Media Specialists

Audiobooks are a proven resource for teaching reading, at all reading levels, which is why they've been used in classrooms for decades. Among many the benefits, listening builds critical vocabulary, comprehension, fluency and listening skills; in fact, adding a listening component to reading instruction has been shown to improve student achievement. Instructional methods such as The Daily 5 do just that, and the Common Core Standards spell out specific listening requirements by grade level. Tales2Go leverages your school's investment in 1:1 and BYOD technology to make the process of accessing and playing audio books easier and more economical.

Tales2Go is an entire library of name-brand audiobooks at your fingertips. With thousands of titles categorized by genre, age group, author, title or storyteller, sharing the best stories has never been easier. Media Specialists have known for years that children are inspired by the tales they hear, told in an engaging voice by someone connected to the literature. Tales2Go features professional talent sharing the mysteries, biographies, adventures and fables that inspire students to read more, and compliment the curriculum being presented in class.

The benefits of listening to audiobooks include:

• Increase in reading fluency
• Building of a more robust vocabulary
• Better listening and reading comprehension
• Improved phonemic awareness
• Better understanding of basic phonics

Perhaps the greatest benefit is the motivation to find and read more stories. Tales2Go allows Media Specialists to purchase as many licenses as they need, making collaboration simple. New titles are added frequently at no additional charge, at every age level, for readers at different stages of development.

Tales2Go also provides tips and ideas for educators, parents, and other school staff that can be implemented immediately, including downloadable graphic organizers, projects, and discussion topics that teachers can customize to meet the individual needs of their students, from struggling or emerging readers to gifted children looking for a new challenge.

Rosenberg, Tina. "The Power of Talking to Your Baby." The New York Times, April 10, 2013. Web.

Available online at nytimes.com

New York Times Reporter, Tina Rosenberg writes about the importance of surrounding children with sophisticated, spoken vocabulary. A poor child is likely to hear millions fewer words at home than a child from a professional family. And the disparity matters. The article references research by Betty Hart and Todd R. Risley at the University of Kansas, suggesting a key to early learning is talking — specifically, a child’s exposure to language spoken by parents and caretakers from birth to age 3, the more the better.

Cooper, Brett. "Listen up - using audio books to help improve reading." The Literacy Lens, Volume 4 Issue 1. Web.

Available online at The Literacy Lens

Brett Cooper teaches fifth grade at Lewiston Elementary School in Columbia County, GA. The white paper demonstrates marked student improvement in reading scores as a result of introducing audio books to a classroom reading period each day.

Pondiscio, Robert. "Reading and Language Growth: What It Really Takes." Washington Post, March 14, 2012. Web.

Available online at WashingtonPost.com

A Washington Post guest blogger, Robert Pondiscio of the Core Knowledge Foundation writes about what teachers already understand- That "a child’s ability to take in information through reading typically doesn’t catch up to his or her ability to do so by listening until the 8th grade." The piece explores how oral language develops before written language, and how the study in which his students participated made a case for a learning and listening approach to literacy instruction to increase student achievement and build background knowledge.

Core Knowledge Foundation. "Listening & Learning Strand," The Core Knowledge Language Arts Program, K-2. 2012. Web.

Available online at Core Knowledge Foundation

The study that is described in the Washington Post piece by Pondiscio addresses how read-alouds expose student to rich, content-specific vocabulary.  The allows them to " experience written language without the burden of decoding, granting them access to content they might not be able to read and understand by themselves."  This overview also includes suggestions for instructors using read-aloud as an instructional strategy, activities for students to extend their learning, and an assessment chart.

Noland, Liz. "Why Listening is Good for All Kids - Especially in the Digital Age" AudioFile Magazine (April/May 2011)

Available online through AudioFile Magazine: http://digital.audiofilemagazine.com/i/27816/13

The purpose of this article is to pull out highlights and provide a bibliography of resources that can help explain why and how audiobooks are beneficial for children and teens.

Dahlgren, Dr. Mary E. "Oral Language and Vocabulary Development." Reading First National Conference (2008).

Downloadable PDF: www2.ed.gov/programs/readingfirst/2008conferences/language.pdf

A presentation given at the 2008 Reading First National Conference on the importance of oral language instruction.  Listening builds critical fluency, comprehension, vocabulary, and of course, listening skills.  Listening comprehension (i.e. a large vocabulary in terms of language ability and background knowledge) is key to reading comprehension and written composition.  In fact, the greater a student's vocabulary in the younger grades, the greater their reading comprehension in the later grades.  Sites various research including Gough and Tumner (1986), Tabors (2001) and Cunningham and Stanovich (1997).

Cardillo, Arnie, et al. "Tuning in to Audiobooks: Why Should Kids Listen?" Children and Libraries 5.3 (2007): 42-46. Print.

Available in PDF format through the APA: http://www.audiopub.org/resources/Cardillo_CAL2007.pdf

The American Library Association hosted a panel of literacy experts who discuss how audiobooks can help educators in the areas of fluency, motivating reluctant readers, and providing assistance for those who struggle to learn to read independently.  The merits of different types of narration are discussed along with effective strategies for using audiobooks in reading instruction and other classroom activities. 

Grover, Sharon, and Lizette Hannegan. "Hear and Now: Connecting Outstanding Audiobooks to Library and Classroom Instruction." Teacher Librarian 35.3 (2008): 17-21. Print.

Available in PDF format through the APA: http://www.audiopub.org/resources/Grover_TeacherLibrarian2008.pdf

This article offers ideas on how to introduce audiobooks to students, and discusses some ways audiobooks aid literacy.  Integration of school and classroom library collections is discussed, as well as some popular titles for students at different grade levels.

Permission to reprint "Hear and Now: Connecting Outstanding Audiobooks to Library and Classroom Instruction" by Sharon Grover and Lizette Hannegan (vol. 35, issue 3, Feb. 2008, p17-21) granted by Teacher Librarian and E.L. Kurdyla Publishing LLC.