Using lap reading

The term lap reading comes from the practice of parents taking children onto their laps and reading to and with them. This is a good activity to encourage literacy within families.

Here are some benefits of using lap reading. Its informal nature makes it useful for

• creating a positive attitude toward reading by making it an enjoyable experience
• helping them experience reading without any threat of failure, and
• introducing learners informally to some concepts and conventions of print.

Here are some guidelines to follow when you use lap reading:

• Make sure the learner can easily see the print.
• Read something that the learner selects or that is especially interesting and relevant to both the reader and the learner.
• Read with enthusiasm and feeling.
• Stop the session before the learner loses interest.

1. Take a young child on your lap, or sit side-by-side with a learner.
2. Hold the book together.
3. Track the words as you read.
4. Stop occasionally to
   • ask questions of the learner, and
   • invite comments about the story.
5. Have the the child or learner read if they want to.
   • Track with your finger as they read, encouraging them to track also.
   • Say a word if they have difficulty, but don't stop during the story to "teach".

   Tip: Read along if they want you to until they have enough confidence to read alone.

• What is duet reading?

• Borneman 1988
• Harris 1984a
• Matthews 1987

• Task module: Using lap reading
• In task module: Developing reading skills
• In task module: Developing literacy skills, by Martha A. Lane (contributor), Delle P. Matthews (contributor), Leah B. Walter (contributor), Glenys Waters (contributor), Anne Klaassens (editor), and Trudy K. Stewart (editor, contributor)
• In task module: Teaching people to read and write, by Carole P. Spaeth (compiler)
• In task module: Implementing a literacy program, by Carole P. Spaeth (compiler)
• In modular book: Implement a literacy program, by Carole P. Spaeth (compiler) and Leah B. Walter (compiler)
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 16 March 1999

© 1999 SIL International