Audiobooks on the rise
 

WSJ article about the growing popularity of audiobooks.

My nephew listened to his summer reading books this year, rather than read them. I suspect that's not quite what the school had in mind when they assigned the books.

My youngest son also listened instead of "read". Not a single teacher cared. So many kids didn't do anything they were just happy when the books were consumed.
Now watching a movie of the book on the other hand, that didn't fly with them. But audio books were always fine. Unabridged of course.
My son still does most of his 'for fun' reading with audio books.
S

How would the teacher know if a student listened instead of read?

The students probably told the teacher.

If I was in school these days, I'd make a point of telling the teacher that I listened to the book, instead of reading it. I was a rebellious monkey in high school. If audiobooks were readily available back in the 60's, I would've gone that route. I even turned in book reports based on Classics Illustrated comics. :D

I hated assigned reading because most of it was literature I didn't care for; like Hemingway, Maugham, Joyce, Fitzgerald, Faulkner, Steinbeck, Lawrence, Buck, Wilder, James, Mailer, etc.

It seems, listening to audiobook takes longer than actually reading it.

This is Why this Generation Wont know how to Read... Sad :(

It depends on how they listen. If they multitask while listening, odds are they won't retain it as well.

They wouldn't necessarily retain it well even if they read it.

Unless it's a matter of recognizing some odd spelling of a name they've only heard, I don't see how anyone would know if the kid listened to an audiobook, based on any test of comprehension.

I find I retain audiobooks better than reading. I'm really starting to prefer listening to reading, I can do something else while listening.

I definitely prefer listening to reading, partly because my work life consists of staring at a screen all day, and listening is a break from that.

If I needed to retain information, I think I would still want to see the text, underline it, and make notes, probably in conjunction with listening.

That brings to mind Game of Thrones. I had listened to the audiobooks years before the series came out. And only then I found out that it wasn't Geoffrey but Joffrey...

I think it depends on the reason why a book should be read. Most often kids have to read books to be able to explain why the book was written, what style was used and other such things. Or even so that children get to use their imagination!
If you have to read a book for the reading (i.e. the combinations of letters that will form a word, which together will form a sentence), I doubt even an audiobook would be good enough :rofl:

It kind of depends on what you are trying to accomplish. For most of us adults, it doesn't matter. On the other hand, if the point is to develop your reading skills rather than your listening skills, then it does matter.

Let's face it, listening isn't reading. When they were little, my niece and nephew would sit in my father's lap while he read them stories. They looked at the pictures while he read, but you certainly couldn't say that they were reading the story. It doesn't really matter from the stand point of consuming the story. They had the story memorized and when I tried reading to same story to them, I was told I was doing it all wrong. (for one thing my father tended to edit the stories when he read them)

I would also say that people are very different in how they process information. Some people are auditory learners (learn by hearing), others are visual learners (learn by seeing) and others are kinetic learners (learn by doing).

It's a bit like traveling a mile. The person who walks, bikes or drives all travel the same mile, they all went from point A to point B, however, you can't really say that walking is the same as biking is the same as driving.

I have most of the audiobooks that I listen to in ebook or paper book format. I get something different from listening to them than I get from actually reading the book. They are different experiences.

I once did the tripple... I watched the BBC mini series of Pride and Prejudice (loved it, an absolute must for Pride and Prejudice fans), then I listened to the unabridged audiobook and finally I read the ebook. I must say, they all three had advantages over the other.
The TV version gave me small details in clothing, surroundings, activities of non-essential characters. Things I couldn't experience in real-life (not having lived in England in that era...) and thus had no idea what to imagine about it.
The audiobook version after that, I could close my eyes and imagine everything around the main characters, from memory, based on the TV images, while completely immerse myself into the story. And you get more information about what characters were thinking (very hard to depict on TV!) and what their feelings were.
Then I read the ebook. Again, you read about the feelings and thoughts of characters, like the audiobook, but as I read it, I somehow put more attention to some things and less attention to others, which gave yet another dimension to the story.

Completely different experiences, indeed. And I still can't say which version I liked best :D (though, Colin Firth does have an edge there!)

Naturally, this tripple only works if the TV interpretation is very close to the book, and the audiobook is unabridged