individual who makes effective change for the
future (Laminack & Wadsworth).
Literature has the “potential for bringing
together ideas, images, content, vocabulary,
language, and art in the minds of any learner”
(Laminack & Wadsworth, 2006, p. 208). Each
subject matter can be bridged with literature
and each subject connected to the next through
the method of reading books aloud to children
(Laminack & Wadsworth). When books are
read to students, connections are made which
“makes it possible for both teaching and
learning to travel freely in the territory of ideas
and information” (Laminack & Wadsworth, p.
208). Significant learning transpires in content
areas when teacher read–alouds are
implemented effectively (Delo, 2008; Laminack
& Wadsworth, 2006; McCormick & McTigue,
2011).
Sixty teachers from three school districts in
Missouri participated in this study: one in
central Missouri, one in northeast Missouri, and
one in southwest Missouri. The majority of
teachers had between six and 10 years of
teaching experience while 25% had five years of
experience or less. Twenty teachers were male
and 40 were female. All teachers surveyed
taught in a grade configuration of sixth through
eighth, while most taught seventh grade or
some combination of sixth, seventh, and eighth.
Most of the teachers surveyed taught
English, Language Arts, or Reading with 35% of
respondents teaching one or more of these
content areas. Eighteen percent surveyed
taught something other including computers,
life skills, family and consumer science, band, or
physical education.
Findings
Methodology
The purpose of this descriptive study was to
determine if middle school teachers read aloud
to their students, and if they do read aloud,
what do they read. Four research questions
guided this study:
1. Do the middle school teachers read aloud
to their students?
2. For those who do, what are their reasons
for reading aloud?
3. For those who do not read aloud, what
are their reasons?
4. For those who do read aloud, what types
of texts are they reading?
A voluntary, anonymous survey was
completed by 60 classroom teachers to
determine if they read aloud to their students,
why or why not, and if so, what types of texts
do they read to their students. As shown in
Table 1, 63% of the teachers in the study
reported they do read aloud to students texts
such as fiction and nonfiction books, poetry,
magazines, and/or newspapers. Only 37%
indicated they did not read aloud to students
other than textbook selections, directions,
and/or announcements.
Table 1. Do Teachers Read Aloud to Students?
_____________________________________________________________________
Responses
Number of Teachers
Percentage of Tea