Reading aloud can benefit older learners too

POLOKWANE – With World Read Aloud Day celebrated on 5 February, Review spoke to owner of Stimulus Maksima in the city Debbie Kampherbeek on the importance of reading aloud and what all the fuss is about.

Debbie says that to start with, the love of reading is formed when a child gets a story read to the from a very young age. “They get to fall in love with reading as they listen and hear a story read to them and soon it becomes a fascination and love for the written word and the stories that it can tell,” Kampherbeek says.

She adds that not only does it grow the love for reading but also the awareness of the language the book is written in.

“You get to hold the book, page the book and see the words even if there is no pictures. It opens up a new world for children and imagination,” she says.

Debbie says she recently read a study done on reading. People were divided into groups, one group read the piece silently, the other in a whisper voice. One group just listened as the piece was read to them and the others read out loud. At the end the people in each group were tested to see what the percentage was of their knowledge retention. The group who did the best was the group who read aloud.

Debbie says reading aloud is also a way to keep things in your long term memory.

She adds that studies proved that reading out loud helps people to use more senses and makes understanding and comprehension a lot easier and places information in the brain a lot faster for longer.

She adds that reading aloud helps to better the use of language as you have to pronounce the words. It also helps with vocabulary expansion and is something she urges people to do, to better their own language skills. This is very useful when learning a new language and how to apply the rules to the language.

She urges people from all ages to read out loud and grow their love and understanding for reading and understanding.

riana@nmgroup.co.za