IMPLEMENTING READ ALOUDS TO

INCREASE COMPREHENSION OF
INFORMATIONAL TEXTS

Brittney Vargas
EDU 344
 Informational texts are
books that have an
immense amount of
potential to engage
students.
Brozo and Calo (2006) go
so far as to say the
informational texts are the
key to sparking curiosity
and understanding the
world.
INTRODUCTION
INFORMATIONAL NARRATIVE
INSPIRATION FOR
RESEARCH
Informational texts
were not prevalent in
my education, but
something I have had
to use a lot. I wish I
would have learned
their potential at a
younger age.
 What impact
does the
integration of
read-alouds have
on the
comprehension of
concepts covered
in informational
texts?
RESEARCH QUESTION
 I hypothesize that my research will show that
read-alouds are an effective strategy to aid in
comprehension of informational texts.

HYPOTHESIS
REVIEW OF LITERATURE 4 studies that look at read-
alouds and Informational texts.
MCCLURE & FULLERTON (2017)

USE OF INTERACTIVE READ- PRESENT INFORMATIONAL EMPHASIS ON MODELING “I DO-WE DO-YOU DO”
ALOUDS WITH AN TEXT TO A CLASS WHILE HOW TO APPROACH AN METHOD
INFORMATIONAL TEXT IN A ENGAGING STUDENTS AND INFORMATIONAL TEXT
THIRD-GRADE CLASSROOM. FACILITATING DISCUSSION
HOFFMAN, COLLINS, & SCHICKEDANZ (2015)

Four main points for

teachers to consider
Integrate science in • 1. High-quality literature
literacy instruction • 2. Tools to properly absorb
• 3. Activate prior knowledge
• 4. Further teacher knowledge
 Implements Goal of read-
aloud in tier 2:
read-alouds for • Expose students
special Pairs read- to concepts
education aloud with • Pre-teach
vocabulary
students KWL chart • Improve
preparing for a comprehension
science lesson

SANTORO ET AL. (2016)

CHLAPANA (2016) Phase1:
introducing Phase 2:
informational reciprocal
texts & how teaching
to use them
Implementing
strategies to increase
the cognitive Phase 3: Phase 4:
KWL dialogic
involvement and reading
comprehension when
reading
informational texts
Case study of a first Categorized in a
population which includes
Steps to research:
grader from the Ohio Find text
Valley. underperforming students Assessment method
in low income areas Conduct research

METHODOLOGY
FINDINGS

Session 1 Session 2
Big ideas: Big Ideas:
1of 3 3 of 4

Details: Details:
5 of 15 5 of 16
 More content areas
Larger sample size
evaluated

Pre-assessment of Mini lesson on text

Informational texts features

RECOMMENDATIONS
REFERENCES
Brozo, W., & Calo, K. (2006). Teaching with informational text to engage young learners: Making our thinking explicit.
Thinking Classroom, 7(2), 47–48.
Chlapana, E. (2016) An intervention programme for enhancing kindergarteners’ cognitive engagement and comprehension
skills through reading informational texts. Literacy, 50(3), 125-132.
Hoffman, J. L., Collins, M. F., & Schickedanz, J. A. (2015). Instructional challenges in developing young children’s science
concepts: Using informational text read-alouds. The Reading Teacher, 68(5), 363–372. DOI: 10.1002/trtr.1325
Lynch-Brown, C., Tomilson, C. M., & Short, K. G. (2011) Essentials of children’s literature (7th ed.). Boston, MA: Pearson
Education.
McClure, E. L. & Fullerton, S. K. (2017). Instructional interactions: Supporting students’ reading development through
interactive read-alouds of informational text. The Reading Teacher, 71(1), 51-59. DOI:10.1002/trtr.1576
Pavri, S. (2012). Effective assessment of students: Determining responsiveness to instruction. Upper Saddle River, NJ: Pearson
Education.
Reutzel, D. R., & Cooter, R. B., Jr. (2012) Teaching children to read: The teacher makes the difference. Boston, MA: Pearson
Education.
Santoro, L. E., Baker, S. K., Flen, H., Smith, J. L. M., & Chard, D. J. (2016) Using read-alouds to help struggling readers access
and comprehend complex, informational text. TEACHING Exceptional Children, 48(6) 282 –292. DOI:
10.1177/0040059916650634