Effects of Story Read‐Aloud Lessons on Literacy Development in the Early Grades: Experimental Evidence From Nigeria

• Published in: Reading research quarterly 2022-04, Vol.57 (2), p.587-607
• Main Authors: Moussa, Wael, Koester, Emily
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 2‐Childhood; Comprehension; Core Curriculum; Decoding; Decoding (Reading); Early Literacy; Effect Size; Elementary School Students; Elementary School Teachers; Emergent Literacy; Fluency; Foreign Countries; Grade 2; Instructional Effectiveness; Instructional strategies; methods and materials; Learning; Listening Comprehension; Literacy; Motivation; Oral Reading; Phoneme Grapheme Correspondence; Phonics; phonemic awareness; phonological awareness; Program Evaluation; Reading ability; Reading Achievement; Reading Aloud to Others; Reading comprehension; Reading Fluency; Reading Improvement; Reading Instruction; Reading Motivation; Reading Skills; Reading Teachers; Story Reading; Student Motivation; Students; Teachers; Teaching Experience
• ISSN: 0034-0553; 1936-2722
• DOI: 10.1002/rrq.427

ABSTRACT Research has indicated that reading aloud to young students can enhance their foundational reading skills and their reading motivation, but such research has been lacking in African contexts. In this study, we assessed the efficacy of story read‐aloud lessons in improving students’ foundational reading skills in Nigeria. The experiment took place in a cluster randomized trial of 199 schools in Northern Nigeria. In treatment schools, second‐grade teachers conducted weekly read‐aloud lessons as an addition to the core learning curriculum. In control schools, second‐grade teachers implemented only the core curriculum, without weekly read‐aloud lessons. We found that story read‐alouds led to positive effects on listening comprehension, letter sound recognition, nonword decoding, and reading fluency, with effect sizes between 0.17 and 0.33 standard deviations. These outcomes suggest that enhanced student motivation from read‐alouds may enhance text‐based skills. To identify the effects of increased teacher experience on read‐aloud effectiveness, we employed a two‐period difference‐in‐differences approach. We found that increased teacher experience explained between 26% and 51% of the overall read‐aloud effect, depending on the literacy subskill. We also found that the read‐aloud effects coupled with increased teacher experience had an equalizing effect on the reading outcomes of students from divergent home literacy environments.