Meanwhile, Desmond is focused on studying for his test. He listens to the highlighted main points that he bookmarked in a previous section, then clicks on a self-check quiz to monitor his understanding. When Desmond misses an item, he is prompted to listen again to a particular section of the speech by clicking on a link. The link takes him to the relevant section so that he can listen at a slower pace. It also highlights the corresponding segment in the printed speech to further focus his attention on the salient information. Desmond continues through this guided review until he is satisfied that he understands the core information needed for the class test.
Tanya becomes increasingly interested in the topic of civil rights as a result of her exploration of Internet resources. She chooses to complete a multimedia slide show that illustrates the audio recording of “I Have a Dream” with still and moving images of protest marches, examples of discrimination and other visual aids that enhance the experience of listening to the speech. With multimedia options for expression, Tanya blends text, video and audio media to reinforce the important points and emotion of King’s speech as it unfolded on that momentous day.
Provide multiple means of engagement
At the heart of learning is engagement—engagement with the process, with the content, with ourselves as learners, designers and communicators. Centered in the affective networks of the brain described earlier, engagement is individually based and, for the most part, socially constructed. Recent studies on how human beings become experts in fields as diverse as sports, business, science and the arts suggest that while talent is important, even more essential to developing expertise is a high level of interest and commitment (Feltovich, P.J., Prietula, P.J., & Ericsson, K.A., 2006). Goal-setting and practice, guided by feedback, are essential to the development of expertise. And, not surprisingly, they conclude that the level and amount of practice that is required to excel is more likely to happen if one is interested in whatever it is that he or she needs to practice.
Yet all too often in school, students have little freedom to set their own goals and pursue interests. In fact, many stumble at defining an interest that is academically related. Further, despite the acknowledged need to differentiate instruction and provide guided practice, it is quite difficult to achieve in today’s diverse classrooms without additional teaching support and, we would argue, without flexible multimedia, such as audio books and digital texts, which can open up the learning process in ways that inspire more interest and instill a sense of ownership.
Let’s revisit Elena, Desmond and Tanya as they finish learning about, with, and through “I Have a Dream,” and accompanying digital learning supports and resources. The students set learning goals and made choices about how they were going to accomplish them. They took advantage of all that the digital literacy tools afforded, including audio options. For example, Elena—who might have become discouraged by a language barrier if learning about “I Have a Dream” was restricted to print alone—now finds it easier to persist in studying the topic. The topic is still challenging, but the multiple means of tackling the subject hold her interest, especially since she can use her Spanish knowledge to support her English comprehension. Desmond also increases his investment and interest since he is able to control the pace of his review of the audio recording and access crucial background knowledge that he knows will help him accomplish his goal of performing well on his test. Tanya, too, thrives in a learning environment where she can make choices and be creative in fulfilling the assignment.
Listening to Learn: Digital Text for Learning to Read
Consider a second example of digital capacity in the classroom. Interactive storybook reading has long been a cornerstone of beginning literacy instruction in pre-K and primary classrooms. Teachers model how to read with expression, while drawing attention to how to read. Read-alouds continue to play an important role with older students, where expressive reading of an excerpt, or on occasion a whole text, entices students into book worlds that might be otherwise unexplored. In the digital classroom, audiobooks and digital texts with read-aloud functionality are expanding opportunities to listen to, and learn from, text.
While there has long been a place for audiobooks in the classroom, in recent years they have become increasingly popular in the home and school, as evidenced by a 350% increase in the number of books transformed into audio format in the last 15 years (Wysocki, 2005). This is attributable, in part at least, to the vast improvements in audio technology and the creation and distribution of audio products. Audiobooks can be downloaded on the Internet, checked out of the local library, purchased at the supermarket or borrowed from an educational library. Organizations such as Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D, http://www.rfbd.org) are a primary source of audiobooks for individuals with print disabilities. RFB&D’s library includes approximately 109,000 titles recorded with human voice.
