The Missouri Reader Vol. 37, Issue 1 | Page 27

powerful way to increase their vocabulary, listening comprehension, syntactic development, and word-recognition skills (Lane & Wright, 2007, p. 674). ―Teacher read-alouds put verbal words into students‘ listening and speaking vocabularies‖ (Hurst, Wilson, Camp, & Cramer, 2002, p. 57). "We advocate focusing children's attention on phonics in the beginning stages of learning to read, while helping them to use context and other clues such as pictures, to support and confirm. At the same time, we strongly urge the reading of good literature to assist children in understanding why they are learning all about sound-symbol relationships" (Vogt & Shearer, 2011, p. 162). ―They may hear words they‘ve never before heard and familiar words used in new ways