What do you think reading a book does for you that just listening to it does not?

[Tap]

A little background: Ds14 has a friend who is almost 13 and is in 7th grade. He listens to books on CD often but seldom reads literature. He is homeschooled and is using a boxed curriculum that uses abridged, or 'selected passages' for almost all literature. The program does require 3 books to be read in the 6-7th grade lexile range for the year.

 

He says reads a complete book, from beginning to end, maybe once a year for pleasure. He listens to a BoCD several times a week, maybe even daily, but it is sometimes the same Harry Potter series over and over. He says he has listened to the series 10-20 times. When I asked him why he doesn't 'branch out' a little, he says "because I like HP". A very simple answer to a simple question....because I like it.

 

 

He is an intelligent kid, and can read well. He is of average to advanced intelligence. There is no reason for reading to be a struggle nor is there any apparent lack of learning by not reading.

 

I have been encouraging him to read more books, and when I commended him last night on finishing one book and getting the second book in a series he asked me why it was so important to me that he read more books. His question got me thinking. I gave him many of my own reasons why I think that BoCD have a wonderful place in literature, but that they shouldn't be the overwhelming first choice.

 

Using a semi-classical model of education, we just read, a lot. And I wonder if my view is skewed because of it. That reading is just expected at our house, even the 2yo is sent to bed with a book LOL. We have always encouraged our kids to read books, and to listen to BoCD in addition to, not instead of, reading.

 

I am not asking for comments on the scenario, I only provided it for context of why I am asking.

 

So, I pose to you this question: What benefits are there, if any, to reading a book vs. listening to it on tape, iPod or CD? Am I skewed by the way we teach? Do you feel there is a difference at all?

Edited April 17, 2009 by Tap, tap, tap

[Academy of Jedi Arts]

I would have an issue with a 7th grader listening to Harry Potter - especially if he was of above average intelligence. I would expect him to be weaning off children's books by that age. But that's just me.

 

As far as listening to books in general, I think it's great. But I think the books should be at a higher level than what the child is capable of reading- or- like we do with movies, you read the book first.

 

I am not a book on tape person. I can't really concentrate on listening to a book and do something like drive or work in the kitchen. But, again, that's just me. There have been some I have really enjoyed. I enjoyed listening to Silence of the Lambs much more than I did reading it.

 

When I was little, my dad's company made the tapes to go along with the old filmstrips we used to watch in school (remember how cool it was to get to be the one to flip the frames? lol). He would bring just the tapes home (without the beep sound) and I would listen to them at night at bedtime. I never realized just how much I learned from that.

 

My dd, on the other hand, loves to listen to books on tape. She does what I used to do as a little girl- she listens to them at night.

[KarenNC]

I don't think it's the media as much as the content/variety and whether it's retained that's important.

 

Some folks are very auditory learners, so listening to a book may actually make it *easier* for them to retain the material than just reading it silently from a physical book. This is true whether they are proficient readers or not, it's just a matter of what helps it to "stick". Some folks are more kinesthetic so being able to do something else with their hands or move around more while listening may help them retain more than if they had to sit still and focus on the printed word. Personally, I lean more toward the visual, so while a book on cd is enjoyable, I do better overall with a physical copy (plus I love the smell of old books and the entire physical experience, one reason I don't think I'd want a Kindle).

 

For my husband, who loves to read any and everything in every format, books on ipod/cd are sometimes his only option because of time limitations. He uses them in the car on his commute. Otherwise he doesn't have a lot of time to read a physical book. He downloads tons of lectures, nonfiction books, etc to fulfill his need to be a perpetual student ;). My daughter and I listen to audiobooks in the car rather than the radio and it helps with some of those things I would love to read aloud but don't have time due to other activities or my voice just wears out.

[In The Great White North]

1. Listening to a book fills in some of the areas your imagination gets to do with a real book: accents, pauses, emotions, etc.

 

2. Tons of great books (not to mention textbooks) aren't available on tape or CD. Many that have been put on tape have been abridged, "modernized" or dumbed down.

 

3. Listening to a book does nothing to increase his reading level, which needs to jump way beyond Harry Potter before he gets to high school, and even further before college.

 

4. Listening to books does not provide the spelling, grammar, punctuation example that "real" reading does - requiring him to study those areas more in an artificial (workbook?) setting.

 

I really like books on tape for while I am doing something else: driving, "projects," etc. They replace the radio, not reading.

[Deidre in GA]

A little background:

 

So, I pose to you this question: What benefits are there, if any, to reading a book vs. listening to it on tape, iPod or CD? Am I skewed by the way we teach? Do you feel there is a difference at all?

