ABSTRACT:
The teaching of English in Malaysia has become more challenging in the 21'st century. Issues such as the declining proficiency of students as measured in national examinations are lamented on by society every time the results are announced. Questions are asked, sugesstions made but the practice of teaching
English in school remains the same. This paper proposes modifications to a common method of teaching used in schools where students are asked to read text from the school textbook orally either individually or in a group. While teachers may have set objectives for this activity, the question that can be asked is how valuable is this activity toward the development of the students' language ability? This paper presents a different definition of reading aloud. Based on this definition and a qualitative study that was done, teachers are provided with a new perspective on how this method can be incorporated into their daily teaching. The paper ends with a discussion of the influences that reading aloud has on the language development of non-native English speaking elementary school children.