Learning to read vs learning to read out loud

[Roisin]

DS2 is only 5, but is a scarily fluent reader. He likes reading to himself, reads with great comprehension and good ability. His teacher commented today that when reading out loud he tends to mutter, mumble, go too fast and slur his words, which is true. (Sometimes as a listener it is hard even to understand what he is reading, but he clearly does understand it). But does it matter?

IMO learning to read, comprehend writing, and most importantly enjoy books and reading is one skill. Learning to 'perform' - to read a book in an entertaining and expressive fashion to a listener - is another skill entirely. It is an important skill, but far less important than the former.

He reads out loud to me every day, but I am reluctant to push the clear articulation side of things at this point, because I don't want to diminish his joy of reading at this stage.

Any comments? What would you do? Especially from teachers.

[poppyseed]

Interesting - I am having the same with our daughter at the moment (Y1). She too is an able reader, keen and has caught up and in many cases overtaken the September intake of students (her birthday isn't until May and was a January intake), although I feel that her articulation of words has decreased as her excitement has increased! I have to say that I have tried to slow her down and have explained that nobody will beable to understand her and that it's better to say a little good quality words rather than a lot of rubbish.
I will be interested to follow this, both as a parent and a (secondary) teacher.

[nm]

This was me! As a child I loved reading (still do ) read very fast and with great comprehension. Problem was that when asked to rad out loud I read I the same speed as i would to myself. I am still not a confident public speaker. Still read very fast (much faster than DH wh is a lawyer and very good at public speaking)and talk fast - but maybe that's because I'm a northerner.

[marialuisa]

i agree that they are separate skills. I could post a huge list of words that I understood entirely but comletely mispronounced when i read to myself. I've only recently realised my mistake in some cases

The main thing is that he's enjoying reading and understands the books' contents, isn't it?

[mieow]

I used to read too fast too, and now Ds (6) read too fast too. He is a very good reader and quite often you will see him reading things in his head when we're out and about. I don't have a problem with him reading too fast but I do have a problem with not being able to understand him. He actually gets very angry with me when I say to slow down
He is in the top 10%, according to his headteacher, for reading and Maths, just handwriting is a problem for him because of the CP

[Roisin]

bump

Can anyone give me a reason why I should encourage him to read aloud more clearly? (He is only 5). I wondered about maybe doing some poetry with him, with a 'performance sort of slant' ... rather than just an excitingbookwherehewantstofindoutwhathappensnextasquicklyaspossible iyswim. What do you think?

Marialuisa - DS1 mispronounces words sometimes that he's only ever read (to himself) not heard used. I just find it stunning that he assimilates words so quickly into his active vocabulary, having just come across them in books.

[marialuisa]

Could you get him to read nonsense poetry, if it would appeal to his sense of humour? Maybe he could hear for himself how reading aloud carefully and with expression can give meaning to something that's basically a load of gibberish! Thinking of Jabberwocky or something like that..

As for why you should-maybe he'll find he can enjoy that and has a bit of the budding thesp in him??

[Roisin]

I can still remember a version of the Jabberwocky in German I performed for Open Day when I was 16. Maybe I should teach him that ...?!

[frogs]

My dd1 was like this at that age. I agree, they are separate skills, and reading for meaning (and enjoyment) is not the same as reading aloud. Once they get the hang of reading to themselves, they can get a bit resentful about being slowed up to 'perform' for someone.

But schools assess kids on their ability to read out loud, with the result that dd1 used to get lower marks for reading than other children who were much weaker readers. If that kind of thing matters to you, it might be worth practising reading eg. poems out loud, or playscripts, taking a part each.

[Roisin]

Thanks Frogs. I think I will try him with a bit of poetry, and see if I can get him to 'perform'.

I'm not actually that concerned about how school assess his reading level; as long as neither they nor we do anything which discourages his passion for literature.

[singersgirl]

Not that this helps much, but my son's teacher last year (Y1) held him back on one level of books until he would read clearly to her - she said to me that she had no doubt he could read the next level easily, but she wanted him to read out loud clearly. Of course I was a little irritated by this because, like you, I feel that reading aloud is only one expression of reading and by no means the most important. FWIW, though my son mumbled and skipped words, he always read with great expression. Try to keep it enjoyable, whatever you do - I'm not sure I've always succeeded with that.

[Roisin]

That's interesting singersgirl. Did it work? Did he suddenly start to read more clearly? And did he get fed up/put off by that approach, or not?

[tamum]

All I can say is that my ds was the opposite at this age- he would appear to be a brilliant reader in that he knew how to decode/pronounce all the words and sounded completely fluent, but his comprehension lagged way behind his mechanical skills, IYSWIM. As he was tested entirely on comprehension it was a bit of a shock for him. I know which skill I'd rather he had and your ds's teacher sounds a bit blinkered to be honest.

[Roisin]

Maybe your post explains it a bit though tamum. If she's had a similar experience with a previous pupil to your son, then maybe she's erring on the side of caution.

My ds2 does - annoyingly - still tend to say "I don't know" or "I forgot" as an immediate and automatic first response to any question. So it does take a bit of perseverance to actually discover his level of comprehension of anything,

[hunkermunker]

I used to hate reading out loud - I could read before I went to school and didn't want to read the basic books where nothing happened but a dog chasing a ball. I HATED with a passion repetitive stories aimed at those who need practice with phonics - I found them extremely boring. I realise they have a place, but that place is not for able readers who want to be learning things and off in a fantasy land only a good story can conjure!

It sounds to me like this teacher wants to check your DS is understanding what he's reading, but there are better ways to do this than making him enunciate every last syllable. Why not ask him to write a story about what happens next or draw a picture of something that happens in the story and get him to explain it?!

[Roisin]

That's a good idea hunkermunker. DS1 had a 'review book' when he was a little older than this (in yr2), in which he could draw a picture or write something about a reading book if he'd particularly enjoyed it. I may talk to his teacher about something similar for ds2 as he is now on 'free readers', so some of the books are quite exciting stories now
No more Biff and Chip for us

[Yorkiegirl]

Message withdrawn

[Roisin]

Yes, that does make sense, and is helpful. Thanks.

[singersgirl]

Hi Roisin
Been away for a few days,so sorry didn't reply earlier . In my son's case it did work - he concentrated really hard on reading clearly so he could go on to 'Black' books. Don't know if it was really a lasting benefit, though - he still (a year or so later) mumbles and skips out words, which sometimes gives the impression that the reading material is too hard for him even when it isn't, IYKWIM. How is it going with your son now? Saying goodbye to Biff and Chip is a relief!

[Roisin]

Well, I keep reminding him to speak clearly when he's reading, and he's doing OK. I'm trying to not look at the book myself, and pick him up every time I can't understand what he says.

We've tried some poetry and more simple books at home, and he does read those more clearly, and he's brought some non-fiction books home from school too. But the stories still tend to get burbled and muttered ... This weekend we've had something about "Anansi visits the underworld", which I'm not sure I understood myself, so I'm not sure what chance he has!