Reading Aloud by students was once quite a popular tool among language teachers, but unfortunately it suffered from both overuse and misuse. Gradually, it disappeared from most of the English language classrooms.

This presentation aims at highlighting the importance of reading aloud in English Language classrooms. Reading aloud, used purposefully and appropriately, can help teachers achieve some important goals in the language development of their students, for example: (1) Comprehension: Fluency in word recognition is an essential condition for reading comprehension; and, it can be gauged, diagnosed, remedied, nourished, fostered, and polished only through reading aloud. (2) Writing: Learners who are fluent and accurate in their reading aloud, and who also demonstrate proper use of pauses and intonation, are likely to be relatively stronger in writing; (3) Speech: Reading aloud can also be used productively for enhancing and supporting the learning of speaking, particularly with reference to areas such as pronunciation, enunciation, intonation, and expression.