Reading Like Behavior: Its Role In Learning To Read By David B. Doake

Often an underappreciated children’s behavior in reading development, “reading like behavior” is an essential cog to the acquisition of reading fluency among children. This behavior is categorized as “a means by which children can begin to self-direct, self-monitor, and self-correct their own learning to read strategies” as they spend more time engaged in reading (Doake, p. 2). A key aspect of this behavior developing and increasing a child’s ability to read is that a parent is involved in the process in a loving and supportive manner. Not only does the emotion and joy shared with the parental figure associated with reading experiences increase the inner motivation of the child to read more on his own, but also the no-fail environment surrounding the child encourages him to actively work through his reading development without a fear of making mistakes. As long as a child is actively involved in the reading process and supported by family members he will continue to progress through the stages of reading development. At first a child experiences mumble reading, then cooperative reading, followed by personalized reading, completion reading, echo reading, and finally adult reading. Initially, the child spends time whispering the words to himself, then attempts to read along with the parent – either on pace with the adult or slightly faster or slower, before exhibiting an understanding enough of the story to introduce alternate wording to the text that reflects the child’s interpretation of the plot and details. During the later stages of growth, the child can correctly complete the sentences or phrases that their parents begin on the page, can repeat the sentences after they are read to him, and eventually can apply rules of grammar and express a more methodical form of reading understanding.

            The concepts developed and expressed throughout this article raise many connections to a real classroom and its implications for teachers. A key implication is that “children can begin to read as soon as they are read to” which implies that reading is not a secondary skill that requires prerequisite skills and that reading fluency is rather a social skill that can be learned through interacting with others (Doake, P. 9). The second implication from the article is that reading fluency must be developed on two fronts, inside the classroom and inside the home. As a teacher it is our job to express the necessity to parents that they take a role in helping their children learn to read, but more importantly we need to demonstrate the correct manner in which to do so if we want the students to truly embrace reading. The third implication related to teaching reading argues that reading materials and print within the classroom needs to be visually and academically engaging as opposed to the basal reading programs. Most lower SES schools implement these programs emphasizing more of completing aimless worksheets and then trying to read stories without any interesting details and the results of the programs more often than not show reading gaps widening between grade levels. The final two implications discussed in this article are that children need to be read to on a daily basis and that the materials need to be large enough for all of the students to interact with equally; both of which are easily managed by creating a buddy or volunteer system in the school and by creating “big books” that students can share. Overall, Doake presents a well constructed article on the development of reading like behaviors and stresses the key aspects that both a teacher and parents need to focus on in assisting children to develop reading fluency skills.



"By being in the company of an adult who regularly provides an oral model of reading behavior and by constantly associating books and this behavior with pleasurable and desirable activity, young children are placed in a state of disequilibrium for they are sharing in an experience over which they have no control. According to Piaget, when children are placed in this situation, they will automatically strive to achieve a state of equilibrium by attempting to gain mastery over the experience, especially if it has been a pleasurable one for them (pg 3)." Children should constantly be read to in a way that makes the experience fun. They will be more likely to have the desire to read if they like to be read to. If their story listening experience has been enjoyable, they will find great joy in being able to read for and to themselves.

This picture embodies the idea of parents being supportive and involved in their child's reading.  Reading with children, starting at an early age as shown in this picture, encourages and motivates them to keep up with reading later on in life.