 

i haved listened to hundreds of hours of audiobooks. they are how i endure my exercise routine on the treadmill and, since i do not have time to sit down and read, audiobooks have brought literature back into my life. it is my little mind vacation.

 

that being said, the experience of listening to a book is very different than readng. when i read, if a passage or phrase or word catches my fancy, i am able to pause and reflect on that moment. enjoy where ever it takes me and then return to my place in the book. with an audiobook you had better stop the device when those moments happen because the story will keep on going while you reflect and you're lost when you return! similarly, my mind wanders; with a book you can realize you are going through the motions and easily thumb back to where you were last paying real attention. i find backtracking more difficult with audiobooks - then again, i am on a treadmill at the time!

[AuntieM]

I enjoy the occasional book on CD, mostly for its portability when we travel. But reading a book is quite different. I like that I can go at my own pace, reread sentences and paragraphs as needed, and use MY OWN imagination to conjure up the sound of a character's voice.

 

I believe reading is more engaging because it makes one THINK. Listening can be passive to an extent, but reading is active. I have no doubt that my brain has to work harder to read than it does when it listens to anything akin to entertainment. It would be interesting to see a scientific study of brain activity while taking in a book in each way..

 

I do enjoy listening to radio shows and sermons and that sort of thing, it does require me to think. But I don't believe all children's BoCD require that kind of attention. Maybe the first time one listens, but not repetitively.

[tinkgumby]

So, I pose to you this question: What benefits are there, if any, to reading a book vs. listening to it on tape, iPod or CD? Am I skewed by the way we teach? Do you feel there is a difference at all?

 

I don't use audio books a lot while teaching my kids, but there's a definite difference for me personally between the two - and I'm not sure which is better! :D

 

I am a VERY fast reader - I can get through multiple books in a day, especially fiction. It's very fun for me to sit down and curl up with a book and zoom through it, and I love the tactile sensation of turning the pages.

 

When listening to audio books, it takes hours and hours longer than it would take me to read it by myself - but that can be a good thing. Even books that I've re-read several times (Georgette Heyer books, for example) have details that come out when I am forced to listen to every word that I've never noticed in my readings of them.

 

I'm more of a visual learner myself, so between the two I prefer just sitting and reading. I can see an auditory learner preferring listening to books. It's also nice that you can do other things - housework, yardwork, and so on - while listening to a book, whereas reading them in print tends to prevent other activities.

[Lux Et Veritas Academy]

I have my children do both everyday and it has been a fabulous experience. I usually have them listen to books above their level. Both of my kids were late readers and now they are lovers of lit. They are both reading twice as much as any of their PS counterparts. I don't think it has to be one or the other. I mix it up and it works out great!

[JennW in SoCal]

My ds LOVES his audio books. We just realized in the last month that he was listening more rather than reading because he needed glasses, but even with that remedied, he always makes sure to have a book to listen to.

 

The benefits:

His working vocabulary is excellent. He knows how to use and pronounce correctly difficult words, and has been since he was very young.

 

Older works are very accessible. Hearing Austen or Dickens read by an excellent narrator, just as listening to a Shakespeare play done by excellent actors, brings the work to life. It makes future readings of the print versions much easier because you know how the language should flow.

 

My younger son is kinesthetic and needs to fidget and fiddle to keep his brain engaged. He builds legos and draws when listening, he also likes to listen at night when going to bed. He has no music on his iPod, just books. I like to crochet, clean house, exercise while listening and was thrilled to have a favorite book to listen to while stuck in the dentist chair for an hour yesterday!

 

As someone else mentioned, it is a different thing to hear every single word from a book. I have come to realize from reading aloud and listening to audio books that I am an impatient reader when reading a print book, and I have missed some wonderful passages by letting my eyes skip ahead to find the action.

 

For some kids with learning disabilities audio books are the only way they will ever get through advanced literature.

 

For families who enjoy read alouds, audio books are great because the narrator's voice doesn't give out after a chapter or two. The pause button allows you to stop and discuss, you can rewind, too if you want to listen again.

 

The Harry Potter audio books are very special. Jim Dale's voice and acting are a wonderful addition to the stories and my teens have listened to them over and over and over. I read them aloud when my kids were young, we went to all the midnight release parties for the last 3 books, my kids have read the print versions, but Harry Potter is something my kids will listen to for a long time to come.

 

I do believe that for serious and deep reading and analysis of literature you can't beat a print book. But iPods and audio books are a wonderful marriage of technology and culture. It's the Kindle that I can't quite wrap my mind around!!

