Revisiting Reading Aloud Through the Lens of Holistic Reflective Practice: A Trioethnographic Inquiry
Article Sidebar
Main Article Content
Abstract
Interest in Reading Aloud (RA), once considered outdated in modern English language learning classrooms, has recently seen a resurgence. Based on a review of the trajectory of RA over the past seventy years, this article identifies a research gap regarding current practising teachers’ beliefs about its usefulness. To address this gap, the authors embarked on a collaborative reflective journey to examine their experiences and perspectives of using RA for second language literacy across various teaching contexts. Employing a trioethnographic approach, they shared narratives about their diverse RA practices with different ESL/EFL learners, then engaged in critical dialogues. The narratives were analysed in terms of the five aspects of Farrell’s (2015) Holistic Reflective Practice, comprising philosophy, principles, theory, practice, and beyond practice. The findings revealed the teachers’ evolving beliefs in relation to their RA practices, the dynamic relationships between beliefs and practices, and some useful practical techniques in utilising RA for second language literacy. Implications for teachers and researchers are discussed: teachers are encouraged to engage in systematic, holistic reflective practice while researchers are invited to further investigate this seemingly old-fashioned pedagogy using both quantitative and qualitative methods for new insights.
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
References
Adams, T. E., Ellis, C., & Jones, S. L. H. (2017). Autoethography. In J. Matthes, C. S. Davis, & R. F. Potter (Eds.), The international encyclopedia of communication research methods (pp. 1–11). Wiley Online Library. https://doi.org/10.1002/9781118901731.iecrm0011
Amer, A. A. (1997). The effect of the teacher’s reading aloud on the reading comprehension of EFL students. ELT Journal, 51(1), 43–47.
Barkhuizen, G., & Wette, R. (2008). Narrative frames for investigating the experiences of language teachers. System, 36(3), 372–387.
Barnard, R., & Ryan, J. (Eds.). (2017). Reflective practice: Voices from the field. Routledge.
Batini, F., Bartolucci, M., & Timpone, A. (2018). The effects of reading aloud in the primary school. Psychology and Education, 55(1–2), 111–122.
Benseman, J. (2012). Adult refugee learners with limited literacy: Needs and effective responses. Ako Aotearoa.
Borg, S. (2003). Teacher cognition in language teaching: A review of research on what language teachers think, know, believe, and do. Language Teaching, 36(2), 81–109. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0261444803001903
Borg, S. (2015). Teacher cognition and language education: Research and practice. Bloomsbury.
Breault, R. A. (2016). Emerging issues in duoethnography. International Journal of Qualitative Studies in Education, 29(6), 777–794.
Bus, A. G., van IJzendoorn, M. H., & Pellegrini, A. D. (1995). Joint book reading makes for success in learning to read: A meta-analysis on intergenerational transmission of literacy. Review of Educational Research, 65(1), 1–21. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543065001001
Cartledge, H. A. (1952). Reading aloud. ELT Journal, VI(3), 94–96. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/VI.3.94
Chang, A. C-S (2019). The effects of repeated oral reading practice on EFL learners’ oral reading fluency development. The Reading Matrix, 19(2), 103–113. https://readingmatrix.com/files/21-r9k89pn8.pdf
Chang, A. C-S. (2023). The effects of repeated oral reading practice on the retention of high-frequency multiword items for EFL learners: Multiple dimensions. TESL-EJ, 26(4). https://doi.org/10.55593/ej.26104a9
Cushing, C., & Bodner, G. E. (2022). Reading aloud improves proofreading (but using Sans Forgetica font does not). Journal of Applied Research in Memory and Cognition, 11(3), 427–436. https://doi.org/10.1037/mac0000011
de Guerrero, M. C., & Commander, M. (2013). Shadow-reading: Affordances for imitation in the language classroom. Language Teaching Research, 17(4), 433–453. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168813494125
Dewey, J. (1933). How we think: A restatement of the relation of reflective thinking to the educative process. Houghton Mifflin.
Duncan, S. (2015). Reading aloud in Lewisham: An exploration of adult reading‐aloud practices. Literacy, 49(2), 84–90. https://doi.org/10.1111/lit.12046
Duncan, S. (2021). Oral literacies: When adults read aloud. Routledge. https://doi.org/10.4324/9780367087005
Duncan, S., & Freeman, M. (2020). Adults reading aloud: A survey of contemporary practices in Britain. British Journal of Educational Studies, 68(1), 97–123. https://doi.org/10.1080/00071005.2019.1610555
Farrell, T. S. C. (2012). Reflecting on reflective practice:(Re) Visiting Dewey and Schon. TESOL Journal, 3(1), 7–16. Farrell, T. S. C. (2015). Promoting teacher reflection in second language education: A framework for TESOL professionals. Routledge.
Farrell, T. S. C. (2017). Overview: Holistic reflective practice. In R. Barnard & J. Ryan (Eds.), Reflective practice: Voices from the field (pp. 8–18). Routledge.
Farrell, T. S. C. (2022). Operationalizing reflective practice in second language teacher education (SLTE). Second Language Teacher Education, 1(1), 71–88. https://doi.org/10.1558/slte.21881
Farrell, T. S. C., & Guz, M. (2019). ‘If I wanted to survive I had to use it’: The power of teacher beliefs on classroom practices. TESL-EJ, 22(4), 1–17.
