I think it depends on what the intended purpose or goal is.
If a child is still learning how to read, then the printed page is
necessary, whether alone or along with sound.
If the issue is absorbing the story, the content, the issues, then the
medium is not necessarily the message.
Of course, with young children, or non-readers, those are often blurred.
But by high school, one may be more dominant for any given task.
Lisa J. Dempster
Head (ACL) of Library Resources
Riverdale Collegiate Institute
Toronto Ontario Canada
http://schools.tdsb.on.ca/riverdale/
jpointer03@hotmail.com
(temporary and changing email just for listservs)
----- Original Message -----
From: "Shonda Brisco" <sbrisco@FWCDS.ORG>
To: <LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU>
Sent: Saturday, December 17, 2005 8:09 AM
Subject: [LM_NET] Audio Books: Not Really Reading?
I have recently had some discussions with librarians about audio
books---primarily using audible books via an iPod for listening. While the
technology issue is one thing that I talk with them about (basically trying
to explain it), the issue that strikes me as being rather unbending is the
idea that these librarians have stated: "Listening to books on tape /
audible version is NOT reading."
While I understand the concepts of the difference between the printed page
and the audio page, I cannot seem to grasp the idea behind their belief that
a student who CAN read but chooses to listen to books instead is NOT
reading. As a librarian for the blind for ten years, I helped hundreds of
students who would never be able to read print find literary skills through
listening to books on tape. When I presented that issue, these librarians
dismissed it as being a "handicap issue" rather than an issue of literacy
for "normal people."
When I asked if ONLY books in print, read with the actual book in hand, were
considered to be REAL reading, they all agreed. When I asked if books in
print that had been digitalized for electronic reading was REAL reading,
they agreed in part only because the information COULD be printed out (which
is another issue too). But when I asked if the book that was in print but
placed in an audio format could be considered "real reading" ---they said,
NO.
Their comments where that "real reading" included seeing the words, the
punctuation, the way the sentences were formed, and the relationship of the
words. My question was whether those elements could also be understood by
the auditory learner WITH a book in hand and a tape / audio version? They
said, "ditch the tape."
I don't know if I am really sensitive to the issues of "reading" in all
formats available to students and their learning styles or abilities, or if
I am just a little sensitive to the complete disregard of anything that is
not in a bound format, but my final statement to these librarians was, "Get
ready for it, ladies.....reading formats are changing and we need to prepare
our students for EVERY possible medium that may become available to
them---or they will become illiterate in the modes of information
transmission / reception."
What are your ideas? Are audio books considered "real reading" for students
who can read or who might be using them in cooperation with the print for
better understanding of the text? I've pondered this for about a month and
a recent discussion once again brought me back to the same place.
Thanks for your insights!
~Shonda
Shonda Brisco, MLIS
US / Technology Librarian
Fort Worth Country Day School
Fort Worth, TX
"Start by doing what is necessary, then what is possible and suddenly you
are doing the impossible."
~St. Francis of Assisi
sbrisco@fwcds.org
http://www.fwcds.org/campus/libraries/default.asp
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