[Robin M]

My 2 cents. I can't listen to stories because I end up tuning them out. Too many things to distract me. They don't paint the picture of the story in my imagination the way a book does. As I read the words, I am pulled into the story and see it as it progresses.

 

To me with listening to a story, the story itself stays on the surface and is not absorbed. Reading it sinks in to the brain and is absorbed into your brain cells.

[Jami]

I can't remember where I read it...maybe on AO's site somewhere. But you do lose that element of *seeing* words spelled and laid out in grammatical constructions. Sure you pick up the sound of the grammar, but it can help with future writing to see what the language looks like on the page.

 

That said, we love audiobooks and listen to them plenty. But now that my older two are strong readers, I want them to see the language they love to hear. :)

[momofkhm]

I can loose myself in a book. I can't loose myself in a BoCD. Maybe that's because I only listen to BoCD in the car so I have to stop when the car stops.

 

But in terms of reading for knowledge, not escape, I can reread a passage as many times as I need to for comprehension. If I miss a word, I can get it the second time usually. If I really don't understand something and have to read it several times, well I can. With a BoCD, I find it torture to back and listen to a sentence again. The process of rewinding just as much as I need is near to impossible.

 

Besides if I read something it stays with me better. I can remember it more, longer than if I only hear it.

[Mommy22alyns]

My first thought is that you lose seeing the words. I'm a visual learner and I love seeing the words, the phrases, the different print. You can place emphasis where you want when you're reading the book yourself. Different voices that are used in audiobooks add more to the "sketch" of a character than is just there in print - gee, I didn't realize that Ralph S. Mouse's mom was from New York! :lol: Maybe I wanted to imagine it a different way, KWIM? It's neither good nor bad, just different.

 

If I have the book in my hands, I can always flip back for clarification on something if I need to - not so easy with audiobooks.

 

And you can't really smell an audiobook. :001_huh: Yes, I'm a book-sniffer.

 

We use both for the girls, but DH and I rarely use audiobooks for ourselves. I can see benefits of training the ears of little ones though, and this way they get even more stories.

[cathmom]

I would never willingly listen to an audiobook.

[LibraryLover]

This child is only 12 and he's doing both. 12 is young! I think it's great. I know a 10 yr old who doesn't read...but she listens to books on tape daily. (yeah, if she were mine, I'd teach her to read, but she's not and she's wonderful). Her working vocabulary is fantastic. She listens to books most 10 yr olds would not read. Or listen to.

[fivetails]

 

For some kids with learning disabilities audio books are the only way they will ever get through advanced literature.

 

...or basic literature. ;)

 

Our ds10 is blind - and, due to his other disabilities, he is only yet a "beginner" with braille. We don't know how far he'll be able to go with it....

 

Anyway - he LOVES audio books. He enjoys being read to by myself or his older sister - but there's something about hearing the story on a cd that he enjoys even more. Different voices, sound effects, etc... :)

 

He's in AWANAs and I am *so* glad that the Sparks book comes with a cd version now - because he's having such a fantastic time listening to the stories on it and it's helping him to memorize his verses...

 

Dd12 - she enjoys audio stories, to a degree... she'd rather listen to a book on cd than read the book - that's just her preference more than anything, as she *can* read the book (like HP, for example - she's capable or reading HP, but she'd rather listen to it on a cd) if it's on her reading level... she just prefers to listen.

 

So, in one case it's abilities, in the other it's preference.

 

Myself, I despise 'em. I think I'm not an "auditory learner" I guess. I don't like listening to radio broadcasts either - music stops and news comes on, I change the station. If I want news (and it's rare that I do LOL), I can read the paper or watch the evening news show. Want me to get somewhere new? Draw me a map, take me there first, whatever --- just don't TELL me the directions cuz they'll go in one ear and right out the other. Same deal with audio stories/lectures/etc. :tongue_smilie:

[gardening momma]

I think there have been some really good reasons for both print and audio books listed. The first one I thought of, before I read all the responses, was that print books can help with grammar and spelling. I think both kinds of books have their places, depending on circumstances, mood, ability/disability, learning style, etc...

 

As far as Harry Potter, I don't see why the series has to be strictly for children, and that we must wean kids from it by the time they're a teen. My dh and I read them as adults, and we loved them. I still read books that are technically aimed at the teen market, but are very enjoyable reads.

