Audiobook Narrations Increase Engagement
8th Grade ELA
Tim Nowak & Avery Ciarrocchi
Problem: In the English classroom and small group intensives, independent reading provides powerful opportunities for students. They need time to develop fluency and practice reading comprehension strategies. It is also important for students to remain engaged in reading from a social justice perspective – so that they cultivate their imaginations. Time set aside for independent reading also has the potential to productively increase student agency and improve attitudes toward reading – as it establishes concrete opportunities within the teacher’s locus of control for a student to feel engaged with reading. Over time, it becomes familiar and attainable.
To the extent that not all students are the same, some students find it challenging to be engaged with text – even text which approximates their fluency level. Once students find it hard to do something independently, they are more likely to engage in off-task behavior, display or communicate frustration, and/or interrupt the work of their peers.
Hypothesis: If a teacher establishes structures and resources for students to use Audible.com narrations, then students will have an additional option to assist them in remaining engaged in long-form text and, in fact, increase student engagement as determined by informal case study. A concise case study format was also employed in order to gather observations which could generate questions for future observations.
Data Collection:
Student A: The first student in this informal case study was often engaged in off-task behavior, requested to use the bathroom, and did not keep school wide incentive points (SWIPs) during class periods. Furthermore, it was noticed that these challenges were prevalent during independent practice time – especially during reading.
After the simultaneous text and narration option was introduced, the student increased her positive and on-task behavior. Furthermore, it was perceived that the amount of time the student spent actively engaging with her print book increased. She is within 50 pages of finishing her book. During the span of observation, the student did not lose school wide incentive points. The two most important results – which were completely unexpected – included the following: 1. This student actively sought to read the book [and listen to narration]; 2. The student’s commitment to completion increased. In other words, the student used productive self-advocacy to continue progressing through the book, whereas in the past she may have not made as much progress toward completion.
Student B: This student has attention difficulties. He often engages in conversation with other students – as well as other off-task behaviors. The student has particularly good background knowledge and discussion skills; he shares these strengths in a small group read aloud format.
Once the option with narration was introduced, the student selected this option (provided that it was available) and increased the amount of time he spent actively engaged with text. In addition, off-task behaviors ceased which suggests that the constant auditory input prevented him from engaging others in conversation. Like Student A, Student B was also making more progress toward completion of the text because he was more likely to return to it. During use of the tech tool, this student finished two books, previously not considered to be a possibility. In the past, he simply abandoned books. Other factors could have contributed to the success of this teaching tool. Perhaps this student, because of his attention difficulties, needed more structure. The pre-selected book accompanied by stop and jot response format might have met his need for structure. Alternatively, this student may have simply needed more assistance finding a book within his range for competency. In these cases, the teaching tool met these primary needs in a derivative way. It is important to note that this student did not always track the page in his book and still required prompting to pause the narration and find his place.
Actionable Step: Purchase an Audible book using an Amazon account and listen to it via Audible.com. Make clear your expectation that the student is reading along in his or her book – using the pause and play functions simply to stop and start when necessary. Question and answer response format is helpful in order to create natural thinking breaks for students as well as build in opportunities for reflection.
Overall Findings / Impact: Audible.com narrations provide students the opportunity to remain engaged and consistent in their reading progress through another mode of interacting with text. By increasing time engaged and facilitating progress through a whole book, it increases positive perceptions of English class, and it decreases the frequency and severity of some interfering behaviors.
The findings here are preliminary; other factors could have played a role in the perception of success (e.g. additional social supports and counseling interventions at the same time of tech tool application). Furthermore, this teaching tool does not meet the need of all students – particularly students who need more opportunities for accountability such as taking turns and reading aloud themselves (or reading aloud in an independent read aloud format). Finally, there might be other services available that are free or lower cost which would be better to use. The authors do not endorse Amazon and its company Audible.com.
