant women and mothers of infants do to develop language and promote a love of reading in their children during the early stages of life. Two surveys were used, the first completed by 15 pregnant women, and the second completed by 15 women with infant children. Results indicated that: (1) the majority of pregnant…

A descriptive study determined whether reading aloud to young children promoted literacy and enhanced their desire to read. Subjects, 20 second-grade children (aged 6 to 7 years) in Avenel, New Jersey, were exposed to read-aloud sessions on a daily basis for a 6-week period. During each week, a specific genre of books was read aloud daily. At the…

To investigate the effects on students' reading attitudes and interests of sustained silent reading as opposed to reading aloud, a study divided 50 urban third graders into two groups, with 25 in each group. One group of students engaged in an 8-week period of sustained silent reading which was teacher directed before and after the reading…

A study investigated the effectiveness of a method for teaching strategies to students in order to increase their levels of reading comprehension. The targeted population consisted of first-grade students from three schools located in lower- to middle-socioeconomic neighborhoods in Rockford, Illinois. The problem of below grade level reading…

A descriptive study examined whether reading aloud to children regularly would have an effect on creating independent readers. Subjects, 269 preschool through third-grade students in Cranford, New Jersey, were given a questionnaire to be completed by the parents. Ninety-one questionnaires representing 200 children (ranging in age from 3 months to…

This exploratory survey analyzes the toddler story time program at the Westerville Public Library (Ohio) for a 9-month period. One hundred thirty-five children between the ages of 24 and 36 months participated in the program with a parent or care giver. Each program was limited to 15 children with their parents and consisted of a 20-30 minute…

A descriptive study examined whether reading aloud to children regularly beginning at infancy would have an effect on their future disposition to reading. Subjects, 487 kindergarten through third grade students in Basking Ridge, New Jersey, were given a questionnaire to be completed by the parents. Ninety-seven questionnaires representing 116…

This 53-item annotated bibliography reviews the research on the value of reading aloud to students, the benefits of incorporating literature into the classroom, effective behaviors of parents and teachers, and creative ways of incorporating these techniques to create better and more interested readers. This bibliography was designed to be…

A study hypothesized that auditory input does not increase the comprehension of students. Forty Basic Skills English students in a suburban high school were identified for this study. They were grouped according to class section and assigned randomly to treatments. Two of the sections read narrative and persuasive/argument texts silently and were…

Research indicates that parental involvement in activities that support academic areas is directly correlated with reading achievement and development. This study stresses the importance of reading aloud to your child, the connections between reading aloud at home and at school, the value of implementing hands-on literacy based activities that…