[3lilreds in NC]

I have to confess that I *love* the Harry Potter audiobooks. I'm listening to them through, again, for maybe the 5th or 6th time. The narrator is the best I've ever heard and the books "sound" like they did in my head when I read them.

 

I have fallen in love with audiobooks over the last few years. I find that I get much more out of them and hear more detail than I do when I just read. I'm talking about pleasure books, though. When I sit to read something for pleasure, I read quickly and I skim a lot. I get the gist of the story, but I can almost always read it again and find something new. That's been fun, but I have enjoyed listening to the books and hearing everything at once. :D

 

For my kids, I want them to READ. I want them to see the words and create the stories in their heads. I want them to be able to take a book and wander outside, climb a tree (or at least sit under one) with a book and lose themselves in the story. I do think the visual cues are important to spelling and writing, but honestly, I'm talking from a "feeling" POV here. So much of my good life experiences have to do with reading books. My ideal vacation would be to go somewhere with a stack of books and no children for a week. And some food, of course, and maybe toilet paper. And a shower.

 

For me, at this point in my life, I like audio. I can listen while doing the dishes or folding laundry and not feel guilty about taking time away from what else I should be doing. If I needed to take notes, I might prefer to read, but for overall comprehension, listening has been huge for me. I've been reading "Talkers, Watchers and Doers" by Cheri Fuller, and she gives some really neat ideas for helping kids who are more auditory develop good study skills, and I've been talking with friends about our study experiences in college. I was a terrible studier. I could *not* sit and read all those books and retain them. One friend said she would tape the lectures, take notes, and then go over the notes with the tape again later. I wish I'd known her in college - it would have helped me tremendously to do that!

 

OK, I'm babbling. I'm pretty sure I have nothing helpful to say about why someone *should* read over listening to books. It would be good for that young man to branch out beyond Harry Potter. Jim Dale narrated a great version of Peter Pan - see if you can check that out for him from the library. :)

[WishboneDawn]

I love to read and I love audio books. I don't think they're truly comparable or that one is a suitable substitute for the other. They are different mediums.

 

I will say that I do love a well done audio book. Perhaps it misses some things a book offers but a good reader can also offer things to a story that plain text sometimes can't. Also, there's not much in the world that offers more quiet and contented pleasure then listening to an audio book while drawing or embroidering or doing some other creative activity that a book would make impossible.

 

I do know one thing, I had to drop a former snobby attitude to audio books when I started read-alouds which ARE after all, simply the manual equivilent to books-on-CD. :)

[KarenNC]

LOL. I'm glad I'm not he only one. I have tried, and I just can't get into it. I love to read though.

 

For me it very much depends on both the book (has to be reasonably written and entertaining and we don't typically do abridged books) and the reader. I have heard some readers who butcher otherwise good books while a good reader can help make them come even more alive. One of my favorite readers is Barbara Rosenblatt, who is the reader of the Amelia Peabody mystery series by Elizabeth Peters. I had read all the series more than once and I can honestly say that the audio version actually enhanced my experience with the books (which I already greatly enjoyed).

[Stacia]

This is an extreme example, but if you solely or mainly listen to audio vs. doing the reading yourself, you could end up functionally illiterate even though you may have a large speaking vocabulary & comprehension. (I say this partially because I know of a child that may be heading in this direction.)

 

Also, with audio, you are at the mercy of the speaker -- you will hear only the piece as read w/ a certain inflection, tone, emphasis, speed, etc.... When reading for yourself, you can determine it to a larger amount. I think reading also lends more of the flexibility of comparing & contrasting passages and texts as a whole.

 

I think visual reading also encourages deeper thinking, slowing down & even pausing to mark things, make notes, reflect on a passage.... As others have mentioned, it also builds knowledge of reading itself, spelling, punctuation,....

 

I come down heavily on the side of being in favor for visual reading & comprehension. Audio is a nice (and fun) complement to visual reading, but not a replacement for it, imo.

[Nestof3]

So, I pose to you this question: What benefits are there, if any, to reading a book vs. listening to it on tape, iPod or CD? Am I skewed by the way we teach? Do you feel there is a difference at all?

 

You have received good answers from the first and third questions already. And, of course you are not skewed for having your children read a lot.

 

I will admit that it is hard not to read your questions in light of the background story. The story does sort of set me up to defend the educational choices his mom has made and defend his listening to audio books.

And, for Jedi's comment, I loved listening to and reading the Mysterious Benedict Society and sequel, and I also re-read A Wrinkle in Time recently. I think it's perfectly fine to read or listen to a book which is lower than ones level. Sometimes, children in particular find a sort of comfort in the familiar.

