By Kristen Cook
Earlier this year, I found myself getting into audiobooks. As a lifelong avid reader, this was a new chapter in my own reading journey, and I was thrilled at how much audiobooks expanded my reading world. Not only did I find myself reading more quickly, but I was able to do so while also cooking dinner, driving to work, or folding laundry. As someone who works full-time, attends school part-time, and has a special needs child, the time I have available to enjoy books is often sparing. With audiobooks, I suddenly found myself able to enjoy my favorite hobby far more often, while still tending to my other responsibilities. One day, however, my husband showed me a tweet stating that audiobooks were not a legitimate form of reading. Needless to say, this began an ongoing (mostly joking) debate between us that persists to this day. While this argument is lighthearted in nature, it still highlighted a real and divisive conversation held among many in our society: Are audiobooks truly a legitimate form of reading? Many players in this debate hold audiobooks to be a valid form of reading that reaches areas traditional print reading cannot. However, others hold the opinion that anything outside of printed words that are read with the eyes does not meet their definition of reading. This question of whether or not audiobooks are a legitimate form of reading does not just impact adults like myself who read as a hobby, but it also raises the question of whether audiobooks are appropriate as a reading format in schools. My claim is that audiobooks are, in fact, an effective learning tool for school-aged children due to the fact that they bring a new level of accessibility to the classroom, they aid in comprehension, and they cultivate a love of reading.
Audiobooks result in equal or greater reading comprehension in comparison to printed materials alone in school aged children. In her article, “Audiobooks Get Boost from Research” from the School Library Journal, Kara Yorio discussed a research project performed at the University of California, Berkeley, in which nine participants underwent functional MRI brain scanning while listening to short stories in audio format and then again while reading them in print. These scans recorded blood flow in the brains of the participants and created 3D imaging that illustrated the areas of the brain in use – not only in the language centers, but also in various other areas of the cortex. After analysis of these scans, Yorio states that researchers found “the semantic representations evoked by listening versus reading are almost identical.” This study specifically saw near identical activity in both the cognitive and emotional areas of the brain, further validating that the efficacy of the audiobook format is on par with that of printed materials. According to the review, “Audiobooks, Print, and Comprehension: What We Know and What We Need to Know,” from Educational Psychology Review, Anisha Singh and Patricia A. Alexander compared 32 different studies – published between 1970 and 2020, with a pool of 2,377 school-aged participants – and found that younger students garnered greater reading comprehension scores when listening to audiobooks versus reading printed materials. The same review also saw that co-presenting the same materials in both printed and audio formats resulted in greater comprehension scores for both EFL (English as a Foreign Language) students and students who struggled with reading in general. This data shows explicitly that audiobooks are a viable learning tool for the classroom, upping the level of both accessibility and functionality. Audiobooks are a great upgrade to the classroom setting as they help to support and improve reading comprehension as a standalone tool or in conjunction with printed material.
On the other side of this argument, some have suggested that delivering course content in an audio format results in poor comprehension and test results. According to David Daniel and William Douglas Woody in their article “They Hear, But Do Not Listen: Retention for Podcasted Material in a Classroom Context” from the journal, Teaching of Psychology, an audio delivery of course content leads to poor testing results, retention of information, and general understanding. This claim is made based on an experiment where students were either given a printed article to read or an audio podcast of the same content to listen to. Readers can see this to be a hasty generalization fallacy, however, as this one side-by-side comparison is not enough testing to definitively support their claim. The poorer scores on retention for those who listened to the podcast could be due to many factors such as: exceptional formatting in the article for easier absorption of information, poor audio quality on the podcast recording, or a podcast narrator who spoke too fast or without clarity. There are too many uncertain factors that could lead to these results. More testing with more print versus audio articles would be needed to validate their results. Despite this limited scope, they did a thorough investigation of the experiment they performed and in analyzing their results. However, as we saw in the studies that were examined in the last paragraph which included a wider collection of examples, the data revealed that audiobooks are in fact a valid method for reading comprehension.
Looking beyond a student’s reading comprehension, audiobooks allow children to build verbal, written, and literary skills. Kirsten Hett in her article “Technology-Supported Literacy in the Classroom: Using Audiobooks and Digital Storytelling to Enhance Literacy Instruction” from Illinois Reading Council Journal observes that: “Listening to reading models fluency, appropriate tone, and inflection.” By listening to content, students are able to not only absorb the meaning behind it, but they also are being exposed to the way words sound and the tones used by the narrator to express emotion or importance. Together, this helps to build their fluency and improve their speaking skills, while simultaneously growing their writing and literary skills in a way they would not experience with printed materials alone. The results of Hett’s research show the many skills that can be built for young readers through exposure to audiobooks, but these benefits were not only seen to impact those new to or who struggled with reading. Hett also highlighted the skill-building benefits seen specifically in more advanced readers: “Incorporating extension activities for skilled readers further develops writing skills.” Those coming in with a strong foundation were able to further develop their written skills through the use of audiobooks. Hett’s examination on this topic illustrates that audiobooks can go beyond basic comprehension to build and polish important skills for students at various reading levels. We have seen how audiobooks can aid school aged children to develop and build upon their reading and communication skills making audiobooks a fantastic learning device.
