Nice local news story about Playaway over the weekend [Saturday 14 November, 2009]. One of the most interesting points was Jeff Williams, K-12 literacy coach for the Solon, OH school district, noting that, for many students, listening to an audiobook while following along with the text can be, "a powerful tool for developing fluency, vocabulary, story sense, comprehension, etc."
This echoes ideas expressed by Mary Burkey and other educators about the usefulness of audiobooks in developing and enhancing language fluency. (See my earlier post on Mary's ideas.)
Another interesting point by Williams: audiobook listening "is a literate behavior that literate adults participate in routinely — listening to a text while driving or traveling or just to relax is something that millions of Americans do, so why would we forbid students from doing so?"
Indeed, in a world with ever-increasing volumes of information and ever-increasing time pressure, audiobook listening is arguably a life skill for every student to be taught and encouraged.
What are your thoughts about audiobooks and literacy? Click below to leave your comment.
P.S. The news story was accompanied by the above photo. In it, young master Thomas Metz (age 6) is listening to The Great Fire, the story of the Chicago fire of 1871, by Jim Murphy. A Newbery Honor title and a YALSA Best Book, it's produced by Audio Bookshelf.
Posted by David Perrotta, MLIS
Playaway Sr. Manager for Content Strategy
