Transacting Audio Stories in the Language Classroom

Stories have long been powerful tools for language learning. Stories naturally capture students' attention and imagination, making learning more enjoyable. Audio-stories, which are recordings of stories read aloud, can create an immersive experience through rich language input and enhance students' listening skills in a fun and engaging way. Other unique benefits of transacting audio-stories for language teaching-learning include:

1. providing a meaningful context for learning language. They help students understand new words and grammar by showing them used in real-life situations, making it easier to learn and remember.
2. introducing students to different cultures, helping them understand and appreciate diversity. This is especially valuable in India, where exposure to English-speaking cultures may be limited.
3. helping students learn correct pronunciation and the natural rhythm of the language by listening to well-narrated audio-stories regularly
4. encouraging students to listen for details (such as plots and characters), make inferences, and predict outcomes. These skills are useful in other academic areas and in everyday life
5. supporting various learning styles when combined with multi-modal activities, helping all students benefit
6. helping students learn new vocabulary by naturally repeating important words and phrases. Experts suggest that encountering a word multiple times in a meaningful context helps students remember it better.

Additionally, audio-stories require minimal equipment, like a simple audio player or a smartphone. They can be easily paused, replayed, and shared, making them practical for usage even with limited resources.