Audiobooks bring another practical layer by aiding struggling readers. Kyle Redford, in his article, “ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY: Promises Fulfilled: From a Teacher’s Perspective, Assistive Technology Delivers on Its Potential to Transform Learning Experiences for Students With—and Without—Learning Disabilities” from the journal Educational Leadership, asserts: “audiobooks let struggling readers engage their higher order thinking and literacy skills.” In this aspect, audiobooks are allowing struggling readers the opportunity to overcome their ability challenges and instead to focus on the content of the reading material. This also gives them the ability to work independently and participate in class or peer discussions. Jennifer Moore and Maria Cahill, in their article “Audiobooks: Legitimate ‘Reading’ Material for Adolescents?” from the journal School Library Research, state that audiobooks “promote struggling readers’ literacy development (if they listen while reading).” The co-presentation of printed and audio materials has come up as beneficial for readers several times in my research, and the application of this technique for struggling readers is a logical move to support them in building their skills. This source further validates that idea and shows that, in practice, it works to help struggling readers. Audiobooks have proven to be a valuable resource for struggling readers to help them not only build their skills but also overcome their obstacles. This once again shows that audiobooks are an asset to the classroom.
“accessible format for an underserved population, children with visual, physical, or reading disabilities who are unable to read standard sized print.” Vroblick, a reading advisor at Carnegie Library of Pittsburgh’s Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, shows us the accessibility that audiobooks provide to students with disabilities, allowing them an experience and level of inclusion that they were previously not afforded. Kyle Redford in his article “ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY: Promises Fulfilled: From a Teacher’s Perspective, Assistive Technology Delivers on Its Potential to Transform Learning Experiences for Students With—and Without—Learning Disabilities” in the journal Educational Leadership, points out: “Audiobooks (and text-to-speech apps) enable students with print disabilities like dyslexia to read at their intellectual level.” This is another example of the independence and inclusiveness that audiobooks bring to students with disabilities. This will open up their ability to focus on content and critical thinking instead of being overwhelmed by their struggles while reading physical print. A school system that only uses printed materials is one of limitations and exclusions. This research shows the possibilities that can be opened up for students with disabilities. Granting them access to audiobooks can be largely impactful to their education, intellectual levels, classroom interactions, and self esteem.
Regardless of whether students are struggling readers, advanced readers, or live with disabilities, audiobooks can help to cultivate a love of reading. Kyle Redford in his article “ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY: Promises Fulfilled: From a Teacher’s Perspective, Assistive Technology Delivers on Its Potential to Transform Learning Experiences for Students With—and Without—Learning Disabilities” in the journal Educational Leadership, reports: “By simply removing obstacles for poor decoders, digital tools and platforms liberate many to become passionate readers.” As a young student, experiencing struggles with reading can create a lifelong distaste for the act itself. By removing these barriers, students can bypass this negative experience and instead learn to view reading as a well-loved hobby. Jennifer Moore and Maria Cahill, in their article “Audiobooks: Legitimate ‘Reading’ Material for Adolescents?” in the journal School Library Research, affirm that: “These benefits include encouraging reading, introducing topics and titles unfamiliar to the readers, and developing a love of reading.” This highlights the versatility that audiobooks bring to students, allowing them to try new genres, literary experiences, and broadening their horizons. Audiobooks in the school systems grant students the ability to keep an open mind about what they are reading, let them try new things, and help to cultivate both a love of literature and a rewarding hobby.
After exploring the myriad ways in which audiobooks open doors, grow skills, provide accessibility, and encourage readers, the evidence strongly supports this thesis. Audiobooks are more prevalent than ever. It would be irresponsible for us as a society to not explore the ways in which this resource can be used to support students of all ages and abilities. As seen through this research, audiobooks are a helpful and accessible medium for educational content. We have seen from a scientific perspective that our brains interpret audio content and printed content in nearly identical ways. We have seen from an accessibility perspective that audiobooks provide opportunities for students with varying disabilities. We have also seen that audiobooks promote new ways to learn and to encourage a love of reading in students. We are in a highly technological world, and kids today are deeply immersed in that technology. Textbooks have been commonly replaced with school tablets or Chromebooks. Audiobooks as a resource are a logical extension of that, which will serve children in their reading journeys.
ECC Cornerstone 