Des igns For Learning - Vol. 7 - No. 1 - Talking Books in Reading Instruction and Student Behavior

Oct 15, 2026

Vol. 7, No. 1 discusses how talking books with text-to-speech (TTS) influence decoding behavior in Danish grade 1 students reading unfamiliar text. The study positions TTS within a theory-based educational design grounded in connectionist reading theory and self-teaching. Results indicate limited uptake of self-teaching-supportive interaction: most students avoid decoding by relying on full-page TTS or do not decode independently. The findings question whether TTS benefits students without careful scaffolding and fine-tuning, especially when used to support frustration-level reading.

LanguageEnglish

CategoryResearch & Report

FormatPDF

Pages25

Reading Time1 h 3 min

AccessFree to download

Introduction

Digital learning materials and ICT in beginning reading instruction

TTS in reading instruction and related research

Intervention design and research questions

Frustration level and expected student responses

Designs for learning with talking books and TTS

TTS and talking books

Prior studies and classroom-based considerations

Vol. 7 / No. 1 Des igns For Learning Designs for Learning Volume 7 / Number 1 Talking Books in Reading Instruction and Student Behavior Stig t. giSSeL, University College Lillebaelt & University of Southern Denmark, Denmark In grade 1, Danish students used a talking book with TTS (text-to-speech) and participated in a learning design with emphasis on decoding and reading for meaning in written text. The students all read the same unfamiliar text, which for many of the students would traditionally be considered being at their frustration level. Basing the intervention on connectionist theory of reading and Share’s self-teaching hypothesis, students were instructed to try to read the words before activating the TTS-function. Only five students out of 17 used the software in ways that could promote selfteaching, but underused the support. Five other students very quickly refrained from trying to decode, instead clicking the full page TTS. Another five students did not at any point try to decode words independently. These results suggest that by using TTS and talking books in reading instruction without measures to fine tune the scaffolding, it is very doubtful whether any students benefit from the TTS at all. introduction Digital learning materials and information and communication technology (ICT) in education is a high priority subject at all levels of education. But the results of implementing digital learning materials and ICT in practice are often quite meagre. This is also the case with the use of technology in beginning reading instruction (Slavin et al. 2010,p. 17) . In beginning reading instruction, the advent of digital learning materials has led to neither modification nor redefinition (Puentedura, 2011) of instruction. Most often the digital learning materials offer phonics-based skill-and-drill instruction. 76 DOI:[http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/dfl-2014-0012](http://dx.doi.org/10.2478/dfl-2014-0012) The present study is the first step in a research project in educational design that aims to arrive at a design that allows whole classes to work independently with the same unfamiliar, meaningful text in away that will make the students acquire decoding skills as well as experience meaningful reading. In the iterative designs, text-to-speech-technology (TTS) will be implemented as part of the designs for learning. In the present study, talking books with TTS will be used as part ofa theory-based design for learning in order to see if the students interact with the text and TTS-support the way that is intended in the design for learning. Talking books are multimodal and interactive books that usually allow the user to have written text read aloud, look at still or moving images, and do exercises. The notion of level of frustration in reading originates from Emmet Albert Betts (1946/1957), but the term is commonly used today. Betts defined frustration level to be when the child is unable to pronounce 10% or more of the running text (Betts, 1957, p. 451) . We might expect student frustration from decoding difficulties to be impeded when students interact with a learning material with TTS. the research questions are: • How will students act towards texts which are at their frustration level (i.e. below 90% reading accuracy) when participating in this design for learning with TTS-support? To what extent and how will the students try to decode the texts, and will they use the support as they are instructed to do? • What can these observations tell us about what to consider in creating a digitally supported learning environment which uses TTS as part ofa scaffold to make reading instruction more effective and meaningful for the student? tt s and talking books Most studies have investigated TTS as a tool for remedial reading (Olson, 1992; Olofsson, 1992; Karemaker et al., 2009) . Research suggests that stronger readers gain less from using TTS in various contexts, and the conclusion has often been

FAQs

How were TTS and talking books used in the grade 1 intervention?

Students used a talking book with text-to-speech (TTS) and worked with emphasis on decoding and reading for meaning. They were instructed to try reading words before activating the TTS function.

What behavior did most students show when reading at their frustration level?

Only a subset used the software in ways that could promote self-teaching. Several students quickly refrained from decoding and instead activated full-page TTS, while others did not try to decode words independently.

What does the study suggest about using TTS without fine-tuned scaffolding?

It suggests that without measures to fine tune scaffolding, it is doubtful that students benefit from TTS at all in beginning reading instruction for unfamiliar text.

Oct 15, 2026

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