Category: All Modalities

Stories With Word–by-Word Audio Really Do Boost Early Reading!

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When I returned to the US with my nearly 9-year-old son, my worst fears were confirmed: at 3rd grade, he was fluent in Chinese, but couldn’t read English.  How was he going to become a reader when he was so far behind?  

All of his friends were reading more challenging books like Harry Potter and he wasn’t about to carry around a “Spot the Dog” story.

So, I started with more advanced stories—which were cool and interesting—and paired each with a companion audio book CD as a learning scaffold.  It was hard at first, but with persistence and a lot of popcorn to start us off, he slowly began to read on his own. A year later, he had almost caught up.

Now I know why it worked!

A growing body of research is showing that combining high-quality audio with synchronized word-by-word highlighting meaningfully boosts early reading outcomes—especially for emerging readers and multilingual learners.

Research conclusions across dozens of digital storybook interventions repeatedly show that e-stories with coherent audio narration + synchronized text cues support children’s story comprehension and vocabulary development more effectively than print alone or unsupported digital text (Takacs, Swart & Bus, 2015; Bus, Takacs & Kegel, 2015). 

In other classroom studies validated the same conclusion: students who used spoken text aligned to on-screen word tracking made significant gains in reading comprehension and vocabulary compared to peers in business-as-usual classrooms (Mostow & Aist, 2001; Aist et al., 2007). 

Randomized controlled trials—the “gold standard” in research—consistently found that integrated narration, highlighting, and interactive print supports, resulted in improvements in decoding, fluency, and comprehension among Grade-1 students. These gains were significantly higher than comparison classrooms receiving traditional instruction (Comaskey, Savage & Abrami, 2009; Savage et al., 2013).

Of special interest to me was that the audio support is particularly effective for English Language Learners (ELLs) and other students developing foundational literacy skills. Research on “listening-while-reading” routines shows that synchronized text helps multilingual learners link phonology and print, reduces cognitive load, and supports prosody and word recognition (Taguchi et al., 2004; Wood et al., 2018).

This research validates one of the key pillars of StoryWorld’s overall approach to language and literacy development, and underscores how we continue to put research directly into practice. Every StoryWorld story features word-by-word tracking aligned to fluent audio, giving students research-based support in the exact moment they need it. Students can also click any word to hear it in isolation—reinforcing pronunciation, decoding, and language comprehension.

For multilingual learners, StoryWorld’s ability to toggle between languages, further supports vocabulary development, oral language, comprehension, and “translanguaging.” This aligns with the research that demonstrates that well-designed audio-supported read-along environments meaningfully strengthen early literacy.

Everything that seemed to work naturally as my son slowly became a reader is now validated by research: when children hear a fluent model while seeing each word highlighted, they build mental mappings that accelerate reading accuracy and confidence. 

Our goal is to share that success with others!

In my next blog, I’ll dive a little deeper and explain why all this works so well.

Cynthia Harrison Barbera

Cynthia Harrison Barbera is President and CEO, StoryWorld International.  She served as VP Educational Technology for Scholastic and is the recipient of two US Presidential awards for educational programs. An Emmy-award winner for a television series on education, she has taught English to native-speakers and ELL students in the US and overseas.

Language: Key to Literacy

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Teachers know that reading and writing don’t happen in a vacuum. 

Long before a child can read a word on a page, they are already learning the music of language — how words sound, how sentences fit together, and how stories carry meaning. 

That’s why understanding the difference between language and literacy is essential for every teacher of English, as well as Spanish, Mandarin, and all other languages.

Language comes first.

Children learn to understand and express ideas long before they learn to read or write. They experiment with sounds, play with words, and listen to stories that shape how they think about the world. This oral foundation—built through listening and speaking—is what allows reading and writing to make sense later on. Without understanding what words mean, sounding them out on a page has little purpose.

Literacy builds on language.

Reading and writing are not new skills separate from language—they are extensions of it. Literacy turns spoken language into symbols on a page. Each letter, character, or word is a visual representation of meaning that children already know through speech. The stronger their internal language system, the easier it is for them to connect print to meaning.

