Audiobooks, Print, and Comprehension: What We Know and What We Need to Know

Abstract

The purpose of this review was to examine the effects that audiobook listening and print reading have on comprehension performance and the role that learner characteristics, text features, and contextual factors play in reported outcomes. The review, which included 32 documents, covered elementary, secondary, and college students who processed narrative and expository texts aurally via audiobooks and visually on paper or screen. Analysis showed that the majority of studies were conducted in classrooms where audiobooks were co-presented with printed texts. It was also shown that audiobooks by themselves tended to facilitate comprehension better than print when students were younger (g = .28 to g = .58). For identified populations, such as struggling readers and EFLs, the co-presentation of audiobooks with print proved better for comprehension than print alone (g = .32 to g = 1.67). There was a paucity of studies that directly compared audiobook listening to print reading; targeted older students with no identified learning needs; or focused on exposition. Implications for instructional practice and future research are forwarded, based on the patterns that emerged from this review.