Farewell 'Round Robin'

Farewell 'Round Robin' Faye Bolton

It is widely acknowledged that although silent reading is fundamental to a literacy workshop, students also need opportunities to develop oral reading abilities. Unfortunately oral reading is often associated with round-robin reading, a technique that fragments a text, and does justice to neither the text nor the reader.

Round-robin reading is defined in The Literacy Dictionary (1995) as the 'outmoded practice of calling on students to read orally one after the other.' It is a practice that persists in schools despite uncertainty about the origin of its popularity (Hoffman and Segel, 1982).

Round-robin reading is particularly problematic for inexperienced readers who fear being called on to read during the public performance required in round-robin reading sessions. However, Ivey (1999) and others have found these same students often enjoy oral reading activities when they have the opportunity to practise and have an authentic purpose for doing so — reading that culminates in a performance or the sharing of information.

Like many other researchers, Opitz and Rasinski (1998) believe oral reading is an important element in a literacy program, but argue that round-robin reading does not achieve what many constructive oral reading activities achieve: activities such as readers theatre and choral reading. They (1998: pp 6-9) consider round-robin reading to be problematic in that the readers do not have the opportunity to prepare for their reading, and that:  it does not reflect reading as it generally occurs in real life: readers generally prepare when reading before a group, and an audience listens without following along on a copy of the text;  the main purpose of reading aloud is to communicate to an audience, and therefore requires accurate pronunciation, correct phrasing, and correct emphasis of words and phrases, and readers may be so concerned with these aspects they are not able to attend to meaning;  students may be denied the opportunity to self-correct when reading before they are corrected by others;  faulty reading habits may develop, since students listening may have to adjust their rate of reading to that of the reader, and if the reader pauses or repeats when reading, they will have to make more stops across a page than they would otherwise do;  reading aloud is slower than reading silently, and excessive sub-vocalisation (moving lips, tongue and larynx) may occur, which hinders fluent silent reading;  students listening often become inattentive and lose the meaning of the text being read, especially if they read at a different rate from the reader, or are concerned about practising the part they will be reading;  reading aloud can be a source of anxiety and embarrassment for students, since social and emotional factors are more intrusive during oral reading activities than silent reading;  listening comprehension may be hampered because students are so worried about the prospect of reading under such conditions they do not listen to others. Consequently their comprehension is minimal.  it uses valuable class time that could be used more effectively.

1 Farewell 'Round Robin' Faye Bolton

Fortunately, many constructive and productive alternatives to round-robin reading exist. These alternatives might involve students in oral reading in one to one situations with peers, small group or large group situations. They may engage students in oral reading when performing, sharing information, reading to comprehend; in addition to situations which allow teachers to observe strategies students use when reading.

When reading aloud to perform, students need time to prepare their reading, and should have an interested audience. Students may read and perform, for example, readers theatre scripts, marked up on familiar narratives — with a narrator or several narrators, and characters who read the direct speech. In addition, students may form groups to prepare and perform a choral reading of a poem or narrative written in poetic form before an audience.

When reading aloud to share information, students may, for example, be involved in reading announcements, letters, notices, and so on, at school assemblies, or over the school's PA system; or during writing workshops when students read their writing aloud to await an audience response.

Reading activities that engage students in a range of strategies good readers use when reading can also be planned, for example, reciprocal teaching, SQ3R (Survey, Question, Read, Recite and Retell; Directed Listening Thinking Activities (DLTAs), Directed Reading Thinking Activities (DRTAs), Think Alouds and interactive read alouds. During the reading component of these activities students may be directed to read orally rather than silently. They then stop at various points to monitor the strategies they use, such as predicting, questioning, reading to confirm or adapt predictions or to answer questions, and visualising; and their subsequent comprehension of the text.

And finally, students and teachers may use oral reading constructively alike to monitor and reflect upon the strategies being used by the reader, their rate of reading, fluency, phrasing, and so forth.

With such a range of constructive oral reading activities students experience ample practice of oral reading for real purposes. Is round-robin reading a viable alternative?

References

Harris, Theodore L., and Hodges, R. (1995) The Literacy Dictionary: The Vocabulary of Reading and Writing. International Reading Association, USA. Hoffman, J.V. & Segel, K.W. (1982) Oral Reading Instruction: A Century of Controversy. (ERIC Document 239 277) Ivey, Gay. (1999) Reflections on teaching struggling middle school readers. Journal of Adolescent and Adult Literacy. February 1999. Opitz, Michael, F. and Rasinski, Timothy, V. (1998) Good-Bye Round Robin: 25 Effective Oral Reading Strategies. Heinemann, Portsmouth, NH.