Audio Books — Another Way to Read?

It is common knowledge that most American high school students have reading assignments to do not only throughout the school year but also during their summer break — a constant convention of English courses. However, if anything has changed between when our parents were in high school and now, it’s that more students are increasingly using audiobooks in order to “read” the novels and other literature pieces for class.There is no denying audiobooks’ impact on making reading a less “burdensome” task for some.

Reading with a physical book in hand and listening to an audiobook are two very different methods that people use in order to reach the end of a destination — or, in this case, the end of a book. Audiobooks may be the answer for people who always have busy schedules and tend to multitask for everything. Audiobooks allow readers the freedom to do many activities while reading, which had not been previously true of traditional reading methods. While still being able to  comprehend all of the details of a novel, you can cook dinner or do your laundry. It is a great and innovative way to read and enjoy great works of literature while not having to constantly carry around physical copies of books or Kindles.

Also, reading with audiobooks are both helpful and very important for students who often struggle with staying focused with traditional methods of reading. Some teens also enjoy listening to what they read as they are able to practice their pronunciation of the words in the novel. Ever had a moment when you read aloud in a class and mispronounced the main character’s name? Audiobooks can prevent such embarrassing moments because everyone has a name or word they simply cannot pronounce. Following along in the physical book with an audiobook being played is probably the best method to read when one wishes to enhance word-recognition abilities as well.

Whether or not audiobooks can be a replacement for reading or be qualified to be known as a better method to approaching written mediums is far too complex of a case to give a straight answer. Reading can be done in a variety of ways. It’s really just up to the individual reader to decide whether or not they enjoy the satisfaction of holding a physical novel or prefer earphones to listen to a novel — or both for that matter. As I stated in the beginning, both are means to reach the same end, which is of course enjoying a literary work.