Category: Language Learning

Why Learning to Listen Matters (its more than just “not talking!”)

Posted on by StoryWorld

Anyone who teaches knows one of the biggest challenges is getting kids to listen!

But listening is more than simply “not talking.”  Listening means actively creating meaning from what is being communicated.

In fact, according to researchers, “active listening” is one of the most overlooked skills of early literacy development. Listening precedes reading. Early readers first need to be able to understand enough of what they hear in order to make sense of the content they encounter later as readers.

Listening actually forms the foundation for language development, reading comprehension, and ultimately effective communication. Before children learn to read or write, they learn by listening to stories, songs, conversations, and instructions. 

Later, as children start to read, listening exposes them to important new language structures and broadens their vocabulary while also introducing new ideas.

So, rather than something that is “expected”, listening should be part of active, planned exercises that are included in daily instruction in order to set the stage for success in reading, writing, and more advanced oral expression.

What Researchers Say About Listening Skills

1. Builds Language and Vocabulary

Young children absorb language by listening to the words spoken around them. The more a child listens, the more words they understand and can use in their own speech and writing. Research shows that children who are exposed to rich oral language environments develop stronger vocabulary, syntax, and comprehension skills (Neuman & Wright, 2014).

2. Improves Reading Comprehension

Listening and reading go hand in hand: children who listen well are better prepared to become successful readers. Studies show that children with strong listening comprehension tend to become better readers later on (Lepola et al., 2012). 

For example, listening to stories teaches children how narratives are structured (beginning, middle, and end) and helps children predict outcomes, make connections, and understand cause-and-effect relationships.  Listening also supports phonemic awareness, a crucial skill for decoding words when learning to read.

3. Enhances Focus, Memory, and Cognitive Development

Listening requires attention and concentration which helps children develop their ability to focus better and build working memory. These skills are essential for academic learning, problem-solving, and effective communication.

For example, when children listen to a story and then retell it, they practice recalling important details and sequencing events. Listening to instructions and following them helps children develop executive function skills.

4. Encourages Imagination and Creativity

Listening to stories also allows children to visualize the characters, settings, and events in their own minds which helps to spark creativity. Unlike watching television, which provides visual input, listening to spoken language encourages children to create mental images and imagine their own possibilities.

Tips for Developing Listening Skills in Children

It doesn’t require complicated activities to build listening skills! Simple, engaging interactions spread throughout the day can have a significant impact. Some suggestions:

1. Read Aloud Every Day

Reading aloud is one of the most powerful ways to develop listening skills:

✔ Choose books with rich language and engaging stories.

✔ Ask questions to encourage active listening such as: “What do you think will happen next?” or “How do you think the character feels?”

✔ Select stories that intentionally introduce children to new words and sentence structures.

✔ Expose children to rhymes, rhythms, and language patterns in spoken language.

2. Play Listening Games

For younger children, make listening fun with interactive games:

✔ “Simon Says” – Helps children listen carefully and follow directions.

✔ “I Spy” – Encourages children to focus on spoken clues to find objects.

✔ Rhyming and rhythm games – Nursery rhymes, clapping games, and call-and-response songs not only build listening skills, but also enhance phonemic awareness.

3. Model Active Listening

Children learn by example. When you model good listening habits, it will help them develop their own listening skills. Modeling active listening also teaches children that listening is important and valued.

✔ Make eye contact and respond when they speak.

✔ Repeat or paraphrase what they say to show understanding.

✔ Encourage back-and-forth conversations, asking open-ended questions.

Developing strong listening skills in young children is one of the best ways to prepare them for success in school and later in life. Strong listening skills not only establish a strong foundation for literacy and language development, they  also strengthen a student’s ability to focus, and think creatively.  

By being better listeners, they’ll become more confident communicators with a bonus of enhanced social skills as 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.

References:

Catts, et al, 2006; Gough & Tunmer 1986: Lepola, et al, 2012; Lervag, et al, 2017; Nation et al. 2010; Neuman & Wright, 2014; Scarborough, 2001; Snow, 2010.

Why two languages are better than one.

Posted on by StoryWorld

I grew up in a neighborhood where different languages were all around me. My mother and grandmother spoke Dutch, our next-door neighbor spoke Chinese, and my best friend’s father spoke Turkish. 

None of us learned to speak those languages beyond a few choice words (probably not for publication!)  But many of the words and phrases we learned remain burned in our collective memories.

Why? Because we learned them so early!