Without strong oral language, literacy stalls.

Many students can “sound out” words — or recognize them in print  at a surprisingly young age — but they often still struggle to understand what they read. This is because decoding alone isn’t comprehension. Without a deep oral vocabulary and an understanding of sentence structure, students can’t fully grasp complex texts. Fluency without meaning is like singing a song in a language you don’t understand.

With rich language experiences, literacy will thrive.

When children hear, use, and play with language in meaningful ways, they build the mental models that reading and writing depend on. Conversation, storytelling, and listening to complex texts give learners the words, patterns, and ideas they need to comprehend what they later encounter in print. In every language, literacy flourishes where language is strong.

Language is at the Core of StoryWorld.

That’s why StoryWorld’s program begins with language — spoken, heard, and understood — in every story. Whether students are learning in English, Spanish, or Mandarin, they first experience each story through rich oral language, with audio support and visual context that make meaning come alive. Then, literacy skills grow from that foundation with extended work in reading and writing.

By supporting language first, StoryWorld helps students build a strong and enduring foundation for literacy. Because when children understand the stories they hear, they can soon read, write, extend their knowledge, and eventually write their own!

Cynthia Harrison Barbera

Cynthia Harrison Barbera is President and CEO, StoryWorld International.  She served as VP Educational Technology for Scholastic and is the recipient of two US Presidential awards for educational programs. An Emmy-award winner for a television series on education, she has taught English to native-speakers and ELL students in the US and overseas.

A Full Brain Experience: Engaging All Modalities

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Just like learning a language, learning to read is hard!  It’s actually a full-brain experience!

So, when children learn by engaging all modalities—listening, speaking, writing, along with with reading—they activate more neural pathways in their brain. This deepens comprehension and strengthens their long-term memory.

That’s why reading instruction that intentionally integrates all four language domains helps students understand, retain, and apply what they learn more quickly and builds a more powerful foundation for learning across subjects that will last a lifetime.

The Power of Multimodal Learning

Research shows that the brain learns best when information is presented in multiple ways. According to neuroscientist Maryanne Wolf (2007), the process of reading recruits and connects several areas of the brain that evolved for different functions—visual recognition, auditory processing, and language comprehension.

When children hear, say, see, and write new words, these systems work together, reinforcing learning through repeated, meaningful exposure.

Listening Builds Language

Listening is the foundation of literacy. Before children can decode print, they must first recognize how language sounds. When teachers use oral stories, songs, and read-alouds, they are strengthening children’s phonological awareness—the ability to hear and manipulate sounds in words.

This auditory groundwork developed through listening is essential for phonics instruction later on (Moats, 2020). Research from the National Institute for Literacy (2008) confirms that oral language development in the early years strongly predicts later reading comprehension.

Speaking Strengthens Understanding

Talking about stories helps children make meaning of what they read. “Turn and Talk” moments or retelling stories in their own words give students the opportunity to process ideas, clarify misunderstandings, and connect personally with text.

Oral language expression is the bridge between listening and reading comprehension—what Gough and Tunmer (1986) describe in the Simple View of Reading as “language comprehension”—a key component of overall reading ability.

Writing Deepens Memory

When students write words, phrases, or short summaries by hand, they reinforce the visual and kinesthetic memory of language. Writing about reading—even in short bursts—has been shown to improve both retention and comprehension (Graham & Hebert, 2011).

Handwriting, in particular, activates the brain’s Reticular Activating System (RAS), which helps encode learning into long-term memory.

Reading Connects It All

Reading is where all these modalities converge. A strong reader listens internally to the rhythm of language, speaks silently through inner voice, and recalls how words look and feel.

This is why StoryWorld’s program integrates listening, speaking, writing and reading—rather than isolating them—thereby mirroring how the brain naturally learns.

The Multimodal Advantage

By activating all modalities as students learn to read, educators give every child a stronger, more engaging path to literacy that will also make those early reading skills really “stick.”.

Teacher Tip: “Say It, Hear It, Write It, Read It.”