Farrell, T. S. C., & Ives, J. (2015). Exploring teacher beliefs and classroom practices through reflective practice: A case study. Language Teaching Research, 19(5) 594–610. https://doi.org/10.1177/1362168814541722
Ferguson, L. E., & Lunn, J. (2021). Teacher beliefs and epistemologies. Oxford University Press.
Gabrielatos, C. (2002). Reading loud and clear: Reading aloud in ELT. ERIC, 2002(3), 1–11.
Gibson, S. (2008). Reading aloud: A useful learning tool? ELT Journal, 62(1), 29–36. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/ccm075
Griffin, S. M. (1992). Reading aloud: An educator comments. TESOL Quarterly, 26(4), 784–787. https://doi.org/10.2307/3586890
Gurdon, M. C. (2019). The enchanted hour: The miraculous power of reading aloud in the age of distraction. Hachette.
Johnston, V. (2016). Successful read-alouds in today’s classroom. Kappa Delta Pi Record, 52(1), 39-42. https://doi.org/10.1080/00228958.2016.1123051
Kaa, H., & Willis, E. (2021). Teaching the totality of a person: Manaakitanga, kindness and pedagogy: An interview with Dr Hirini Kaa. Knowledge Cultures, 9(3), 158–168. https://doi.org/10.22381/kc9320219
Layne, S., (2015). In defense of read-aloud: Sustaining best practice. Routledge.
Lennox, S. (2013). Interactive read-alouds: An avenue for enhancing children’s language for thinking and understanding: A review of recent research. Early Childhood Education Journal, 41, 381–389.
Massaro, D. W. (2017). Reading aloud to children: Benefits and implications for acquiring literacy before schooling begins. The American Journal of Psychology, 130(1), 63–72. https://doi.org/10.5406/amerjpsyc.130.1.0063
Moody, H. L. B. (1974). Technique and art in reading aloud. ELT Journal, XXVIII(4), 315–324.
Nation, I. S. P., & Waring, R. (2020). Teaching extensive reading in another language. Routledge.
Norris, J., & Sawyer, R. D. (2012). Toward a dialogic methodology. In J. Norris, R. D. Sawyer, & D. Lund (Eds.), Duoethnography: Dialogic methods for social, health, and educational research (pp. 9–40). Left Coast Press, Inc.
Norris, J., & Sawyer, R. D. (Eds.). (2017). Theorizing curriculum studies, teacher education, and research through duoethnographic pedagogy. Palgrave Macmillan.
Rasinski, T. V., & Hoffman, J. V. (2003). Oral reading in the school literacy curriculum. Reading Research Quarterly, 38(4), 510–522. https://www.jstor.org/stable/4151839
Rees, A. (1976). The reading aloud controversy. RELC Journal, 7(2), 16–22.
Roessingh, H. (2020). Read‐alouds in the upper elementary classroom: Developing academic vocabulary. TESOL Journal, 11(1), 1–16. https://doi.org/10.1002/tesj.445
Sawyer, R. D., & Norris, J. (2013). Duoethnography. Oxford University Press.
Sawyer, R. D., & Norris, J. (2015). Duoethnography: A retrospective ten years after. International Review of Qualitative Research, 8(1), 1–4. https://doi.org/10.1525/irqr.2015.8.1.1
Schön, D. A. (1983). The reflective practitioner: How professionals think in action. Basic Books.
Thomas, N., Bowen, N. E., Louw, S., & Nanni, A. (2023). Performing a balancing act: A trioethnography of “foreign” EMI lecturers in Bangkok. In F. Fang & P. K. Sah (Eds.), English-medium instruction pedagogies in multilingual universities in Asia (pp. 138-154). Routledge.
Vygotsky, L. S. (1978). Mind in society: The development of higher psychological processes. Harvard University Press.
Wang, Y. (2016). Constructing learner autonomy through control shift: Sociocultural implications of teacher cognition and practice in a Chinese secondary school [Doctoral thesis, The University of Waikato]. The University of Waikato Research Commons. http://hdl.handle.net/10289/10822
Wang, Y., & Ryan, J. (2023). The complexity of control shift for learner autonomy: A mixed-method case study of Chinese EFL teachers’ practice and cognition. Language Teaching Research, 27(3), 518-543.
Warner, L., Crolla, C., Goodwyn, A., Hyder, E., & Richards, B. (2016). Reading aloud in high schools: Students and teachers across the curriculum. Educational Review, 68(2), 222–238. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2015.1067881
West, M. (1953). The technique of reading aloud to a class. ELT Journal, VIII(1), 21–24. https://doi.org/10.1093/elt/VIII.1.21
Wood, D., Bruner, J. S., & Ross, G. (1976). The role of tutoring in problem solving. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 17(2), 89–100.
Yap, J. R. (2015). Using systematic synthetic phonics as an approach for early literacy: The case of rural indigenous children [Master’s thesis, University of Malaya]. University of Malaya Students Repository. https://studentsrepo.um.edu.my/5425/
Young, M. (2000). Reading Aloud: Summary of a TESL‐L Thread. TESOL Journal, 9(1), 44–44.
