This study has been done to gather data as to whether there is improvement in vocabulary development, reading comprehension and reading fluency when a child is reading aloud and he or she has a reading companion as opposed to not having a reading companion. As this literature review indicates there has been a lot of research on the benefits of reading aloud to children from their early years (pre-school) through high school. Research has been done to gather information on the effects of reading aloud on language development, social development, school readiness and administering assessments. Participants in this study were 15 first grade Spanish/Portuguese bilingual students, with the exception of one student. The experiment consisted of six sessions of students being read aloud to. The students alternated weekly by having a reading companion one week and not having it the following week. This continued for the duration of the experiment. This experiment was to add to the research that has been done on the effects of reading aloud to children. Appendix A provides a cloze paragraph administered to gather data on reading comprehension after students were read six different first grade level readers. Appendix B presents a vocabulary test administered to gather data on vocabulary acquisition and to determine reading fluency. (Contains 2 tables.) [Master's Thesis, Kean University.]