How do Read Alouds and Vocabulary go together?

Increasing a child’s vocabulary has a direct impact on reading and comprehension. But how does one go about teaching and reinforcing vocabulary?

Teaching isolated words and definitions don’t make an impact on students if the words are not used and forgotten quickly. We learn to read better by reading. We learn to talk better by talking. We can build our vocabulary by learning and using new words both in reading and talking.

Vocabulary is crucial for success in both reading and writing. I want to assist students in gaining new words, but I am not really sure how to accomplish this goal. My school experiences with vocabulary consisted mainly of the teacher handing students lists of words, then the students were instructed to use dictionaries to find definitions. Definitions were memorized only to pass the vocabulary test at the end of the week. After the weekly test, those vocabulary words were rarely referred to again. The lack of usage of vocabulary words did not encourage the memory of the words, so they were quickly forgotten. That is not how I want vocabulary instruction to be in my class. I want students to have repeated exposure to and experience with the words.

Knowing and understanding vocabulary is critical to reading comprehension. Books (like ones you can find on Big Universe) that are read aloud to students can be excellent sources of sophisticated vocabulary words. That makes the Reading Aloud component of a Balanced Literacy Program one of the most highly recommended ways for encouraging language and literacy. The teacher read-aloud is a major opportunity for children to learn the meanings of new words. As children listen to the teacher read, and as they read, they have many opportunities to add words to their vocabulary. Those words that are added can later be used in talking and writing opportunities.

Here are some other resources on the Read Aloud Component:

• Guidelines for Implementing Read-Aloud Strategies in the Classroom

• Benefits of Read Alouds in Science

• Reading Aloud to Build Comprehension

• Reading Aloud — Is it worth it?

• Catching the Bug for Reading Through Interactive Read-Alouds