When Reading a Book Isn’t Reading the Words

By Mark W.F. Condon, Unite for Literacy vice president

At Unite for Literacy, we provide free narrated picture books online to children around the world. Aimed at kids ages birth through about 8 years, our digital books can be accessed via cellular networks and the Internet.

The narrations of our books include 60+ world languages, to date. Parents and their children can click the globe icon near the top of the library’s home page and select a language from the list of currently available narrations. Those who are interested can hear renditions in Chinese, Arabic, Spanish and other languages, along with many languages spoken in communities of indigenous peoples around the world. This makes our books a valuable resource for members of language communities who are new to literacy or to those learning a new language.

What do children learn from narrations? Hearing a book read aloud in a language they know exposes children to what fluent reading sounds like, helping to engage them in learning to read—our central mission. But as it turns out, children really enjoy listening to these same books in other languages, as well.

Kids might not be able to articulate why they are so intrigued by other languages, but nearly all of them seem to enjoy hearing our books read by fluent native speakers. And they love to mimic and pretend, so our narrations open the door for lots of delightful language play and learning.

Let’s keep in mind that very young children, especially preschool-aged children, are amazing language magnets. Research indicates that they can learn two languages as fast as most of us learned one. In fact, studies show that learning two languages at once improves their mastery of both.

Small children also just love to look at the pictures in books. Before they figure out that it is the text that cues their teachers, parents, caregivers or older siblings about what to say, they don’t look at the words much. As they figure out the role of text, they’ll begin to map the language they already speak so effortlessly along with the book’s images onto the squiggles on a page. A single word is a powerful learning tool for children, expanding their grasp on the nature of books and their images, and the nature of squiggles on a page.

Next thing we know, the child who is revisiting a favorite book is repeating what daddy said or saying it right along with him. Then, having “memorized” the book, the child starts attempting to “read” it by herself, capturing the essence of the text in her “fluent reading-like" rendition. (D. Doake dives into this topic more in his book, “Reading Begins at Birth,” available at a library near you.) With each reading (and rereading) children move closer to grasping the idea and power of books, and to understanding the role of text in carrying language from the author to them.

We adults tend to focus on words when helping children to become literate as they eventually accrue the benefits of being readers. But Unite for Literacy books offer a large range of potential benefits that can be collected through children just playing around in our library. It is important for children to see the power of reading and writing and other literacies in expanding their lives, as we assist kids to have fun with books in whatever way they like.