Abstract:
The primary purpose of this study was to examine the relationship between the familiarity of the second reader on oral decoding accuracy in a choral reading task. Nine passages were obtained (three from each reading grade level: 4, 5, and 6). Three reading tasks were completed by each participant at their respective grade level. One task included reading aloud along with the audio-recording of an unfamiliar female voice. One task involved the participant reading along with an audio-recording of their mother and one task consisted of the participant reading aloud by themselves. Word reading accuracy and word reading rate data were collected. Results indicated that the participants read at a slower rate and less accurately when they read alone as compared to when they read along with their parents. This was interpreted as evidence supporting the importance of reading along with familiar individuals as compared to reading alone or along with unfamiliar voices.