In an age when stories are told across a multitude of media and platforms, listening to stories continues to have enduring appeal to children. Exploring and promoting the power of audiobooks has never been more important. The pandemic and lockdowns of 2020 and 2021 have caused unprecedented disruption to schools, acutely impacting children and…

This article proposes the integration of mobile audiobooks (MABs) to develop EFL college students' listening comprehension skills. It aims to show the following: (i) The advantages of integrating MABs in listening instruction; (ii) sources of MABs; (iii) how to search for MABs; (iv) criteria for selecting MABs; (v) examples of MABs; (vi) listening…

The present study is characterized as pilot and investigates the impact that different aural renderings have on blind individuals' comprehension. In specific, the present research attempts to compare the effective or active listening of participants with blindness when they use different media; that is, digital talking scripts through synthetic…

For over two decades, the field of children's literature has been incorporating more digital technologies into publication of and access to texts. From early computer and CD-ROM adaptations of print picturebooks to the extensive visual and aural interactivity of the newest literature apps, what and how children read has changed significantly in…

In grade 1, Danish students used a talking book with TTS (text-to-speech) and participated in a learning design with emphasis on decoding and reading for meaning in written text. The students all read the same unfamiliar text, which for many of the students would traditionally be considered being at their frustration level. Basing the intervention…

Vocabulary knowledge is key to comprehension and expression. For students in the intermediate grades, the need for breadth and depth of vocabulary accelerates as they encounter more challenging academic texts in print and on the Internet. Drawing on research-based principles of vocabulary instruction and multimedia learning, this article presents…

This paper reports an extended analysis of the study reported in [Wood, C. (2005). "Beginning readers' use of 'talking books' software can affect their reading strategies." "Journal of Research in Reading, 28," 170-182.], in which five and six-year-old children received either six sessions using specially designed talking books or six sessions of…

This article highlights significant research about what below grade-level reading means in middle school classrooms and suggests a tested approach to improve reading comprehension levels significantly by using audio books. The use of these audio books can improve reading and academic performance for both English language learners (ELLs) and for…

This article presents work undertaken with a class of Scottish Primary Six children (aged 10) to investigate the use of interactive whiteboard technology and interactive talking books in whole-class writing lessons. The paper reports on a research project with three aims: to investigate how the use of an interactive whiteboard to reflect on the…

The use of ICTs to support literacy in a minority Indigenous Australian language is an important domain of pedagogy that is often overlooked by teachers in these contexts. The development of new technological configurations in remote communities can be highly supportive of Indigenous languages spoken by a small number of people. This paper reports…

In recent years, the DfES, 2003 has pushed schools to try and integrate more interactive teaching methods into everyday teaching and learning. This push in technology has lead to an increased call for the use of interactive software to support reading. This study looks at whether talking stories benefit the children who use them. It is a…