READING ALOUD?

• Reading aloud or reading silently.
• Silent reading: Scanning, skimming, intensive and extensive.

 Reading aloud

FOR:

• In the first years of primary education storytelling plays an important role in the process of learning.
• More effective if the story is told (or read) aloud due to the fact that learners become more involved and consequently more motivated.
• Students can show that they recognize written and spoken forms and the relationship between form and meaning.
• At early and intermediate levels can be used to check bottom-up processing skills or simply pronunciation.

AGAINST

• It is not a very authentic activity.
• It is a boring activity because while one student is reading, the others can easily lose attention.
• It’s not an interactive activity because students only have to recite.

 Silent reading

• The most common and natural type of reading.
• Different goals can be pursued depending on the predetermined purpose of reading:

Scanning: search of specific information within a text: relevant dates, numbers in a directory, times on a timetable or key concepts in an academic text.

Skimming. Very common in everyday life; used to get a global impression of the content of a text (the gist of the text). Requires a definite reading competence because it implies an overall view of the text. It Develops students’ self-confidence since they obtain a lot of information without needing much reading.