Is The Oral Reading Hypothesis Valid?

抄録

This paper empirically examines the validity of the oral reading hypothesis (Miyasako, 2007): oral reading practice improves reading comprehension of Japanese learners of English. Following the review of our oral reading model, four assumed functions of oral reading practice and the hypothesis, two studies are reported that mainly investigated into the effect of oral reading practice on reading comprehension of Japanese senior high school students. The first within-group study shows that students with lower reading proficiency would improve their reading comprehension through oral reading practice. The second between-groups study shows that English instruction focused on oral reading would be more effective in the improvement than regular English instruction, supporting the first finding. Based on the discussion of the findings it is revealed that the hypothesis was partially supported. Also revealed is future research that should be conducted with a view to fully examining the validity of the hypothesis.