When introducing new vocabulary or phonics patterns, have students say the word aloud, hear it in a sentence, write it on paper, and read it in a short passage. This four-step cycle maximizes retention and understanding.

Cynthia Harrison Barbera

Cynthia Harrison Barbera is President and CEO, StoryWorld International.  She served as VP Educational Technology for Scholastic and is the recipient of two US Presidential awards for educational programs. An Emmy-award winner for a television series on education, she has taught English to native-speakers and ELL students in the US and overseas.

References:

      • Gough, P. B., & Tunmer, W. E. (1986). Decoding, reading, and reading disability. Remedial and Special Education, 7(1), 6–10.
      • Graham, S., & Hebert, M. (2011). Writing to Read: Evidence for How Writing Can Improve Reading. Alliance for Excellent Education.
      • Immordino-Yang, M. H. (2016). Emotions, Learning, and the Brain: Exploring the Educational Implications of Affective Neuroscience. W.W. Norton.
      • Moats, L. C. (2020). Teaching Reading Is Rocket Science, 2020: What Expert Teachers of Reading Should Know and Be Able to Do. American Federation of Teachers.
      • Wolf, M. (2007). Proust and the Squid: The Story and Science of the Reading Brain. HarperCollins.
      National Institute for Literacy. (2008). Developing Early Literacy: Report of the National Early Literacy Panel.

Mastery: From Learning to Knowing

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How do students move from the process of learning to the goal of “knowing?”

A few weeks ago, I was working with a group of struggling readers in middle school. Most had given up almost entirely on learning because they did not know how to read.  While each student had spent hours “learning” in school, they had not  mastered the important literacy skills along the way. The consequence? The effort to keep up just became too difficult. 

Mastery happens with small, achievable milestones.

Students achieve learning milestones at different rates and in different ways. So, when students are only evaluated at the finish line, they miss those critically important mid-way opportunities that reveal their unique barriers to knowledge or skills with enough time to bridge the gaps. The result is that too many students do not master important foundational skills — like reading — exacerbating their learning challenges later. 

But how do you approach “mastery” with a highly diverse class so that no student falls through the cracks?

Start with clear objectives and frequent feedback.

The idea of “mastery” traces back to Benjamin Bloom’s groundbreaking work in the late 1960s. Bloom argued that nearly all students can achieve high levels of understanding if given clear objectives, regular formative assessment, timely feedback, and opportunities for reteaching (Bloom, 1968).

What Bloom and his collaborators discovered is that when teachers use performance — not as a final judgment but as a tool for guiding learning — they open doors for all students to succeed (Block, 1971).

Use student “performance” to guide the learning process.

Achievement gaps close when schools embed performance and feedback into the learning process, and do not focus so much on the final grade (Guskey, 2007).  

For literacy and language development, this means that teachers need to build in abundant opportunities for students to show what they know as they go: reading aloud to demonstrate fluency, listening and discussing to show comprehension, writing reflections to consolidate meaning, and speaking to apply new vocabulary in context.

Include all modalities.

As students read, listen, speak, and write, they reinforce and reveal understanding using different modalities. Breaking complex skills into smaller, observable performances can allow teachers to track growth of smaller steps toward proficiency over time (Marzano, 2007).

Not all students demonstrate mastery similarly. Some students may reveal deep comprehension through oral storytelling, others through writing or drawing. Flexible performance tasks ensure that mastery is accessible to every learner, with as much differentiated support as possible to scaffold learners (Tomlinson, 2017).

Motivation matters!
More frequent performance-based tasks send the message to students that mistakes made along the way are not failures but stepping stones toward mastery. For example, a student struggling with decoding could still demonstrate comprehension through oral explanation—an affirming performance that builds confidence while decoding skills catch up. Research on developing a “growth mindset” among students repeatedly shows that when learners believe their abilities can grow with effort and feedback, they are more likely to persist (Dweck, 2006).
Allow students to demonstrate what they know in multiple ways.