Education policy has also had an impact. U.S. federal law (IDEA 1997) mandates that all children have access to the general education curriculum, including their textbooks and other core texts, and audio books are one means to improve access. Recorded speech can serve a compensatory function for students with decoding or fluency problems, much as wearing glasses compensates for weak vision (Edyburn, 2002; Strangman & Dalton, 2005). As such, it indirectly supports students’ learning of the content. Once students have access, learning is dependent on other factors, such as background knowledge and vocabulary, reading strategies, engagement and instruction. For the fourth grade child reading on a second grade level, or the grade student reading on a sixth grade level, listening to text is essential if they are to learn from (and enjoy) the same content as their peers. The passage of IDEA in 1997 increased the use of audiobooks by students who have print-related disabilities, such as students with visual impairments, limited physical mobility or dyslexia.
Digital texts with read-aloud functionality also meet the critical need for improved access to the curriculum and are playing an increasingly important role in the classroom. Digital texts can be read-aloud using human voice or synthetic speech (or a combination). Human voice requires audio recording of the specific text, while synthetic speech is not linked to a particular text, but rather is produced word by word via a text-to-speech (TTS) engine that typically relies on strings of phonetic and prosodic symbols. Each form has its own advantages and limitations. Human voice is superior in its ability to convey emotion and tone, to pronounce words correctly, and to use appropriate phrasing and pausing. It not only provides a richly expressive listening environment that may hook even the most reluctant reader, it also offers a strong model of oral language usage, something of particular relevance to young children and children who are English language learners. However, from a practical standpoint, human voice has important limitations, including the demands of recording, production, distribution and file storage. Further, with recorded narration it is not possible to provide audio access to the enormous volume of text encountered on the Internet, much of which changes from day to day. The vast majority of digital content on the Internet is not supported by human voice narration.
In this regard, the advantage of TTS tools that can read any content in digital format “on the fly” is obvious. There are many TTS tools available commercially and as freeware. Once acquired, there is no additional cost for audio support, whether the student reads 10 words, 100 words, or 10,000 words. TTS can also read words that the student is producing in a Word document, on a web page, or in an e-mail message. There are no audio files to store, and synchronized highlighting of the text is more easily accomplished than with human voice narration. Finally, since there are speech engines in various languages, it is possible to read Spanish text with a Spanish speech engine, French Canadian text with a French Canadian speech engine, and so forth. However, the flexibility of TTS is also its major weakness. Synthetic voice, despite technical improvements, is still a poor model of oral language. There is minimal oral expression; words are produced in a stream, with frequent mispronunciations and awkward phrasing. Still, TTS is generally intelligible, and, for individuals with visual impairments who have high levels of listening comprehension, the TTS narration rate can be substantially increased without loss of intelligibility. Ideally, students should have access to both types of listening experience: core texts with human speech to realize the benefits of accurate, rich expressive reading, and use of a TTS tool that gives them the freedom to read any text that is in digital format.
Research suggests that in addition to providing basic access to content, audiobooks and TTS may also support the development of basic literacy skills. While TTS research is complicated by tremendous variation in research design, technology application, duration of intervention and student reading achievement, there is promising evidence for its effectiveness, particularly for older students in the middle grades and above. In an earlier review of the literature on TTS for students with disabilities we identified several studies investigating the impact of read-aloud support (TTS or human speech) on literacy skills that found a positive effect on comprehension and two demonstrating transfer to reading contexts that did not involve TTS (Dalton & Strangman, 2006). There is reason to believe that audiobooks can also improve literacy skills. A study investigating the effectiveness of RFB&D’s AudioPlus books as a component of language arts instruction for students in inclusive settings in grades 4-8 demonstrated significant gains in student reading rate and accuracy (Recording for the Blind & Dyslexic, 2006b). Students using the audiobooks moved from the frustrational reading level (94.4%) to the instructional reading level (96.3%). Moreover, teachers felt that use of the audiobooks increased students’ motivation and confidence. Thus, speech support may be an important means to not only support individual differences in recognition, providing access to the curriculum and strengthening literacy skills, but also support affect by boosting confidence and motivation.
View Video — Research suggests that in addition to providing basic access to content, audiobooks and text-to-speech technology, or TTS, may also support the development of basic literacy skills. This video shows how TTS can increase access to an informational webpage about logging.