Listening to Books: A Cheat's Form of Reading?
Louise Selby is based in Hitchin, Hertfordshire. She is a teacher with a Level 7 specialist qualification in teaching and assessing learners with specific learning difficulties (SpLD) and dyslexia. She has worked as a teacher and adviser in a number of SEND settings. Louise now works freelance in advising, training and supporting schools and groups across the UK and beyond. She also assesses for SpLD/dyslexia and exam access arrangements. Louise’s passion is in enabling, equipping and empowering staff in schools at grass roots level to meet learners’ needs.
She is also a mum and work-life juggler, and she enjoys wild swimming and spending time in the local meadow with her puppy and to let off steam.
Listening to books: a cheat's form of reading?
Audiobooks are mistakenly thought of as a cheat's way to read. This is so far from the truth! In this blog, I share my own experience of listening and explain the benefits for children and young people. Audiobooks are not just enjoyable and helpful for those who struggle to read the physical book, e.g. those with dyslexia or neurodiversity. They help all children and young people with language, reading, writing, listening skills, relaxation and wellbeing. Listening, far from being a passive second best, enables an engagement with texts and literacy skills which may otherwise not have been experienced.
In 2021, when I experienced a severe eye disease which impacted my ability to open my eyes for over 6 months, I learned about the power of listening. I spent a lot of time curled up with a podcast or audiobook and discovered something magical that I had never appreciated before.
Why have I chosen the word 'power'? Isn't listening to a book passive? You cannot skim, scan and flick through the pages. You cannot seek out words, names, style and a feel for the whole book. You simply listen as the book is shared. It took me a while, but in my passive listening, I learned to stop actively trying to make my own meaning of the text and instead allow it to reveal itself to me. This has been magical.
Some children and young people, often because they have dyslexia or reading difficulties, may never love the physical act of reading. This is okay! They can still love books, however. They still need to experience stories and texts, and they still need to listen.
"I suppose it’s an early form of participation in what goes on. Listening children know stories are there. When their elders sit and begin, children are just waiting and hoping for one to come out, like a mouse from its hole." - Eudora Welty
There are so many benefits of listening to books, plays, stories and podcasts for children and young people. Here are a few:
1.Listening. Learning how to just listen, and not constantly need to be asking questions, interrogating text, thinking about a specific focus, or doing a specific task, is extremely valuable.
2.Relaxation. The passive listening, escapism and calming effect of someone's voice can enable rest, calming, time out and sleep. We all need this!
3.Language skills and writing. In order to speak and write well, children need to hear and embed language patterns and vocabulary. Many young children begin stories with "once upon a time?" because they have heard it so often. The language has become internalised, and embedded. They can then learn to innovate on such language in order to write well; for example "once upon a summer's evening".
4. Listening to others helps develop the important reading skill of prosody (patterns of stress, rhythm and expression in spoken language).
"I haven’t read a book properly until I’ve had it read to me." – Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Prosody is essential for becoming fluent readers. By hearing books read by talented orators, children learn how to read themselves. They learn how to speak with confidence and conviction.
5. Enjoyment.
When you’ve got the right voice on a particular text, it’s just magic to listen to. – Fionnuala Barrett
6. Appreciating diversity. Many books can be accessed which are read by people with different accents and manners of speaking.
I'm convinced! What next?
Audiobooks do not need to be expensive! Free audio books can be borrowed via apps from your local library. This is free! You can find your local library here.
If you are looking for a wider range than your library offers, or a package suitable for school, I would thoroughly recommend Listening Books, an online audiobook lending charity. You can join for £20 a year, and there are very competitive packages for schools. Listening Books offer free packages as well as for those who find the £20 prohibitive.
You may want to listen to books together in school or at home with the family. They are life savers for long car journeys. Your child may also enjoy having headphones, or headbands with build in bluetooth speakers, which can be worn in bed. In school, audiobooks with headphones can serve as a great calming corner or sensory break. Let them listen to books and stories again and again, and again. Remember, they are embedding language and this helps learning!
Want to find out more about the benefits of audiobooks? Try this podcast from SENDCAST and Listening Books!
My life was transformed by listening; I wish I had discovered audiobooks and podcasts earlier. I wonder whether all children and young people could deepen their potential for successful, fruitful lives if they immersed themselves more in this act of listening for listening's sake.
To find out more about Louise's work, please visit her website or social media channels:
www.louiseselbydyslexia.com
Facebook: facebook.com/LouiseSelbyDyslexia
Twitter/X: @louiseselby21
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/louise-selby-dyslexia/
Louise's first book, Morph Mastery, a Morphological Intervention for Reading, Spelling and Vocabulary, was published in 2021 by Speechmark (Routledge) in 2021. Her next two books, “All About Dyslexia” (primary and secondary) will be published later in 2024 with the same publisher.
Author: Louise Selby
Editor: Annabel Morgan