Ultimately, it helps to think of “mastery” not solely about accuracy—but also about the active effort of students to use and transfer their existing knowledge and skills. For example, a student who can read a story, talk about its themes, listen to a peer’s perspective, and write their own response is demonstrating robust, transferable knowledge across a variety of modalities—a demonstration of “mastery”.

This is why StoryWorld provides abundant differentiated opportunities for students to engage all modalities so they can demonstrate their mastery of both language and literacy at each level and milestone.

Bottom line: encourage performance in all modalities with timely feedback.

By embedding performance across different modalities into daily instruction along with frequent feedback, teachers ensure that mastery is not a distant goal measured only at the end of a unit or semester, but a lived, visible and engaging process that truly takes students from learning to knowing.

Cynthia Harrison Barbera

Cynthia Harrison Barbera is President and CEO, StoryWorld International.  She served as VP Educational Technology for Scholastic and is the recipient of two US Presidential awards for educational programs. An Emmy-award winner for a television series on education, she has taught English to native-speakers and ELL students in the US and overseas.

References:

    • August, D., & Shanahan, T. (Eds.). (2006). Developing literacy in second-language learners. Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
    • Bloom, B. S. (1968). Learning for mastery. UCLA Evaluation Comment.
    • Bloom, B. S. (1984). The 2 sigma problem: The search for methods of group instruction as effective as one-to-one tutoring. Educational Researcher, 13(6), 4–16.
    • Block, J. H. (1971). Mastery learning: Theory and practice. Holt, Rinehart & Winston.
    • Cummins, J. (2000). Language, power and pedagogy. Multilingual Matters.
    • Dweck, C. (2006). Mindset: The new psychology of success. Random House.
    • Guskey, T. R. (2007). Closing achievement gaps: Revisiting Benjamin S. Bloom’s “Learning for Mastery.” Journal of Advanced Academics, 19(1), 8–31.
    • Marzano, R. J. (2007). The art and science of teaching. ASCD.
    • Pane, J. F., Steiner, E. D., Baird, M. D., & Hamilton, L. S. (2017). Informing progress: Insights on personalized learning implementation and effects. RAND Corporation.
    • Tomlinson, C. A. (2017). How to differentiate instruction in academically diverse classrooms (3rd ed.). ASCD.

    Gough, P. B., & Tunmer, W. E. (1986). Decoding, reading, and reading disability. Remedial and Special Education, 7(1), 6–10.

Speaking Skills Build Reading Skills!

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Who doesn’t love a quiet class? 

But for early literacy development, a child’s ability to speak and make meaning from words—is the foundation for reading and writing. “Children’s speaking and listening lead the way for their reading and writing skills, and together these language skills are the primary tools of the mind for all future learning” (Roskos, Tabors, and Lenhart, 2009).

Oral Language is the Foundation of Literacy

Vocabulary, syntax, and pronunciation underpin both decoding and comprehension. Research shows that deficits in oral language are among the strongest predictors of later reading difficulties (Catts, Adlof, & Ellis-Weismer, 2006; Snow, 2010). Oral vocabulary builds the semantic networks needed for comprehension (Castles, Rastle, & Nation, 2018).

For English learners, decoding without oral support leaves words meaningless (Goldenberg, 2008). Similarly, struggling readers and students with learning disabilities need explicit connections between spoken and written language. Integrating pronunciation, vocabulary, and oral practice with phonics strengthens both word recognition and comprehension.

“Sounding out” Words Without Meaning Doesn’t Work

In the Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986), define reading comprehension as the product of decoding × language comprehension. They emphasize the critical role of oral language development as a key component of reading proficiency.  

Researchers caution that many literacy programs focus too narrowly on phonics and silent fluency while underemphasizing speaking, listening, and oral vocabulary Moats (2020). This leaves students with the ability to decode words without truly understanding them—a gap especially problematic for English learners, struggling readers, and students from disadvantaged backgrounds.

Why K–2 Grades Matter

The early grades are the most critical period for oral language development. Yet, by kindergarten, many children already show wide gaps. Hart and Risley (2003) found that children from low-income families hear 30 million fewer words by age 3 compared to their more affluent peers. 

