Jennifer Rennie

Oral Reading: the Silent Debate Jennifer Rennie

This work investigates the relationship between the practice of reading out-loud and the teaching and learning of reading in the primary school. It argues that oral reading is a different practice from reading silently and that it contributes to the construction of a school reader in particular terms. Specifically it contributes to the ways students understand reading and what it is to become a reader in school. It adopts a sociocultural view of reading. Many past studies of oral reading used psychological approaches that ignored the historical, social, communicative and interactive contexts of oral reading practices. This work investigates oral reading practices from the perspectives of students, teachers and the researcher. It describes oral reading practices in terms of the pedagogies they maintain, the activities they build and the identities they construct.