The Audio-Visual Club: Kids and Audiobooks

“I want people to stop saying, ‘I didn’t really read it, I just listened.’ Stop that. If you listened, you read it. There’s no right way to absorb a book.” – Reese Witherspoon

I enjoy reading a physical book. My husband, however, does not. He prefers putting on his headphones and listening on Audible. He told me that he’s “read” three books over the summer. He’s not the only one in my social circle to count listening to an audiobook as reading. Friends will tell me they’ve read a 560-page novel over the weekend (you what?!) and then clarify that they listened to it during their road trip. Even Patti will simultaneously juggle multiple books for her book club and Child(ish) Reads posts, a feat made easier with paperback, ebook, and audiobook formats.

As audiobooks become more mainstream, it got me thinking about the trickle-down to kids. Is listening to a book the same as reading one? Can children benefit from this type of auditory medium or would it hinder their ability to read? Inquiring minds would like to know.

Decode and Decipher

Make no mistake, reading is a complex skill. It requires:

Word recognition – ability to identify words by sight
Comprehension – making sense of words, phrases, and sentences and what they mean
Fluency – coordinating word recognition and comprehension to read text accurately, quickly, and with expression

When children are first learning to read, they must decode each word by determining what sound each letter makes. While some sounds seem easy enough (like “s” for snake or sip), some are not. Some letters change their sound (like the “c” in cat versus the “c” in circus) while others go silent (like that “e” at the end of sale or home). And then those consonant blends, like ch, sh, fl, fr, or th? It’s a lot to take in.

Once they crack the letter code to form words, the next step is to decipher what they read. Sure, they can read words, but can they figure out the main idea of the passage? Factors like reading the words in sequential order, pace and rhythm, as well as the ability to go back and reread a sentence can impact how a printed narrative is understood.

Multiple studies have shown the importance of two key areas that influence reading level: vocabulary and background knowledge. Students with larger vocabularies can read and understand more complex texts. Students with background knowledge of a subject perform better on reading tests than those who encounter the topic for the first time, even if they are lower-level readers.

Reading takes frequent exposure and practice. But when decoding and comprehension don’t come easy, kids can have a difficult time retaining information and following along. For instance, children who have mastered decoding but lack strong comprehension skills tend to fall behind as the reading material becomes more complex, containing harder vocabulary and requiring more background knowledge to understand. You ever get through a full paragraph and then be like, what did I just read? (Sorry, Proust)

No wonder some kids want to call it quits. But here’s an interesting fact: children who have trouble reading can still learn language skills by listening to stories and content read aloud.

The Audio Advantage

Language has four domains: listening, reading, speaking, and writing. While these areas allow us to effectively communicate and engage with others, research has found substantial correlations between them. So, when kids are listening, they are also addressing their other language skills, like reading.

Research indicates that among many students, especially those who are not yet proficient readers, listening to a passage often results in better comprehension than reading it. This allows kids to focus and develop comprehension strategies (inferences, finding the main idea, etc.) without the cognitive load of decoding.

When it comes to kids and reading, many experts champion the use of audiobooks for the following reasons:

Motivates new and/or struggling readers
Helps identify words, increase vocabulary, and expand syntax
Allows for the consumption of more complex information above reading level
Assists in learning speech patterns, rhythms, voice, and expression
Models fluent reading
Supports the development of empathy

Additionally, research has revealed that listening to an audiobook requires the same cognitive skills as reading print. A 2019 study found that words from a story, audio or text, tend to activate the same cognitive and emotional brain regions with equal intensity. In fact, the brain maps for both auditory and visual input created from the study’s data looked nearly identical. This means that whether we’re reading or listening, our brain is processing words and phrases in the same cortical locations.

The More, the Merrier

For audiobooks to be truly useful in helping a child learn to read, pair it with a printed book. In fact, pair the audiobook (audio) with the printed text (visual) and have your child scan their finger across the words as they read aloud (proprioception). This multisensory approach is called immersion reading. The more sensory systems involved in your kid’s reading experience, the more likely they are to improve their literacy.

For example, a 2011 study found that students who were given audiobooks to listen to while following along with the text saw a greater increase in reading skills after eight weeks compared to those who were just given the text. Researchers measured progress by comparing how many correct words students could read per minute before and after the eight-week treatment. While the students who were given only print books could read about four more words per minute than before, students who were given audiobooks in addition to print books saw an increase of 17 words per minute.

While audiobooks seem to be a great learning tool addition for our kids, the one thing it can’t replace is the human connection. Being able to read is a pretty vital real-world skill and realistically can’t be replaced solely by audio, especially in the classroom. For children to learn how to read, they need to be around language. We’ve already established cognitive pathways necessary for reading by reading them bedtime stories and talking to them about their day. Pair all of this language knowledge and experience together, along with word recognition and phonics, and you’ve got a great combo for hitting those literacy milestones.

Like this post? Follow Child(ish) Advice on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and TikTok.

Sources:
Deniz, F., Nunez-Elizalde, A. O., Huth, A. G., & Gallant, J. L. (2019). The Representation of Semantic Information Across Human Cerebral Cortex During Listening Versus Reading Is Invariant to Stimulus Modality. Journal of Neuroscience, 39(39), 7722–7736.
Rogowsky, B. A., Calhoun, B. M., & Tallal, P. (2016). Does Modality Matter? The Effects of Reading, Listening, and Dual Modality on Comprehension. SAGE Open, 6(3), 215824401666955.
Daniel, D. B., & Woody, W. D. (2010). They Hear, but Do Not Listen: Retention for Podcasted Material in a Classroom Context. Teaching of Psychology, 37(3), 199–203.
Varao Sousa, T. L., Carriere, J. S. A., & Smilek, D. (2013). The way we encounter reading material influences how frequently we mind wander. Frontiers in Psychology, 4.
On the importance of listening comprehension
Assisted Reading with Digital Audiobooks for Students with Reading Disabilities (wmich.edu)
Reading Versus Listening: What’s Better? | Well+Good (wellandgood.com)
Audiobooks vs. Reading: Is Listening to Books As Useful For Kids? (fatherly.com)