This is a contributed post by Robin Whitten of AudioFile Magazine. AudioFile Magazine offers a free summer listening program for teens each summer. AudioFile’s SYNC will give away 28 audiobooks over 14 weeks this summer. It’s free and open to teens worldwide.
Summer is coming. For most pre-teens and teens, this two-month break means free time, family vacations, friends, and no homework.
For some teenagers, summer is a season to catch up on books they actually want to read; for other students, summer means keeping up with academics via ESY (extended school year) or self-directed required summer reading programs.
Why is it important for students to read during summer break?
Recent research indicates that in a single summer, some students lose two months or more of reading progress made during the school year. In fact, students on average score lower on standardized tests administered at the end of summer than they do when they take the same tests at the end of the school year.
To combat this regression of the summer slump (and if your student does not have an IEP or 504), many educators recommend students keep up with their reading skills by committing to weekly literacy time.
Are audiobooks as good as reading?
Audiobooks can be an ideal choice for all teens—for skill retention and skill building or for maximizing story consumption and book counts.
Audiobooks are cool—modern smart phones, portable blue-tooth speakers, and wireless headphones mean teens can listen anytime, anywhere, and quick download times mean audiobooks instantly appear in content libraries, similar to music and movie downloads.
But does listening to audiobooks count the same as reading an actual book?
The short answer is yes.
According to professor of psychology and author Dr. Kristen Willeumier, there is good reason to believe that audiobooks offer many of the same brain benefits as reading a physical book.
In an interview published by Well and Good, Dr. Willeumier says that listening to information, such as a podcast or audiobook, activates many of the same brain areas as visual reading. While one is more language processing and the other visual, both activities land in the same brain areas.
This means that no matter how you do it, your teen can get all the benefits of reading, including learning new information, improving memory, and sharpening mental focus.
Related: Twenty of the Best Audio Books For Teens (That Parents Will Enjoy Too!)
Six Reasons Why You Should Encourage Your Teens to Try Audiobooks
Audiobooks Support Busy Summer Schedules
Summer may mean downtime, but for many teens, it’s also a season for camps, tournaments, part-time jobs, etc. Audiobooks provide much more flexibility by enabling your teen to add books into their busy lives.
Want to introduce your teen to audiobooks? Suggest that your teen listen while multitasking: they can enjoy a good book while mowing the lawn, practicing sports, cleaning their rooms, working on crafts, or relaxing on the beach—even playing video games with the sound muted.
Audiobooks Build Literacy Skills
For the teen struggling or required to meet literacy log goals, audiobooks can be a respite from the school year.
Audiobooks build and enhance vital literacy skills, such as vocabulary, pronunciation, and comprehension, which often boost reading scores. Additionally, they can develop critical thinking and active listening skills, integral components of the Common Core academic standards.
Readers with learning differences and English Language Learners who listen to audiobooks demonstrate increased literacy skills and reading ability. Plus, listening to professionally narrated audiobooks battles the “word gap,” augmenting the quantity of spoken, sophisticated vocabulary that research shows increases academic achievement.
A young person’s listening skills are typically a minimum of two years above their reading skills—audiobooks are a win for every level reader and every teen.
Audiobook Storytelling Connects Families
Perhaps you have a teen that likes to put their Airpods in and disconnect from the world. Audiobooks can be a great way to connect.
Try listening together as a family. Road trips, drives to practice, or even mealtime can be a great opportunity for you to conquer a new book. Let them choose something that interests them, even if it sounds boring to you. The goal is to get them to develop a life-long love of reading.
Family reading also offers opportunities for shared literary experiences and can be a great springboard for conversations about the titles and the topics and ideas they raise. Audiobooks can unite ages and reading preferences in a shared experience.
Audiobooks Support Empathy
Like books, audiobooks can act as mirrors and windows—teens see themselves and their own feelings reflected, and learning about experiences, identities, and cultures that may be unfamiliar to them builds empathy skills and understanding.
Audiobooks take this a step further, with narrators performing authentic accents and dialects that bring the characters and settings off the page. Listening can help make classic literature more accessible and introduces listeners to genres that may be new to them, such as drama and poetry. Listening can also be an icebreaker for serious discussions or car talk moments.
Audiobooks Can Help Them Find Their Passion
During the school year, it can be a struggle for pre-teens and teens to explore a hobby, but many college admission officers and employers say that people who have a passion are happier and more productive students and employees.
Non-fiction audiobooks are a great way for your teen to learn more about particular topics, people, or skills. Have a baseball fan? Consider an autobiography of a Hall-of-Famer. Have a teen who wants to learn how to invest? Download a few how-to books to get them started. Have an adolescent that loves to travel? Let them plan your next vacation with some guidebooks. There is a book for every interest.
Related: Inspiring Audios – What Teens Need To Be Listening To In Today’s World
Audiobooks Benefit Teens in Every Season
Teens can enjoy audiobooks via popular apps and subscriptions (including family accounts), including Audible and Libro.fm as well as their local library and high school.
In addition, AudioFile Magazine offers a free summer listening program for teens each summer. AudioFile’s SYNC will give away 28 audiobooks over 14 weeks this summer. It’s free and open to teens worldwide.
This summer give your teen the gift of audiobook listening . . . one day they’ll thank you, possibly from behind the mic of their own book!
# # #
Teen Audiobook Resources and Sources:
Sound Learning — https://www.audiopub.org/sound-learning
Why Audiobooks? — https://www.audiopub.org/sound-learning-why-audiobooks
ALA Amazing Audiobooks — https://www.ala.org/yalsa/2022-amazing-audiobooks-young-adults
AudioFile Magazine Curated List of Audiobooks for Kids & Teens — https://www.audiofilemagazine.com/kids-teens/
AudiobookSYNC Summer Program — https://audiofilemagazine.com/sync/
Raising tweens and teens is hard. Here are a few other posts parents have found helpful:
Six Awesome Books for Raising Teen Boys in Today’s Chaotic World
Five Must-Read Books to Help You Effectively Parent Teen Daughters
Four Practical Tips for Parents to Help Their Middle Schoolers with Math
To My Eighth Grade Boy In Your Last Year of Middle School
The post Want Your Teen to Read? Here Are 6 Reasons Why Audiobooks Work appeared first on parentingteensandtweens.com.
