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Tip: Talking Text

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Sixth graders are reading a social studies text on ancient Mayan civilization. Three students are reading 2-3 years below grade level for various reasons. One has a learning disability that makes decoding difficult, one has an aversion to reading coupled with high distractability, and a third student is an English Language Learner who is making progress but struggles with comprehension. When these students have access to the text book on the computer, they can use two strategies with talking text in reading. The first is to highlight and listen to just the words they do not know. The second is to listen to an entire paragraph first, and then read it silently to themselves. Both strategies can be helpful depending on the challenges the material presents.

A class of second graders is interested in researching dinosaurs. By going to the school computer lab, they are able to access Internet resources. On one occasion, they found an online palentology journal with an exciting story of a fossil hunter. The reading level was 12th grade but by highlighting and using a utility to listen, they were able to follow the story.

In a one computer classroom two children or more can preview a story in auditory mode simultaneously by using headphone splitter ($1.99 at Radio Shack) to allow multiple sets of headphones to be linked to the same computer.

Here are some teacher reports on using text to speech:

"I have some of my middle-school kids use text-to-speech to hear their rough drafts. It helps them with revision, especially if there are missing words. It also helps them build fluency."

"The graphics library in KidPix will tell kids what the pictures are, which helps the English learners in 2nd grade to expand their vocabulary."

"Amanda was the quietest 3rd grader I've ever had. I paired her with a 6th grader to put together a short KidPix slide show about her family. She used the talking text along with pictures to do a presentation for the entire class. She was nothing but smiles during the applause at the end of her show and tell."

"There is a group of 4th grade boys that love to change the voices and listen to their words in funny ways. I know they write longer drafts when they know we are going into the computer lab for writing and editing."

Please tell us about your use of talking text!

Email techtips@wested.org

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