ABSTRACT
This chapter addresses the Reading Aloud in Britain Today (RABiT) project: its context, genesis, rationale, project activities and challenges. The RABiT project was a two-year UK Arts and Humanities Research Council funded research project, and it was also a stage in a professional and personal journey. The aims, research design and other activities of this project were born of a certain view of literacy, just as every form of literacy research reflects particular definitions, assumptions or priorities. The RABiT research design was finalised: three methods of data collection – a questionnaire, Mass Observation and interviews/recordings to be analysed separately and together – as well as two archives providing anyone interested with direct access to the written words of the Mass Observers, the spoken words of the interviewees and audio-recorded examples of adults reading out loud. The pilot study interviews allowed people to talk about their experiences of, and ideas about, reading aloud and offer their own analyses.
