{"id":2088,"date":"2011-09-30T14:02:27","date_gmt":"2011-09-30T13:02:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/eltchat.com\/?p=2088"},"modified":"2011-09-30T14:02:27","modified_gmt":"2011-09-30T13:02:27","slug":"reading-aloud-useful-or-a-waste-of-time-eltchat-summary-21092011","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eltchat.org\/index.php\/2011\/09\/30\/reading-aloud-useful-or-a-waste-of-time-eltchat-summary-21092011\/","title":{"rendered":"Reading Aloud – Useful or a Waste of Time? #ELTchat Summary 21\/09\/2011"},"content":{"rendered":"

This summary was contributed by Yitzha Sarwono (@yitzhasarwono on Twitter) and posted on her blog\u00a0<\/a>\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong>It is reproduced here with her kind permission and our thanks!<\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

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For all the curious minds and ELT Enthusiasts out there (as myself too), Wednesday would be one of those day to be looking forward too. Not just because it\u2019s midweek, when Monday has gone and Weekend is about to knock on the door , but because it\u2019s time to once again share ideas and experiences on #ELTChat. And this Wednesday the topic was very interesting :” Reading aloud – Is it useful or just a waste of time?”<\/em><\/p>\n

Marisa Constatinides (@Marisa_C) , Shaun Wilden (@shaunwilden) and Berni Wall (@Rliberni) as always moderated the chat and questioned us whether reading out loud \u00a0is a special skill and if it is something we need to include in our lessons.<\/p>\n

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Reasons why we may include reading aloud practice:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Students, especially young ones, love reading aloud because it helps to build their confidence in using English, when staged correctly.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Reading aloud, if it\u2019s performed with good intonation, brings the text to life.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It\u2019s one way to give students an opportunity to speak up, especially quiet ones.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is good for their pronunciation, understanding punctuation marks and pausing appropriately.<\/p>\n

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Reasons why Reading aloud can be a waste of time according to the participants:<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Reading aloud is not reading because it\u2019s focused on the person who reads \u00a0rather than the reading passage itself<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 We will only be focusing on the pronunciation, not the context. It won\u2019t give us a chance to check understanding of the text.<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It is not a real world skill, though it\u2019s a lovely skill \u00a0to have<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It does not help a lot with the reading skills.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 It can be very boring as some students will become idle.<\/p>\n

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Ways of making reading aloud useful\u00a0<\/strong><\/h2>\n

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But then again there are ways to make reading aloud a useful stage of a reading or listening lesson, and those are:<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Organise it in small groups so all \u00a0get a chance without waiting for too long and ending up being idle.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Find short texts with engaging topics. Some ideas that came up were to use story books, TV series screenplays, and coursebook dialogues<\/p>\n

3.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Students should be given time to rehearse first before reading aloud.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 You can use RA for student practice on their own scripts for their presentation so they can focus on the intonation.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 Find a fun activity to combine with it<\/p>\n