Successful Childhood Learning Starts with Reading Aloud
Research has consistently shown that children who love to read
excel in school and continue to excel in higher education and
life in later years. Reading aloud with your child is key to
sparking the passion for reading.
Popular theory in the world of education has long been that a
young child is an empty slate, just waiting to have information
poured into them. That theory has promoted the idea that
learning by rote will make a child smarter, and thus more likely
to succeed. But studies of the last fifteen years or so have
turned such thinking on its ear - the new thought behind early
childhood development is not to shove a book under their noses
and say “learn,” rather, it’s to show your child how to learn,
by reading with them, and forging not just an interest, but a
real pleasure out of what the printed word can bring.
Let’s looks at an example: “The filibuster is a strategy
employed in the United States Senate, whereby a minority can
delay a vote on proposed legislation by making long speeches or
introducing irrelevant issues. A successful filibuster can force
withdrawal of a bill, and filibusters can be ended only by
cloture.”
Pretty interesting, huh? No? Well, to be honest, we didn’t think
it would be. The fact of the matter is, if you don’t have a
passion for politics, a piece of information about a political
process will likely go in one ear and out the other, even if
you’re forced to read the passage more than once. You could read
it two or three times, memorize the words, and even be tested on
them, but will you still remember that information next week?
How about in a month?
When your child goes to school and is told to read several pages
in a book that doesn’t interest them, they’re going through the
exact same thing you just experienced. If there’s no inherent
passion for reading, and no passion for the subject matter, then
there will be minimal retention at the end of it all.
A study of 74 schools by the UK National Foundation for
Educational Research found that “fewer youngsters believe
reading is difficult, compared with 10 years ago. However, there
is a substantial decrease in pupils reading for pleasure. 65% of
9-year-olds and 73% of 11-year-olds said they did not think
reading was difficult, compared with 56% and 62% respectively in
1998. Just over 7 out of 10 of the younger age group enjoy
reading as a pastime, compared with 78% five years ago, while
for 11-year-olds, the proportion has declined from 77% to 65%.
Children said they preferred watching television to going to the
library or reading. But the biggest changes in attitudes were
among boys. In Year 6, only 55% of boys said they enjoyed
stories compared with 70% in 1998.”
Why? Perhaps other statistics in the same report might have some
insight:
- 24% of children under the age of 4 had television sets
in their bedrooms - More than 50% of children over the
age of 4 have their own TVs - 28% have computer games in
their rooms - 8.5% of under-fours have a VCR in their
rooms
The Florida Center for Reading Research (FCRR) recommends that
parents read with their child for at least fifteen minutes every
day, all the way through third grade, stating, “Before you read
each book, read the title and look at the cover and pictures
inside. Ask your child what [he or] she thinks the book may be
about. After reading the book, review [his or] her predictions.
Was the prediction right? If not, what happened instead?”
The object in such an exercise is threefold: You make reading an
interactive experience that a child can enjoy much as they do
playing in the yard, you give the child an opportunity to ask
questions about things they don’t understand, and you promote
creative thought within your child, where they learn to assess
what they see, critically appraise it, and think beyond what
they’re seeing on the page.
The FCRR advice goes further, recommending a weekly trip with
your child to the library, and rhyming games that make your
child think about how words are put together, all of which are
intended to show your child that reading is just as much fun
off-the-page as it is on.
The ultimate object is to convince your child to open a book for
fun, in their spare time, and thus begin a lifelong enjoyment of
the written word and the information that books can bring. This
doesn’t just help them at school - according to the NCREL,
readers “have self-confidence that they are effective learners
[and] see themselves as agents able to actualize their
potential.”
It’s important for every parent to realize the value of literacy
in their child, at the earliest age possible, but it’s even more
important to understand the value of comprehension, and how you
can help that seed take root.
