ABSTRACT
Reading aloud to children has been a commonplace activity in homes and schools for centuries, and there are indications that its effects are significant for children’s literacy growth (Durkin, 1974-1975; Feitelson, Goldstein, Iraqi, & Share, 1993; Mason & Allen, 1986). Recently, researchers have suggested that the most important benefit read-alouds give to children is experience with decontextualized language, making sense of ideas that are about something beyond the here and now (Cochran-Smith, 1984; Heath, 1983; Snow, 1993; Snow & Dickinson, 1991; Snow et al, 1995). By the time children enter school, they are quite capable of talking about the world around them, a world they can see and point to. However, such contextualized experiences are quite different from ideas built only through words read from a book. But building ideas from words alone-decontextualized language-is essential to comprehending and learning from text.