By age four many students from disadvantaged backgrounds have already fallen behind in vocabulary, syntax, and expressive language (Fish & Pinkerman, 2003, 2004). Similarly, English learners often enter school with smaller vocabularies. These gaps widen if not directly addressed in K–2 (Mancilla-Martinez & Lesaux, 2011; Hammer, Lawrence, & Miccio, 2007).

More Explicit Instruction In Oral Expression

If we want every child to become a confident reader, we need to find ways to prioritize oral language — especially in our K–2 classrooms. At StoryWorld, we do this by mixing modalities to assure students get a well-rounded exposure to speaking, listening, and vocabulary practice alongside phonics and reading.

By strengthening oral foundations, we all ensure that students are not just decoding print but helping students make meaning from texts to unlock the power and joy of reading throughout their lives.

Cynthia Harrison Barbera

Cynthia Harrison Barbera is President and CEO, StoryWorld International.  She served as VP Educational Technology for Scholastic and is the recipient of two US Presidential awards for educational programs. An Emmy-award winner for a television series on education, she has taught English to native-speakers and ELL students in the US and overseas.

References:

  • Berninger, V. W., & Wolf, B. J. (2016). Teaching students with dyslexia and dysgraphia: Lessons from teaching and science. Baltimore, MD: Brookes.
     Castles, A., Rastle, K., & Nation, K. (2018). Ending the reading wars: Reading acquisition from novice to expert. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 19(1), 5–51.
     Catts, H. W., Adlof, S. M., & Ellis-Weismer, S. (2006). Language deficits in poor comprehenders: A case for the simple view of reading. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 49(2), 278–293.
     Fish, M., & Pinkerman, B. (2003). Language skills in low-SES rural Appalachian children. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 24(5), 539–560.
     Fish, M., & Pinkerman, B. (2004). Oral language development in rural Appalachian preschoolers. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 19(2), 211–231.
     Genesee, F., Lindholm-Leary, K., Saunders, W., & Christian, D. (2006). Educating English language learners: A synthesis of research evidence. Cambridge University Press.
     Goldenberg, C. (2008). Teaching English language learners: What the research does—and does not—say. American Educator, 32(2), 8–23.
     Graham, S., & Herbert, M. (2011). Writing to read: A meta-analysis of the impact of writing on reading. Harvard Educational Review, 81(4), 710–744.
     Hammer, C. S., Lawrence, F. R., & Miccio, A. W. (2007). Bilingual children’s language abilities and early reading outcomes in head start and kindergarten. Language, Speech, and Hearing Services in Schools, 38(3), 237–248.
     Hart, B., & Risley, T. R. (2003). The early catastrophe: The 30 million word gap. American Educator, 27(1), 4–9.
     Justice, L. M., Logan, J. A., Lin, T. J., & Kaderavek, J. N. (2014). Peer effects in early childhood education: Testing the assumptions of special-education inclusion. Psychological Science, 25(9), 1722–1729.
     Mancilla-Martinez, J., & Lesaux, N. K. (2011). The gap between Spanish speakers’ word reading and word knowledge: A longitudinal study. Child Development, 82(5), 1544–1560.
     Moats, L. C. (2020). Teaching reading is rocket science (2020). Washington, DC: American Federation of Teachers.
     Nickow, A., Oreopoulos, P., & Quan, V. (2020). The impressive effects of tutoring on preK–12 learning: A systematic review and meta-analysis of the experimental evidence. EdWorkingPaper: 20-267.
     Perkins, S. C., Finegood, E. D., & Swain, J. E. (2013). Poverty and language development: Roles of parenting and stress. Child Development Perspectives, 7(4), 267–273.
     Roskos, K., Tabors, P. O., & Lenhart, L. (2009). Oral language and early literacy in preschool: Talking, reading, and writing. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
     Snow, C. E. (2010). Academic language and the challenge of reading for learning about science. Science, 328(5977), 450–452.

