How does reading aloud help students to develop literacy skills?
Did you celebrate World Read Aloud Day as a student? Is it a tradition you’ve kept going as an educator?
I have fond memories of World Read Aloud Day during my years as a high schooler. One year, we read Romeo and Juliet. I'll never forget the day when the captain of the girls' basketball team joined a tiny (but fearless!) seventh-grader to perform the balcony scene.
Another year, we read excerpts from Grimm’s Fairy Tales. So many students marveled over how much the Disney versions had sugar-coated or left out entirely.
These memories are still warm and fuzzy because something magical happens when groups of people read out loud together. It creates a shared experience, highlights stories that shape our values, and defines the role of literature in our lives. Every year during my 16 years as an ELA teacher, my students and I looked forward to celebrating World Read Aloud Day.
But reading out loud isn’t just magical. It also builds important skills for readers at all grade levels. Here are five reasons from the science of reading that explain the importance of reading aloud.
1. Reading Aloud Builds Vocabulary
When we read aloud, students encounter new words. They also learn to pronounce unfamiliar words, which isn’t something they’d necessarily learn while reading silently. You can also pause at challenging words and ask for definitions. If no one has one, look them up as a class.
This shows students that it’s worth seeking out new knowledge when reading independently. Several studies on literacy have linked strong vocabulary to better school performance.
2. Reading Out Loud Improves Comprehension and Active Listening
When reading out loud or listening to others do it, your mind concentrates on both the sounds words make and their meanings. This is a hefty cognitive workout that strengthens comprehension.
Researchers at the University of Perugia had students read to adults with dementia in 60 sessions. The listeners performed better in memory tests after the sessions than before. “It seems that listening to a story leads to more intense and deeper information processing,” the researchers concluded.
Reading aloud cultivates active listening, which goes beyond just hearing words to truly internalizing them. Active listening allows students to collect information deeply enough to analyze and reflect upon it. As a bonus, new research suggests that learning how to listen is a critical element in learning how to read well.
3. Reading Aloud Reduces Stress and Makes Us Happy
Reading aloud has measurable benefits for mental and emotional health as SEL competencies become more important. Jim Trelease, author of The Read-Aloud Handbook, writes that “every time we read aloud to a child, we’re sending a “pleasure message’ to their brain.” Trelease says that this reaction is partially sparked by feelings of happiness and self-worth caused by someone else investing time in our enjoyment.
Reading out loud can also reduces stress and generally makes us feel more appreciative and relaxed. It does this is through narrative transport, when we forget our surroundings and engage in visual, auditory, kinesthetic, and emotional time travel.
Think back to the last time you cried during a movie, and you’ll get the idea. Narrative transport makes us more receptive to deeper learning and helps us practice empathy and build emotional resilience.
And with stronger SEL skills, our students are better equipped to develop their literacy skills, too.
4. Reading Aloud Strengthens Fluency
Fluency is a word we hear a lot, but it can be hard to define when applied to literacy skills. Reading fluently means reading effortlessly, at the proper rate, accurately, and with appropriate rhythm and expression. Fluency is the bridge between decoding (understanding the relationship between letters and sounds) and comprehension.
When we read aloud to our students, we provide a model for fluent reading they can emulate. They’ll also learn by listening to each other read. According to social learning theory, observing others plays a vital role in how we acquire new knowledge and skills.
5. Reading Out Loud Can Improve Working Memory 
Working memory significantly impacts how we develop literacy skills, and reading out improves working memory. Psychologist Colin MacLeod has researched the impact of reading out loud on memory. He found that people consistently remember words better if they read them aloud.
Numerous studies have replicated these findings. In one study, a group of seven-to-10-year-olds were asked to read a list of words—some silently, others aloud. Afterward, they correctly recognized 87% of the words they’d read out loud, but only 70% of the silent ones.
In another study, adults aged 67 to 88 were given the same task to read words either silently or aloud. Afterward, they wrote a list of all the words they remembered. The adult group recalled 27% of the words they had read aloud, but only 10% of those they’d read silently.
Make Reading Out Loud Easier for Struggling Readers
Despite all the benefits of reading aloud, struggling readers might feel intimidated by the challenge. A student once told me that he’d count the number of sentences until it would be his turn to read in front of the class. This allowed him to start practicing his line, but he wasn’t able to focus on the story. This prevented him from building vocabulary or benefiting from a shared experience.
Especially for students with dyslexia and other learning differences, reading aloud can be a confidence killer. But it doesn’t have to be.
ClearFluency™️ is a digital reading tool that uses speech recognition technology while students read out loud. It delivers real-time feedback and helps students read with confidence and joy. Unlike other digital reading tools, ClearFluency actually listens and helps learners when they struggle or mispronounce a word. This helps them develop literacy skills such as vocabulary and fluency.
Stories are powerful. Let’s work towards a future where all students feel comfortable sharing them!
Before joining Carnegie Learning’s marketing team in 2021, Emily Anderson spent 16 years teaching middle school, high school, and college English in classrooms throughout Virginia, Pennsylvania, California, and Minnesota. During these years, Emily developed a passion for designing exciting, relatable curricula and developing transformative teaching strategies. She holds master's degrees in English and Women’s Studies and a doctorate in American literature and lives for those classroom moments when students learn something that will forever change them. She loves helping amazing teachers achieve more of these moments in their classrooms.
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