Kindles in the Classroom: Text-to-Speech

This is the second post relating to using e-readers in the classroom. Click here to see the first post.

Nook Simple Touch $139.00

It's nearly time to purchase our e-books for the upcoming school year. We were faced with choosing either the $139.00 the Simple Nook Touch, or the $139.00 Wi-Fi Kindle.*

I am not going to draw this out with a point-counterpoint comparison between the Nook and Kindle. C-Net has done a pretty nice job of that already (see here). No, I am going to focus on one specific feature that became the breeze that bumped us off the fence.

Wi-Fi Kindle $139.00

Text-to-Speech (TTS)
Simply put, the Nook does not offer this feature on any of its e-readers, but Kindle does. We feel this is an important tool to have for students who need that kind of support. The National Center on Accessible Instructional Materials has put together a comprehensive literature review of research articles that support the use of TTS technology in the classroom.







According to the literature review, this is how TTS benefits readers:

• TTS enhanced reading rates and comprehension in struggling adult readers
• 77% of middle school students with dyslexia (small sample) showed increased comprehension with the benefit of TTS
• Students age 10-18 with reading challenges scored "significantly" better in comprehension with the aid of TTS
• Studies found the greater the disability, the more technology elevated comprehension in college students
• In high risk LD preschool students, TTS use resulted in positive gains in the areas of: phonological awareness, word recognition, rhyming, expressive vocabulary, and elision skills (scroll down to Table 1 if you visit the link)
• In grades 8 and 9 students utilizing TTS outperformed students who were not exposed to TTS
• Bimodal reading with TTS can "promote significant improvements in reading fluency and comprehension"

TTS was truly the deciding factor. Even though Kindle has yet to develop a library lending system, we wanted the TTS feature above all the other bells and whistles provided by both devices.

*On another note, we have decided not to go with the less expensive Special Offers Kindle and will purchase ten Wi-Fi Kindles for $139.00 (see number crunching below). I just know that the price will go down once we purchase them!

Stay tuned for the next post which will outline the purchasing of book titles, and provide an update on Amazon's development of borrowing books from libraries using a Kindle.

Number Crunching
10 Amazon Kindles (Wi-Fi) at $139.00 = 1,390.00
That leaves us $610.00 for books.