In 2021, when I experienced a severe eye disease which impacted my ability to open my eyes for over 6 months, I learned about the power of listening. I spent a lot of time curled up with a podcast or audio book and discovered something magical that I had never appreciated before.
Why have I chosen the word power? Isn’t listening to a book passive? You cannot skim, scan and flick through the pages. You cannot seek out words, names, style and a feel for the whole book. You simply listen as the book is shared. It took me a while, but in my passive listening I learned to stop actively trying to make my own meaning of the text and instead allow it to reveal itself to me. This has been magical.
Some children and young people, often because they have dyslexia or reading difficulties, may never love the physical act of reading. This is ok! They can still love books, however. They still need to experience stories and texts, and they still need to listen.
“I suppose it’s an early form of participation in what goes on. Listening children know stories are there. When their elders sit and begin, children are just waiting and hoping for one to come out, like a mouse from its hole.”
– Eudora Welty
There are so many benefits of listening to books, plays, stories and podcasts for children and young people. Here are a few.
1. Listening
Learning how to just listen, and not constantly need to be asking questions, interrogating text, thinking about a specific focus, or doing a specific task, is extremely valuable.
2. Relaxation
The passive listening, escapism and calming effect of someone’s voice can enable rest, calming, time out and sleep. We all need this!
3. Language skills and writing
In order to speak and write well, children need to hear and embed language patterns and vocabulary. Many young children begin stories with “once upon a time?” because they have heard it so often. The language has become internalised, and embedded. They can then learn to innovate on such language in order to write well; for example “once upon a summer’s evening”.
4. Prosody
Listening to others helps develop the important reading skill of prosody (patterns of stress, rhythm and expression in spoken language).
I haven’t read a book properly until I’ve had it read to me.
– Mark Haddon, author of The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time
Prosody is essential for becoming fluent readers. By hearing books read by talented orators, children learn how to read themselves. They learn how to speak with confidence and conviction.
5. Enjoyment
When you’ve got the right voice on a particular text, it’s just magic to listen to.
– Fionnuala Barrett
6. Appreciating diversity
Many books can be accessed which are read by people with different accents and manners of speaking.
I’m convinced! What next?
Audio books do not need to be expensive! Free audio books can be borrowed via apps (in Herts it is Borrowbox) from your local library. This is free! You can find your local library here
If you are looking for a wider range than your library offers, or a package suitable for school, I would thoroughly recommend Listening Books, an online audiobook lending charity. You can join for £20 a year, and there are very competitive packages for schools. Listening Books offer free packages as well for those who find the £20 prohibitive.
You may want to listen to books together in school or at home with the family. They are life savers for long car journeys. Your child may also enjoy having headphones, or headbands with build in bluetooth speakers which can be worn in bed. In school, audio books with headphones can serve as a great calming corner or sensory break. Let them listen to books and stories again and again, and again. Remember, they are embedding language and this helps learning!
Want to find out more about the benefits of listening books? Try this podcast with Emily Pye.
My life was transformed by listening; I wish I had discovered audio books and podcasts earlier. I wonder whether all children and young people could deepen their potential for successful, fruitful lives if they immersed themselves more in this act of listening for listening’s sake.
