The Critical Role of Voice Audio in Accelerating and Scaffolding Student Achievement in Reading.
All spoken language is a continuous stream of sound, with the perceptible beginning and endings of the words only truly clear with the first sound uttered at the beginning of speech and the last uttered after the entire sentence or phrase is completed.
For this reason, it is imperative to over-emphasize the beginnings and endings of words within sentences, at least in a subtle way, for beginning readers and second language learners to be able to hear individual words within a sentence. It follows that this is also needed for students to track text with their eyes while listening to audio.
Why is audio so important in accelerating and scaffolding student achievement in reading?
Actually, if the student listens to the audio first, without tracking the text of the passage, then the comprehension of the passage may occur to the same extent as if she had read the passage silently with full comprehension.
Afterwards, if the student returns to the text and tracks it with her eyes as she listens, she can relax and more easily process the symbol-sound correspondences she is witnessing receptively. If she then reads the passage a third time, decoding the words herself without audio, the process of decoding more difficult words is greatly reduced or erased altogether.
The symbol-sound-meaning integration occurred to such a great extent in the first 2 readings that the student has truly imbibed the reading on the 3rd round. A 4th round of reading aloud can put the student 10 steps further toward complete mastery of the words and the syntax patterns of the text, permanently. Repeated reading with Audio support is a powerful way to accelerate student achievement in reading.
All of the stories and passages on Amrita Learning App feature optional full voice audio at a slow-medium pace. Each word is spoken clearly and very gently emphasizes the beginning and ending of each word while modeling the natural English cadence of speech. This way, the English Language Learner may follow the written words while imbibing the natural sound of spoken English.