Are You Cheating? Reading Comprehension vs.

Listening Comprehension 1

Are You Cheating? Reading Comprehension vs. Listening Comprehension

Theodore (TJ) Cooke theodore.cooke@ocvts.org
Marine Academy of Technology and Environmental Science

Introduction:
There is a stigma surrounding audiobooks and how they are viewed as “cheating” or
“taking the easy way out” in the eyes of some people. This is because listening to audiobooks is
seen as leisurely and something that needs little focus, whereas reading physical books requires
more attention and prevents multitasking. In previous years, some teachers have been known to
love audiobooks, while others were against them. Their effectiveness has always been debated
because there are so many different categories to compare these two on, such as whether you can
multitask with them or not, your privacy, emotional response and more (Dana Lee, 2018). Some
sources say that reading is better and that it just gets the advantage over audiobooks because of
the fact that you have to focus on the readings more (Heid, 2018). On the other hand, audiobooks
are preferred in some cases due to the fact that they are beneficial in learning comprehension
skills, especially in children (Martin N.D.). With all of the different claims and outcomes related
to the topic, this experiment was done to find a clear outcome, with a small twist.
This study compared the scores of 93 participants in different sections of a form in which
the previously stated contributors had to read and listen to short pieces and answer a series of
questions to see how much was comprehended. Participants were also asked to go to
educationplanner.com and take a short assessment which would assign them a learning type
(visual, auditory, or tactile). Each participant was instructed to report their assigned learning style
after the assessment.

Hypothesis:
It was hypothesized that considering the fact that there are several different types of
learning styles, there would be no clear-cut answer of whether one method is better than the
other, rather that they will both remain equally reliable for comprehension. This is because there
are too many variables for there to be a specific learning style that’s better for comprehension.

Methodology:
 Are You Cheating? Reading Comprehension vs. Listening Comprehension 2

● This experiment was conducted on a google form that was split into 3 sections
○ First section was to report level of education and learning style
○ Second section contained reading pieces and comprehension questions
○ Third section included audio files and comprehension questions
● Readings and audio files were found to use on the form Figures 1-4
○ 1 fiction and 1 nonfiction for both
● A Good Form was created and added my excerpts and follow up questions
● A form was advertised to friends, family, in school, and on social media
● 93 responses were collected
● Responses were recorded on a google sheet
● Data was analyzed
○ Wrote down which section each participant did better in (reading, listening, or
neither)
■ Counted the number of people who did best in each section Figure 5
○ Found the average score in each section and overall Figure 6
○ Separated the responses by learning style
■ Counted the number of people who did best in each section for all 3 types

Sea turtles are reptiles remarkably suited to life in the sea. Their hydrodynamic shape, large size, and
powerful front flippers allow them to dive to great depths and swim long distances. These front flippers
are long, narrow, and winglike, while their hind flippers are shorter. Although sea turtles can remain
submerged for hours at a time while resting or sleeping, they typically surface several times each hour to
breathe. Sea turtles are among the oldest creatures on Earth and have remained essentially unchanged for
110 million years. In most sea turtles, the top shell—or carapace—is composed of many bones covered
with horny scales, or scutes. Unlike their terrestrial relatives, they cannot retract their heads into their
shells. While these highly migratory species periodically come ashore to either bask or nest, sea turtles
spend the bulk of their lives in the ocean.

Sea turtles are dependent on beaches for nesting. Uncontrolled coastal development, vehicle traffic on
beaches, and other human activities have directly destroyed or disturbed sea turtle nesting beaches around
the world. For example, lights from roads and buildings disorient hatchlings away from the sea, and
vehicle traffic on beaches compacts the sand, making it impossible for female turtles to dig nests. Turtle
feeding grounds such as coral reefs and seagrass beds are damaged and destroyed by activities onshore,
including sedimentation from clearing of land and nutrient run-off from agriculture. Beach restoration
projects for protecting seaside buildings have also been found to be harmful, through dredging and sand
filling.
 Are You Cheating? Reading Comprehension vs. Listening Comprehension 3

Figure 1: The first excerpt, a short passage about sea turtles. Following questions were multiple
choice and True/False.

The Arrow And The Song

I shot an arrow into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For, so swiftly it flew, the sight
Could not follow it in its flight.

I breathed a song into the air,

It fell to earth, I knew not where;
For who has sight so keen and strong,
That it can follow the flight of song?

