Podcasts and EBooks: Boosting literacy levels

As a child I remember my parents used to buy me books that came along with cassette tapes, where I’d be able to read and follow along with the recordings. There was usually background music that created ambience and the characters had different voices. A signal was played when it was time for me to turn the page. These books helped boost my reading skills immensely.

In this technological age, Web 2.0 technology has made it a lot easier. Podcasts are audio recordings of a text while Ebooks are electronic books. Both can be posted on the internet and accessed by students at any time. While podcasts can be used to simply allow students to follow readings through listening, some Ebooks offer both audio and a visual layout similar to that of a power point presentation. These technologies have taken the place of books and cassettes and can be used to assist students with fluency and comprehension, which are the goals of reading. Strategies that support reading during the reading process such as echo reading and choral reading, are easily facilitated with Ebooks and podcasts. Teachers can create podcasts with their own voices where students can mimic their pauses, enunciations and intonations or even create eBooks using their own stories, voices and graphic representations that can appeal to students. This is definitely a fun way to engage reluctant readers.