Handwriting Gets an “A+” for Accelerating Learning

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With debates raging about the role of AI in schools, it turns out old-fashioned handwriting might be the most powerful tool for learning and retaining knowledge — and especially for early literacy and language development!

Far from being outdated, handwriting is the cognitive powerhouse that deserves to be center stage in our classrooms and homes alike.

Handwriting Stimulates the Brain
Handwriting is not just about putting words on paper—it activates key areas of the brain involved in memory and learning. Research shows that writing by hand stimulates the Reticular Activating System (RAS), a brain network that filters information and helps determine what is important enough to store in memory (Rausch, 2015) . When learners physically form letters and words, their brains engage in multisensory processing—integrating movement, visual feedback, and language simultaneously. This strengthens neural connections in ways that passive listening, typing, or highlighting simply cannot.
Handwriting as a Tool for Literacy and Language Development
For children learning to read and write, handwriting is not just practice—it’s brain training. The process links spoken language, visual symbols, and motor memory, which accelerates literacy acquisition. Handwriting also supports second language learning, making vocabulary “stick” more effectively and aiding recall in conversation (Rausch, 2015). By integrating listening, reading, and speaking with the act of writing, learners strengthen all four language modalities, building a strong foundation for lifelong communication.
Why Handwriting Beats “Just Listening”
Listening is important for comprehension, but on its own, it often leads to fleeting memory. Students who only listen may grasp ideas in the moment but struggle to retain details later. By contrast, writing down what they hear forces learners to process the information, rephrase it in their own words, and reinforce it through physical activity. Studies show that handwriting improves long-term recall because the learner is actively constructing meaning, not just receiving it (Smoker, Murphy, & Rockwell, 2009).
Why Handwriting is Stronger than Highlighting
Highlighting can feel productive, but research shows it is one of the least effective study strategies because it promotes shallow engagement (Dunlosky et al., 2013). Highlighting marks what stands out but doesn’t require the brain to do the heavy lifting of making sense of the text. By contrast, handwriting requires learners to summarize, reframe, and select key details in their own words. This act of “generation” builds deeper understanding, vocabulary retention, and literacy skills. For young readers and language learners, handwriting letters and words is also essential to mapping sounds to symbols—an early literacy foundation that highlighting cannot provide.
Why Handwriting Outperforms Typing

Typing may feel faster, but it often leads to verbatim transcription, which does not support critical thinking or memory in the same way as handwriting. Mueller and Oppenheimer (2014) found that students who take notes by hand perform better on conceptual questions than those who type, precisely because handwriting requires more processing. For early literacy learners, forming each letter by hand cements orthographic knowledge (letter shapes), phonemic awareness (sounds of language), and vocabulary recall. Handwriting slows the learner down in a good way, deepening engagement with both the form and meaning of language.

So, while listening, highlighting, and typing all play supporting roles, handwriting remains the most powerful tool for reinforcing information and accelerating literacy and language development among all learners! 

Cynthia Harrison Barbera

Cynthia Harrison Barbera is President and CEO, StoryWorld International.  She served as VP Educational Technology for Scholastic and is the recipient of two US Presidential awards for educational programs. An Emmy-award winner for a television series on education, she has taught English to native-speakers and ELL students in the US and overseas.

References:

    • Dunlosky, J., Rawson, K. A., Marsh, E. J., Nathan, M. J., & Willingham, D. T. (2013). Improving students’ learning with effective learning techniques: Promising directions from cognitive and educational psychology. Psychological Science in the Public Interest, 14(1), 4–58.
    • Mueller, P. A., & Oppenheimer, D. M. (2014). The pen is mightier than the keyboard: Advantages of longhand over laptop note taking. Psychological Science, 25(6), 1159–1168.
    • Rausch, P. (2015). The relationship between English speaking and writing proficiency and its implications for instruction. St. Cloud State University.
    Smoker, T. J., Murphy, C. E., & Rockwell, T. (2009). Comparing memory for handwriting versus typing. Proceedings of the Human Factors and Ergonomics Society Annual Meeting, 53(22), 1744–1747.