Adults Reading Aloud: A Survey of Contemporary Practices in Britain

Abstract

While much is written about reading aloud to children, and as a teaching tool, far less is known about the oral reading that adults do at home, at work or in the community. This article presents the results of a national survey into whether, what, how and why adults across Britain may read aloud rather than in silence. Analysing data from 529 questionnaire responses, the article examines the frequency with which different text types are read aloud, the formations in which this is donealone, with one other person or in a groupand the purposes of reading aloud and being read to, with attention to differences according to gender and age. Findings suggest that reading aloud happens in a number of different ways and for different purposes, across contexts and life domains, and that it has a significant relationship with aspects of the lifecourse and with identity formation and performance.

Millennials in the Stacks: Choices, Habits and Attitudes of Frequent Library Users between the Ages of 18–29 in Santiago, Chile

“…With the participating institutions we decided to collect three forms of data: (1) a questionnaire for library users; (2) interviews with librarians; and (3) focus groups with a selection of the questionnaire respondents. The purpose of the questionnaire was to access as much information as possible from as large a number of study participants as the research team and budget could manage, and gain the participation of those who might not have time to join a focus group or who might prefer the anonymity of filling in a questionnaire (Duncan & Freeman, 2019;Duncan & Paran, 2017). We chose to conduct interviews with librarians and focus groups with users in order to record the "written or spoken words and observable behavior" (Taylor, Bogdan, & De Vault, 2015) of both our target user group as well as those who spend time with them, the latter group serving to contrast with and complement the information gathered from the library users themselves.…”

Statistical Analysis of Students’ Reading Habits and their Academic Performance in Tertiary Institution: A Case Study of the Departments in School of Applied Sciences Federal Polytechnic, Ekowe Bayelsa State

“…A multiple linear regression and a zero-order correlation statistical analysis indicated the internet and socializing with others were significant factors that college students devoted to conventional academic and extracurricular reading. Duncan and Freeman (2020) presented the results of a national survey into whether, what, how, and why adults across Britain may read aloud rather than in silence. Analyzing data from 529 questionnaire responses, the article examines the frequency with which different text types are read aloud, the formations in which this is done-alone, with one other person or in a group and the purpose of reading aloud and being read to, with attention to different purposes across contexts and life domains, and that it has a significant relationship with aspects of the life course and with identity formation and performance.…”

Return-sweep saccades in oral reading

“…Developing readers use oral reading to map written text to phonological codes and skilled adult readers may engage occasionally in oral reading when reading difficult texts (Hardyck & Petrinovich, 1970 ). Although less than 2% of adult respondents from a recent survey read aloud more than they read silently; reading instructions, recipes, shop signs and reading to loved ones are few ways oral reading occurs in adulthood (Duncan & Freeman, 2019 ). Fundamentally, oral reading processes mirror silent reading processes in many ways since eye movement measures in both reading modalities are correlated within individuals (Anderson & Swanson, 1937 ; Søvik et al, 2000 ) and across individuals of different languages (Brysbaert, 2019 ).…”