As assistive technology, text to speech assists struggling learners. Here’s how text to speech can help students succeed.

How text to speech can help students succeed

Learners encounter many challenges, from time management issues to learning disabilities like dyslexia or ADHD. Such difficulties can prevent students from showing their full potential. Fortunately, many tools are available to struggling students to help them overcome obstacles and excel within their grade level.

Assistive technology plays an important role here, and text to speech software is a beneficial tool. Let’s look at what text to speech (TTS) is and how it can benefit students with learning difficulties.

What is text to speech?

Text to speech tools can read aloud different types of printed or digital text. The software analyzes the text and uses a computer-generated voice to speak it aloud, using high-quality text to speech programs to achieve a similar sound to the human voice. TTS can also provide an audio file to listen to later.

TTS is handy as education technology. It might be helpful in special education but also serves more general purposes, such as helping struggling readers learn to decode and comprehend text.

How exactly does text to speech help students?

TTS technology can boost text decoding, improve students’ learning capabilities, and much more. Here’s an overview of the benefits of TTS for students.

Better reading comprehension

With TTS, students don’t have to focus extensively on decoding a text. They can devote their full attention to understanding its meaning. This functionality improves comprehension, eliminating the obstacles that may be present for some students.

Boosts productivity

Listening to a text instead of reading it can make students more productive. First, they can take in the text and understand it better, which will shorten the time needed to go through it again. Second, students are free to take notes and engage in additional tasks while listening, making it easier to take an all-encompassing approach to learning.

Promotes language learning

Language students often struggle with reading texts in a new language. TTS bypasses this difficulty, providing an example of how the language sounds. Plus, quality TTS engines feature a bi-modal mode that highlights the current word, making it easier for learners to associate the word with how it sounds.

It makes complex reading assignments easier

Reading for an extended period can lead to fatigue. Students who lack the endurance to read for hours will find it much easier to listen to a text. Using this method, learners can review larger portions of text they might struggle to cover when reading.

Alleviates reading difficulties

Students with visual and reading impairments can benefit greatly from text to speech. TTS can be helpful in the synthesis of written text and sound. As a result, learners can overcome the difficulties preventing them from decoding and understanding the text.

What does the research say about the influence of text to speech on education?

Several studies have confirmed a positive correlation between text to speech and studying success. In particular, the Journal of Special Education Technology has conducted research evaluating aspects like comprehension, spelling, and academic performance.

The research suggests that text to speech produces improvements in all mentioned fields. You can read more about these studies for secondary-level, high school, and students with learning disabilities by following their respective links.

Speechify – A stepping stone to student success

Speechify has become a leading platform in the TTS space. This text to speech tool allows users to listen to any text, from Microsoft Word documents and PDFs to web pages. The service also has optical word recognition, enabling it to read photographed pages.

Speechify features an app with a universal design, making the platform suitable for iOS and Android systems. The tool also comes as a Google Chrome extension for desktop or laptop users.

Speechify allows users to choose between various natural-sounding text to speech voices, choosing the one that suits them best. In addition, the readout speed can be adjusted to the listener’s preference.

You can try Speechify and download the app for free today by visiting Speechify’s official website.

FAQ

What are the benefits of text to speech?

Text to speech can play a crucial role in reading comprehension, whether used independently or in combination with other technologies. This tool may also boost productivity, help language learning, and allow users to multitask.

How can text to speech benefit teachers?

Teachers can introduce TTS as an intervention for students struggling with reading. The technology can be implemented in small groups or on a larger scale, depending on particular educational needs.

Does text to speech use improve the reading skills of high school students?

TTS technology is suitable for use at various grade levels. A high school student with a reading disability can easily overcome their challenges using TTS.

What is the significance of speech to text?

Speech to text functions in reverse to TTS. This technology can record the user’s voice and turn it into text, which is helpful for different purposes, from taking quick notes to helping people with writing difficulties.

How can text to speech improve student reading skills?

TTS provides immediate and clear pronunciation of words that the user may struggle to decode. Listening to TTS creates a comprehensible link between the text and its sound, eventually leading to better overall understanding.

How is text to speech used in the classroom?

Teachers can use TTS to assist students in developing reading abilities. For instance, learners can listen to the correct word and sentence pronunciations before reading the text themselves. The process may also be done in reverse to correct reading errors.

What is the difference between text to speech and audiobooks?

TTS relies on AI and computer voice generation. On the other hand, audiobooks are made by recording one or more actual people reading a book. Text to speech can be used for different texts, while audiobooks are mostly reserved for literary titles.