Can Audiobooks Improve Visual Reading?
May 8, 2019
Absolutely!
I am a big fan of audiobooks for people with dyslexia, provided that the student has good auditory skills and doesn’t just tune out an audiobook.
Reading Fluency Depends on Combining the Auditory and the Visual
In my previous post, Reading Fluency: Reading Together, I talked about the importance of reading together to help improve reading fluency. Sometimes though, this isn’t always possible on a regular basis, or as a child gets older they are less interested in reading with a parent. How do you help them improve this important skill when you aren’t reading with them? The answer is audiobooks.
Audiobooks are very useful for many reasons, but in this particular case you need both the visual book and the audiobook of the same version. The student can then listen to the audiobook while following along with the visual book at the same time. If the audiobook is read too quickly or too slowly for the reader to keep pace, most apps will allow you to adjust the speed of the audiobook faster or slower.
The audio version helps the reader with words that are a struggle for them to read visually and helps them to maintain the flow of the story. It also makes sure that they pronounce the words properly, keeping in mind that English is not a purely phonetic language and it is easy to mispronounce many words.
Works Well For Both Fiction and Non-Fiction Reading
My middle daughter used this method to teach herself grade 11 physics using Apologia’s Exploring Creation with Physics text and accompanying audio CD. She found that it worked very well to combine the two media sources to learn the material. Not only was her comprehension improved, but she found that her reading speed also improved. She did very well on the course, and only needed my assistance a few times to provide a more detailed explanation of a couple of concepts or help with a few calculations.
Libraries Have Great Resources Available!
Our local library has multiple reading kits available that include both the audio and visual version of a book. Granted, these are mostly targeted at younger readers, but the wide availability of audiobooks today means that you should be able to find both versions of a book for an older reader without too much difficulty. Many libraries have a much larger selection of electronic books than physical books, so this can give you access to a wide range of titles for listening, and many textbooks and popular books are readily available in both text and audio versions.
Text to Speech Functionality on Computers
If an audio version of a book is not available, many computers now have fairly decent text to speech functionality so you can get an electronic version of the visual book and have the computer read it out loud. Of course this won’t be as good as the intonation and expression possible with a human voice, but it can work in a pinch. By the way, the text to speech function on a computer can also be used for reading emails, documents, and just about anything on your screen.
Photo: Christina Morillo; www.pexels.com/photo/person-using-macbook-1181300/