Exposure to a second language boosts brain development
It turns out that even the exposure to all those different languages may have helped us more than we realized!  Research reveals that hearing and processing multiple languages strengthens our neural connections, improves problem-solving skills, and actually enhances overall cognitive function (Bialystok, 2011; Kuhl, 2010).
The earliest years are the “golden years”

Because our brains are growing so rapidly when we are young, early exposure to multiple languages has the biggest impact.

This doesn’t mean parents have to be bilingual or fluent. Studies are demonstrating that even a little exposure to another language boosts early brain development. In other words, simply listening to another language—through conversations, books, music, or interactive activities—has significant benefits for brain development, cognitive flexibility, and academic success. 

As a publisher of multilingual stories, I was eager to share what I’ve learned from some of the most relevant research on how language expands our brains. Here are some highlights:

1. It’s never too early!

Nature makes our brains most adaptable and flexible during early childhood, so this is perfect time for exposure to multiple language. For example, studies show that infants as young as six months old can distinguish between different languages and recognize patterns in speech, even if they are not actively learning to speak both languages (Kuhl, 2010).

2. Exposure to more languages increase brain “plasticity”

Some of the advantages of early exposure to multiple languages includes enhanced “neuroplasticity.” When our brain is exposed to new sounds and words, it builds and strengthens more neural pathways. This helps children process information more quickly and efficiently through life. 

3. A boost for phonemic awareness

Phonemic awareness, which is the ability to hear, recognize, and manipulate sounds in words, is a crucial and foundational skill for early literacy. Almost counter-intuitively, children who are exposed to a second language develop a heightened sensitivity to sounds and rhythms in speech. 

This extra sensitivity to the sounds of words (regardless of the language) helps children with pronunciation (the ability to reproduce sounds), reading readiness (the ability to decode words), and improved listening and comprehension, due to improved ability to distinguish and process spoken language more efficiently.

So, even if a child doesn’t speak the second language with fluency, their ears and brain become more attuned to linguistic sounds, which helps to strengthens speech development and reading in the primary language.

4. Stronger working memory and self-regulation

One of the most fascinating findings in cognitive science was learning that just exposure to multiple languages can help to develop a child’s working memory (holding and manipulating information in their mind). Engagement with multiple languages even helps children self-regulate,  such as controlling their impulses and focusing attention. 

These benefits extend into life: researchers have observed that bilingual individuals consistently perform better on tasks that require problem-solving, multitasking, and adapting to new rules (Bialystok, 2011; Carlson & Meltzoff, 2008). 

5. Empathy and cultural awareness

Engagement with another language at any level also leads important social and emotional benefits. According to researchers, children who hear and interact with multiple languages, develop greater empathy because it helps them understand different perspectives (Fan et al., 2015). These studies also show children develop heightened awareness of other cultures and feel more comfortable communicating with people from different backgrounds.
Different languages bring benefits for a lifetime
Many parents and educators alike worry that if they aren’t fluent in a second language, they can’t provide meaningful interactions for their children or students in that language.  But this doesn’t turn out to be true! Research shows that early engagement with a second language, even in small amounts, can positively shape a child’s brain and learning abilities  (Kuhl, 2010).
Here are some ways to expose children to multiple languages — without having to be fluent or an “expert”:

✔ Read bilingual books – Even if you don’t speak the second language fluently, pointing to words and discussing them builds awareness.
✔ Play songs and nursery rhymes in both English and other languages – Music helps reinforce rhythm, vocabulary, and aids pronunciation in any language.

✔ Listen to audiobooks, ideally with a physical book to follow along –Exposure to text with audio in natural contexts helps with word recognition.
✔ Use language-learning programs and games – look for interactive activities in other languages to make learning engaging and fun.

Whether through books, videos, conversations, music, or play—engagement with multiple languages stimulates brain development, improves cognitive function, and enhances literacy skills. The goal is not perfection, but consistent and enjoyable exposure.  Every bit of language input helps!

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:

Bialystok, 2011; Carlson & Meltzoff, 2008; Fan, Liberman, Keysar & Kinzler, 2015; Kovelman, Baker & Petitto, 2008; Kuhl, 2010; Snow, 2010.

Translanguaging: An Effective Bridge for Multilingual Learners

Posted on by StoryWorld
Translanguaging: An Effective Bridge for Multilingual Learners

For decades, the prevailing consensus about language learning was that “full immersion” was the only way to master a new language. The idea was that we should all be able to “learn language naturally” like a child.

That hasn’t always proven true.