 

Sure, I may school differently, but my husband is a great guy and neither likes to read nor listen to audio books. He does have a list of other skills, though, that would make many women green with envy. :)

[Academy of Jedi Arts]

And, for Jedi's comment, I loved listening to and reading the Mysterious Benedict Society and sequel, and I also re-read A Wrinkle in Time recently. I think it's perfectly fine to read or listen to a book which is lower than ones level. Sometimes, children in particular find a sort of comfort in the familiar.

 

Badly worded post there. ITA with this. I was speaking in the sense of assigned reading/listening for school purposes. Heck, back when I got dd the Little House series, I sat down and re-read them all. In one day. :blushing:

[dcjlkplus3]

Like many others, we do both.

My children all love audio books.

They listen to them over and over and over.

My job is to make sure they also read.

I have only one reader so far (she is 7.5) - this week she read, Little House in the Big Woods, Happy Birthday, Molly!(AG), and 2 Rainbow Magic books.

I have come to think there is nothing wrong with audio books, for all the reasons mentioned, but it was a struggle for me as I am a bookie.

My dh listens to stories on his mp3 player a lot, since he can often do it while he is working and he is a slow reader.

I also love listening to the Harry Potter books. Because I read very fast I read them all first, my dh also loves them adn listens to them repeatedly.

[Nestof3]

Badly worded post there. ITA with this. I was speaking in the sense of assigned reading/listening for school purposes. Heck, back when I got dd the Little House series, I sat down and re-read them all. In one day. :blushing:

 

I unfortunately was not brought up in a reading home, so I am really enjoying reading all of the children's books I should have read! Can you believe I still haven't read the Little House books?

[mcconnellboys]

Well, for starters you're firing different neurons when listening to a book vs. reading it silently to yourself. So different areas of the brain are being stimulated and I tend to think that both types of reading are important (having someone read to him aloud or listening to a book on tape is basically the same, unless the book contains special effects rendering it more like a movie experience). Reading more now will help to improve his memory/retention, comprehension, and speed for the written word, all of which may be important to him later if he's going to college and/or into a job someday that might require lots of reading in order to complete his assignments.

[tricia]

To me, I feel like I am part of the book when I read it. But listening gives me a distant feel.

[Katrina]

I unfortunately was not brought up in a reading home, so I am really enjoying reading all of the children's books I should have read! Can you believe I still haven't read the Little House books?

 

:svengo: I grew up in a nonreading household as well. Luckily my elem school had a requirement that we had to check out one book a week. One day I actually started to read one of the books I checked out, "Little House in the Woods," and have become a reading fanatic since then.

 

Right now, go to your nearest library or bookstore and get these books!!! :001_smile:

[LibraryLover]

Delusions of Grandma and Post Cards From The Edge in my car CD player once got me through all of North and South Carolina, & right into Georgia without falling asleep. lol That Carrie Fisher is a perfect narrator for her work. You can hear mom Debbie Reynolds in her voice. "Oh, the beach house! Why did we have to loose the beach house!" :lol:

[KarenNC]

To me, I feel like I am part of the book when I read it. But listening gives me a distant feel.

 

Interesting. I can indeed lose myself so deeply in a book that I don't notice what's going on around me and that's harder for me to do while listening.

 

Listening to a book read aloud is a different experience, but I don't feel it to be distancing. As someone said, read alouds are only the manual form of books on cd :001_smile:. I grew up in a reading household and can't remember learning to read, just always had my head stuck in a book. However, what I cannot remember is the experience of anyone reading *to* me, including my parents or grandparents, at least not in the form of reading entire stories. Snippets from the paper, yes, but not a good story. I presume that it's in part because I learned to read well very early, so they didn't see the need. That experience of being read to is something that I have enjoyed since we are doing read alouds with my daughter (and we still do it a lot even though she's an excellent reader and now 8) and listening to books on tape in the car. It opens up different dimensions of the book for me.

[ereks mom]

I still read books that are technically aimed at the teen market, but are very enjoyable reads.

 

Many adult books have too much offensive language and/or sexual situations, and I'm not comfortable reading that sort of thing. I love children's books, classics and Newbery winners especially.

[tinkgumby]

Many adult books have too much offensive language and/or sexual situations, and I'm not comfortable reading that sort of thing. I love children's books, classics and Newbery winners especially.

 

I totally agree! I used to want to be a Children's Librarian, because I've never gotten over my love of children's books - in fact, there are some great ones that I still re-read every year or so. :D

 

(Sorry if this is getting too off topic.)