| 1. Audiobooks pave the way for a lifelong
love of reading. By increasing a student's language skills,
audiobooks make reading more accessible and appealing. Often
intimidating to many students, books become a positive source
of pleasure and knowledge. The accessible format of audiobooks
expands the range of a student's interests. |
|
| |
| 2. Audiobooks improve students reading
abilities. Research has proven that being read to is crucial
to learning to read well and develop language skills. When
parents stop reading to their school-age children, audiobooks
can fill the gap - resulting in immediate improvement in listening
skills, vocabulary levels, and reading comprehension. |
|
| |
| 3. Audiobooks have a great unifying
and organizing effect in classrooms - even among students
with different levels of reading ability and cultural literacy.
They put everybody on the same page at the same time. As a
result, all students become capable of significant classroom
involvement. Regardless of students' learning capacities,
social backgrounds, emotional maturity, or interests, audiobooks
played in the classroom create an atmosphere that fosters
a collective bonding experience. |
|
| |
| 4. Audiobooks are indispensable to understanding
texts from different places and different times. Foreign
names are demystified. Complex literary language is instantly
clarified. Writers like Agnon, Peretz, Asch and Bashevis Singer
become classroom friendly. |
|
| |
| 5. Audiobooks result in a deeper emotional
reaction to what's being read. They preserve the original
energy of performance so important in creating the reader's
voice and the atmosphere of storytelling. This deeper involvement
is a welcome change from the bombardment of visual stimulation
and allows for enhanced mental stimulation such as visualizing
pictures and identifying with characters. |
|
| |
| 6. Audiobooks allow educators to teach
and assess listening experiences directly. Listening skills
are enhanced by using audiobooks, allowing for immediate testing
of memory and comprehension. In addition, many teachers often
find that by using audiobooks, behavioral problems in the
classroom decrease. |
|
| |
| 7. Audiobooks help reach both special
needs students and gifted students. Low-functioning students
often comprehend more easily by "reading with their ears"
rather than struggling to decode text on its own. Audiobooks
offer the competent and avid reader or gifted students individualized
learning opportunities and expand the volume of their reading.
|
|
| |
| 8. Audiobooks have an important role
to play in the interdisciplinary classroom. They provide
another way to handle the heavy reading loads some classes
require. The audiobook experience allows a student to make
greater use of free-time, and helps link together different
concepts being taught in the classroom. |
|
