Reading aloud in school. : A study of how three teachers in the lower level of compulsory school work with reading aloud - ideas and motives.

The aim of the study was to investigate how teachers work with reading aloud. The aim also included examining their ideas about and motives for reading aloud. The study consisted of interviews with three teachers at the lower level of compulsory school along with observation of one of these teachers during a reading aloud session. The interviewed teachers work at three different schools in the same geographical area. The analytical tools chosen for the study were the theories of Rosenblatt. The three basic skills that Damber et al. showed children to develop through reading aloud were also used to interpret the result. The result showed that the teachers have two main purposes for the reading aloud sessions: relaxation and a structured occasion for learning. Two of the teachers use the project “A Reading Class”. The teachers say that the reading aloud creates a sense of community in the classroom when the children share the same reading experience. There are usually conversations during the sessions, but most conversations take place during the structured learning occasions. The teachers’ main motive for reading aloud is the ambition to develop an interest in books among the children, leading them into their own reading development. They want to give the children an entrance to the literary world.