
When we talk about reading, we normally automatically think about the mechanical process of seeing words on a page and deciphering what they mean. This is precisely the reason why many kids who struggle to read can be labelled as “slow” or challenged, despite their brimming curiosity for a wide range of subjects.
But do you know that even struggling readers can understand—and enjoy—difficult material through the process called “ear reading”?
What is Ear Reading?
Ear reading refers to reading books through the auditory senses, hence the reference to the ear. Instead of relying only on the eyes to take in the written word, we use the ears to process the verbal words. (An important caveat is that educators usually recommend using both the ears and eyes together, and not just the ears, in order for the reader to make the connection to the written word.)
In generations past, this would refer to parents or teachers reading aloud to their children, or even a pair of students taking turns reading a book out loud to each other.
In our present time, it most often refers to listening to audiobooks or using similar software that converts text-to-speech.
Using Ear Reading in Education
While traditional school systems require students to learn to read by first grade, the British educational system advocated by Charlotte Mason in the 1800s noted the problem of struggling readers, among other breakthroughs in education.
She noted that children in the younger elementary grades may not always be fluent in eye reading, but when parents read aloud their books to them, they are perfectly capable of understanding the material. In her book, Home Education Volume 1, she talks about children “reading” stories even without having yet acquired the mechanical skill of decoding words.
How Does Ear Reading with Audiobooks Help Children with Dyslexia?
Fast forward to ur present time, the International Dyslexia Association has confirmed that ear reading has clear benefits for someone with dyslexia. Take a look at some of the ways it can help:
- Ear reading builds fluency: When a child struggles with reading with the eyes, he also tends to struggle with building fluency. By introducing ear reading, you help the child observe intonation, pronunciation, and reading speed, which helps strengthen fluency.
- Ear reading saves time for struggling readers: For a struggling reader, such as a child with dyslexia, wading through difficult material can take hours and hours, and the physical strain can add to the frustration. When you introduce ear reading, the child can “read along” the text while someone else is reading aloud the material for him, which helps him go through it faster without sacrificing content.
- Ear reading helps build comprehension: Younger children, such as those below sixth grade, usually have a higher level of listening comprehension than reading comprehension. By using ear reading tools, they get to access material that they normally would not be able to go through by reading it themselves. This gives a tremendous boost to their comprehension skills.
- Ear reading helps struggling readers enjoy stories and be motivated to read: When a child doesn’t yet master the skill of decoding words, he might miss out on the beauty of stories. But when a parent reads aloud to him, he gets to experience the joy of “reading” a beautiful story.
Sometimes the child may already be too big to put on our lap for story time, or his appetite for stories may already be too long for a mother to read aloud. But with a text-to-speech software, such as an audiobook, he can still enjoy listening to these stories in his own free time, and we help cultivate a a fondness for books. This, in turn, will also motivate him to strengthen his eye reading skills.
5 Best Ear Reading Tools You Can Use
Thanks to technology, ear reading no longer relies on a parent’s or a teacher’s reading aloud energy! Check out the following tools that can give your child or student ear reading enjoyment for hours without end:
1. Audible
Audible is one of the best platforms for ear reading, and you can get a monthly subscription to enjoy the excellently-recorded audiobooks, including popular children’s and young adult novels, as well as time-tested classics. One major advantage is that most of the people who read aloud the books are top-notch actors and performers, ensuring that you can get an enjoyable read.
2. Librivox
If you’re short on budget, librivox.org is a website where volunteers have recorded public domain books onto audio format. You can use this for reading classic children’s and adult books.
In our opinion, before you subscribe to Audible, you can try Librivox first to see how an audiobook works. Of course, since it’s run by volunteers, sometimes you might come across a reader whose accent you can’t really understand, so it takes a bit of digging. We recommend finding the dramatized versions so you can get the full experience of the book you’re listening to.
3. YouTube
We would prefer to recommend Audible and Librivox over YouTube, if for the sole reason that they won’t serve as much possible distraction for a child.
But sometimes you can find a good read aloud video here, too. For picture books which you don’t own, a YouTube video might work well, since the read aloud comes with the book actually being shown on screen for your child to follow along.
4. Common Lit
CommonLit.Org is a website targeted to students in upper elementary, middle school, and high school. The texts on the website come with a “read-aloud” option as well as in-text annotation while reading.
5. Google Docs and Chrome Extensions
Google Docs comes with a text-to-speech function, which lets you use voice typing. You might also look into different extensions for Chrome, such as Read & Write for Google, which reads text aloud from any document or website that you open in Google Chrome.
Using Ear Reading for Students
We hope that this post has helped you understand ear reading and inspired you to maximize it for your students’ benefit. Of course, remember that machines are not able to replace actual interaction with a teacher or parent, so we would recommend you to use these balanced with enough human teaching.
Also, be sure to couple ear reading with the child actually following along the text with his eyes in order to make the connection between the spoken and written word. With much practice and other strategies, we believe this can be a big boost to a struggling reader!
Did you find this post helpful? Let us know in the comments below!
If you enjoyed this post, then you might also like:
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Yen Cabag is the Blog Writer of TCK Publishing. She is also a homeschooling mom, family coach, and speaker for the Charlotte Mason method, an educational philosophy that places great emphasis on classic literature and the masterpieces in art and music. She has also written several books, both fiction and nonfiction. Her passion is to see the next generation of children become lovers of reading and learning in the midst of short attention spans.