For most language learners, “immersion” quickly becomes what I call “submersion.” Without a language bridge, the learner feels lost, then discouraged, and often disengages altogether.

When our family moved overseas, I tried immersion. I thought I would be able to pick up at least a little language naturally on my own. I eagerly listened to television, radio, and tuned in to people speaking around me.

The result? I learned about four words!

It wasn’t until I began to explicitly learn the words for numbers, then basic vocabulary for different foods, and finally some useful phrases, that I was able to slowly (very slowly at first!) piece together the new language and connect it to English. Finally, I could begin to understand — and be understood.

I needed that language bridge!

So, what exactly is “translanguaging?”

Translanguaging is not simply translation. It’s a pedagogical approach that suggests that language learners benefit significantly when they can use their first language skills to learn, think, and express themselves along their path to language fluency—even while English remains the primary language of instruction.

According to many years of research, using the first language is actually not an obstacle to acquiring a second language —  instead, it is one of the most powerful tools learners have to acquire a new language.

Contrary to the misconception that reliance on the home language hinders development, studies consistently show that literacy skills developed in the primary language transfer to the second language (August et al., 2005; August & Shanahan, 2006; Cummins, 2015).

In other words, the concept of “translanguaging”— whereby learners are allowed to use their first language skills to acquire and learn in a second language (such as English) — can actually accelerate proficiency in the second language.

At StoryWorld, we embrace this concept fully. On our platform, multilingual learners can instantly switch languages on any text to support comprehension and access the translation in context. We find that this empowers students to transition more rapidly from their home language to English, learn according to their own pace, and grow language skills in a more engaging and effective way.

Here’s what the research says about translanguaging:

1. Literacy Skills Transfer Across Languages

One of the strongest arguments for using the primary language as a bridge to the second language is “cross-linguistic transfer”—the idea that skills acquired in the home language can be applied to the new one. Research has shown that phonemic awareness, reading comprehension strategies, and writing skills developed in one language often support the learning of another. For example, if a student knows how to identify the main idea in Spanish, they can use the same skill when reading in English (Riches & Genesee, 2006; Silverman, 2007).

2. First Language Scaffolds Support Comprehension and Reduce Cognitive Overload

To learn new content in English, multilingual students need to grapple with new vocabulary, grammatical structures, cultural references, and new materials—all at once. Translanguaging reduces this cognitive overload, allowing learners to focus more on content rather than decoding every word from scratch (Fillmore, 1991; García, 2009).

3. Translanguaging Supports Higher Academic Achievement

Because it takes time to master a new language (between 5–7 years for academic mastery), allowing multilingual learners to use all their language resources helps them understand complex content more easily.

Research further suggests that when translanguaging is implemented in classroom instruction, it improves overall academic performance over time, particularly among multilingual learners (Palmer et al., 2020).

4. Students show Increased Engagement and Confidence

When students are allowed to rely on their home language, they feel more validated and competent. This increases their willingness to take risks in learning the second language (Bell & Bogan, 2013; Woodall, 2002).

Studies have shown that students who receive first-language support experience lower anxiety and are more likely to engage in meaningful interactions in the new language.

5. Strengthens Cultural Connections

Allowing students to use their first language in the learning process helps them retain their cultural heritage while acquiring new linguistic skills (García, 2009).

A few practical suggestions for teachers:
  • Use bilingual texts and translations – Providing first-language translations at the start enables students to comprehend texts more quickly and reinforce meaning.
  • Incorporate audio scaffolds – Platforms that include audio support enable learners to hear both languages, strengthening skills in both.
  • Allow use of home-language for writing and speaking tasks – Especially early on, encourage students to brainstorm in their home language before expressing ideas in the target language.
  • Highlight cross-linguistic connections – Teach similarities between languages (e.g., shared root words or grammar structures) to deepen understanding.
  • Gradually reduce first-language support – As learners gain confidence, lessen their reliance on home-language scaffolds to encourage independence.

So how did things turn out for me? I never gained total fluency — but I was able to teach children English by using their first language as a bridge.

That accomplishment was its own reward.

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.

My son “translanguaging” with his teacher at school in China.

References:

August et al., 2005; August & Shanahan, 2006; Bell & Bogan, 2013; Cook, 2001; Cummins, 2001; Cummins, 2015; Fillmore, 1991; García, 2009; García & Wei, 2014; Palmer et al., 2020; Riches & Genesee, 2006; Seltzer & García, 2020; Silverman, 2007; Thomas & Collier, 2002; Ulanoff & Pucci, 1999; Woodall, 2002