June

Audio in the Classroom: Improving Reading Comprehension with Recorded “Read-Alouds”

Posted In: For Educators, Uncategorized by christinabutler

No matter what classroom you walk into, there will be students who struggle with reading comprehension. In this post, I’ll share ways to use audio to measure comprehension more accurately.

First we must tackle the big question: “If the student is always read to, how will he learn to read on his own?” The answer is easy. “Learning to read” and “comprehension” are two different things. When a student learns to read, the student identifies letters, then letter sounds, and finally strings them together to make words. Eventually, the student uses memorization to read sight words and uses pronunciation rules to read complex words. Reading comprehension, however, is a different skill. Obviously, a student needs to comprehend, or show a basic understanding, of the topic presented.

A huge majority of students in today’s classrooms are auditory learners. This is my first reason for using audio in the classroom. My second reason is that students that struggle with reading do NOT need that hindering their acquisition of a topic. If a student needs to read a passage on the effects of global warming and answer questions about the topic, why should a reading deficit keep this student from answering questions about a scientific topic? A student should be able to answer questions, whether or not he gets tripped up on complicated words.

Read Alouds in the English/Language Arts Classroom

The first place that most teachers would use audio for read alouds is in the English/Language Arts classroom. Many Literature textbooks come packaged with tapes or CDs of the poems and short stories included in the book. These are valuable tools in the classroom. Having students read aloud has always been used to keep students on track, but has since served to embarrass many students and lose other students who can’t hear well. Playing the CDs in class allows for all students to be able to relax and follow along.

Many English/Language Arts classrooms also complete novel studies during the school year. CDs are also very beneficial in this case, especially if each chapter is a separate track. This allows teachers to pick up at the right place, and end the time a teacher spends rewinding to find the right place.

My favorite way to use read alouds in the classroom is with short stories in combination with quizzes. Students turn to the correct page and I hit “play” on the CD player. Students hear a very engaging voice begin reading through the short story. After a few paragraphs, a chime plays and the voice gives a short summary of what has just happened. The voice then prompts the students to look at the quiz on their desks. The voice then reads the first question, re-reads it, and waits for students to answer on their papers. A chime plays again, and students return to their place in the short story. This continues through the short story, while students complete a 10 question quiz. (Here are some read-alouds that I use in my classroom.)

In my experience, using this type of audio helps for many reasons. First, the students are listening to an engaging voice. Second, the short musical cues prompt students to pick up their pencils and answer the questions. Third, ample time was given for all students to answer. Finally, (my favorite reason), students did not have to remember 6 pages of text for 45 minutes (and possibly through a lunch break) before answering questions. This way, if a student did not understand what has just happened, the summary given was immediate. No students were confused through the whole story.

This type of quiz can be given to check for understanding of setting, characters, plot, or climax. It can also be used as a fun foreshadowing activity, where the CD explains what just happened and the student must answer what he thinks will happen next. Everyone loves a quiz with no right or wrong answers!

Furthermore, It goes without saying that using a recording in the classroom is ideal for when the teacher is out and a substitute is in charge. This allows the teacher to have control over what is covered during class, while the substitute can walk around and monitor behavior.

See my related post on Acoustic Treatment in the Classroom.

Share This Post!

Up?