For many years, educational leaders have been making the link
between listening to audiobooks and developing enhanced literacy
skills such as fluency, comprehension, and increased vocabulary.
Astute educators and librarians have been integrating audiobooks
into their lesson plans to help engage non-readers, level the
playing field for English language learners, and slow down those
voracious readers who dont read carefully enough for thorough
comprehension.
With the growth and development of the common reading
experience, professors and administrators now have the opportunity
to increase participation by adding the audiobook option to their
programming, both to better engage non-readers or to simply enhance
the reading experience. Audiobook StatsAccording to the Audio
Publishers Associations annual sales & consumer surveys:
H Audiobook listeners are more voracious readers of print books
than non-listeners.H Use is primarily in the car, but listeners are
increasingly using audiobooks during
exercise, cooking, gardening, and at work.H Digital downloads
now account for 60% of sales through retail channels.H The younger
generation of listeners has a strong preference for downloads.H The
unabridged format continues to dominate with 90% of audios
sold.
Why Audiobooks?H 30% of people are auditory learnersprocessing
information best through listening.H 85% of what we learn, we learn
by listening . . . For students, listening is THE
dominant learning medium, fundamental to grasping all other
language arts: reading, writing, and speaking.
H Audiobooks promote a sense of intimacy and human connectionwe
listened to stories long before we read them. Audiobooks reinforce
good storytelling, an important tradition in human history.
H Movies are adaptations of the text; audiobooks are
word-for-word oral versions of the text.
H The accessibility of audiobooks makes them a great choice for
international students and non-readers, who want to join the
discussion, but face some challenges.
Getting StartedBring Audiobooks into Your Evaluation
Process:
Examination copies are available (in most cases) on CD, and
always as digital downloads. Please contact
[email protected] with your request.
Site Licenses Are Available:Audiobook files can be delivered to
students via a download link on a schools website or intranet.
Contact Maren McCamley at [email protected] for more
information.
Share an Audiobook Clip:Clips are available for ALL of our
titles at randomhouseaudio.com. From the website, you can download
the clips as thumbnails, as well as embed or share them. For
example, you can include clips in your newsletters, post them on
your website, and insert them into presentations. Contact
[email protected] for special clip requests.
Twenty-first century students have
been pushing buttons
since the get-go and
are comfortable and
attracted to devices in
their learning space.
Audiobooks are a
satisfying combination
of an old-fashioned
tradition and todays
technology. Jon Scieszka, author,
www.guyslisten.com
Audiobooks Making the link between listening and the
First-Year/Common Reading Experience
Consider the power of the spoken word to energize the learning
climate at your college or university.
In the ever-changing technological landscape, the art of
listening is an essential component in developing literate,
critical thinkers.
