RESEARCH: Is Listening to a Book the Same Thing as Reading It?

[Ryan Goble]

Read to the tweet at the bottom to grasp some of the complexity and nuance here ...

After reading about science, students remembered 81% of it. Those who listened to the same material only remembered 59%.

Audio has many upsides, but when it comes to understanding difficult concepts, there’s no substitute for reading.#SaturdayMorning: https://t.co/IxagzGhukC

— Adam Grant (@AdamMGrant) December 15, 2018

Some more nuance beyond the Grant tweet here ...

"So although one core process of comprehension serves both listening and reading, difficult texts demand additional mental strategies. Print makes those strategies easier to use. Consistent with that interpretation, researchers find that people’s listening and reading abilities are more similar for simple narratives than for expository prose. Stories tend to be more predictable and employ familiar ideas, and expository essays more likely include unfamiliar content and require more strategic reading."

"This conclusion — equivalence for easy texts and an advantage to print for hard ones — is open to changes in the future. As audiobooks become more common, listeners will gain experience in comprehending them and may improve, and publishers may develop ways of signaling organization auditorily."

Plus the flip side of the coin - Scientists are hoping we can use more narrative / story to help with complex concepts ..

Use storytelling so that:
-the research is better informed, and grounded in, the reality of local communities and stakeholders, and
-the results are presented in an engaging and empowered way.
Learn more: https://t.co/yAYanUDHgG @anneli_sundin @wattrob#2018Highlights

— SEI Climate (@SEIclimate) December 30, 2018