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Is Listening Literacy?

An Effective Alternative

D. W. Tuttle

Is listening literacy? As a blind person, my answer to this question is a resounding "yes." For me, much of each day is filled with auditory reading of Talking Books, E-mail correspondence, news programs on a local radio reading service, and on-line databases at the library.

Of course, not all listening is reading. For example, listening to animal sounds, traffic noises, or conversations has nothing to do with literacy.

A BROADER DEFINITION

What is literacy, then? For most people, it is the ability to recognize and create visual symbols that represent words. However, for those of us who are blind, that is not a good fit. For the reading aspect of literacy, I would suggest a definition that is broader than the processing of visual symbols. In the end, the purpose of reading is to be able to comprehend what someone else has written. Thus, reading could be defined better as the recognition, interpretation, and assimilation of the ideas represented by symbolic material, whether it is displayed visually, tactilely, or aurally.

NEED FOR FLEXIBILITY

It is important to remind ourselves that what matters is not how a task is performed but whether the goal is accomplished. Several studies in the 1960s and 1970s demonstrated that there is no loss in comprehension of narrative material when comparing reading by listening to reading braille. If comprehension of the writer's meaning and ideas is being fulfilled, does it matter what medium is being used?

It is important to be flexible and not take rigid stands on what we assume to be best for all blind individuals. For example, saying that braille is the only means to achieve literacy is like saying that the long cane is the only means of independent travel. One of the keys to competence for a person who is disabled is flexibility, not rigidity.

NEED FOR AUDIO AND BRAILLE FORMATS

Like many persons who learned braille as an adult, I use audio formats for some reading tasks and braille for others. I could not function in my personal or professional life without access to braille for such uses as notes for university lectures, labels for cassettes, and outlines for workshops and conference presentations. My braille skills are accurate but slow. So, when I have reading tasks of a longer nature, I prefer to read by listening.

To achieve the greatest access to materials, it is important for blind persons to have more than one literacy medium, especially since not all materials are available in braille. Through the use of computers, scanners, and modems, I have access to an unlimited quantity of print books and periodicals. The amount and variety of reading material becoming available on disk is mushrooming. The development of optical character recognition systems has facilitated immediate access to print. It gives me great pleasure and satisfaction to be able to purchase a book in a store or borrow one from the library, take it home, turn on my computer, and instantaneously begin scanning the text and listening to it being read. In this case, the reading is being accomplished by listening to a speech synthesizer.

DISADVANTAGES OF AUDIO FORMATS

There are some disadvantages to reading by listening. For example, trying to read some highly technical materials, reference books, charts, tables, graphs, maps, and other graphic material through the auditory mode is less than satisfactory.

When it comes to the writing side of literacy, the auditory format presents problems. It is possible to record, index, store, and retrieve personal notes and messages through the use of tape recorders and dictating equipment. However, those of us who have tried to record notes from a lecture or reference book can attest to just how tedious and cumbersome that particular technique is.

However, the obstacles to storing information that can be retrieved aurally are decreasing. Laptop computers and electronic notetakers that are equipped with speech synthesizers can serve a person's writing needs well. Software is available to expedite the storing and retrieving of addresses, phone numbers, recipes, directions, and other personal notes.

CONCLUSION

I want to stress an important point: Individuals who rely heavily on the auditory mode to meet their literacy needs find that they must, sooner or later, use additional modalities, such as braille, for some tasks. If I had to pick one system that would best serve as many of my literacy needs as possible, I would pick braille. Fortunately, I am not required to pick a single medium for reading and writing. In reality, most blind individuals use multiple modalities, and they tailor the medium to the demands of the literacy task being undertaken.

Dean W. Tuttle, Ph.D., professor emeritus, Department of Special Education, University of Northern Colorado, McKee 312, Greeley, CO 80639; E-mail: 74664.2375@CompuServe.com.