Long, long afterward, in an oak

I found the arrow, still unbroke;
And the song, from beginning to end,
I found again in the heart of a friend.
Figure 2: The next piece was a poem by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Following questions
were multiple choice.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1Bndh6GZrpVGtIXTnYIyESxVqLE82SFER/view?usp=sharing
Figure 3: Link to the first audio file, from The Sun is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon. Following
questions were multiple choice.

https://drive.google.com/file/d/1jIPUr75dnr_z6EGbUTYe4om-xYFi5DN9/view?usp=sharing
Figure 4: Link to the second audio file, about the COIVD-19 vaccine. Following questions were
multiple choice and True/False.
 Are You Cheating? Reading Comprehension vs. Listening Comprehension 4

Figure 5: A bar graph showing the number of people who performed better on either reading,
listening, or neither. n (total number of participants) = 93
 Are You Cheating? Reading Comprehension vs. Listening Comprehension 5

Figure 6: A bar graph showing the average performance by participants in the reading section,
listening section, and overall. n (total number of participants) = 93

Results:
Out of 93 total participants, 47% of them showed better comprehension when listening
(Figure 5). It was also found that those results related to the learning styles. 43% of those who
showed better comprehension when reading were assigned visual, 47% of those who
comprehended both parts equally were assigned tactile, and 43% of those who showed better
comprehension when listening were assigned auditory. Out of the 44 people who performed
better on listening, 19 were auditory learners. Out of the 15 people who performed better on
reading, 7 were visual learners. Out of the 34 people who got the same score on both parts, 16
were tactile learners. The range of education level was very close, along with the percentage of
those who got each type of learner (Figure 7-8). It was found that the average score of
participants overall came out to 83.23, meaning that the average person, regardless of assigned
learning style got about 3 to 4 questions wrong (Figure 9).
 Are You Cheating? Reading Comprehension vs. Listening Comprehension 6

Figure 7: Different education levels of participants. This was included to make sure that the age
of participants was not overwhelmingly one age group. n (total number of participants) = 93

Figure 8: The percentage out of the total number of people who were assigned each of the three
different learning styles. n (total number of participants) = 93
 Are You Cheating? Reading Comprehension vs. Listening Comprehension 7

Figure 9: All of the overall scores from participants placed onto a scatter plot. n (total number of
participants) = 93

Discussion:
The data revealed that my hypothesis was wrong. An observation that was made while
analyzing the data of this experiment was that less than 50% of participants got the right answer
to one specific question in the listening section. One of the readings was a poem and could also
be a reason that only 15 people did better on the reading section. A variable that could have
possibly led to this outcome is the way that the people reading the audiobook used different
pitches in their voices for each character, which could keep somebody’s attention. This
conclusion could help to make teachers more aware of the benefits of audiobooks and hopefully
they could link them to their assignments more often.

Conclusion:
In conclusion, the original hypothesis was not correct. The majority of people performed
better when listening rather than getting the same score on both the listening and reading
comprehension tests like originally thought. However, it was proven that there is an association
 Are You Cheating? Reading Comprehension vs. Listening Comprehension 8

between learning types and comprehension of materials. The results show that listening to
audiobooks rather than reading the text, increasing comprehension of the material.

Acknowledgements:
I would like to thank Mr. Kesley, Dr. Williams, and Dr. Wnek for helping out with this
project and sharing their knowledge with me.
 Are You Cheating? Reading Comprehension vs. Listening Comprehension 9

References:

Beth A. Rogowsky, B. (2016, September 1). Does Modality Matter? The Effects of
Reading, Listening, and Dual Modality on Comprehension - Beth A. Rogowsky,
Barbara M. Calhoun, Paula Tallal, 2016. Retrieved October 27, 2020, from
https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/2158244016669550

Heid, M. (2018, September 6). Are Audiobooks As Good For You As Reading? Here's What
Experts Say. Time. https://time.com/5388681/audiobooks-reading-books/.

Lee, D. (2018, November 22). Audiobooks vs Reading: The Rules Are, There Are No Rules.
BOOK RIOT. https://bookriot.com/audiobooks-vs-reading/.

Martin, J. (2021, April 19). Do Audiobooks Get in the Way of Learning to Read?
Understood.
https://www.understood.org/en/school-learning/assistive-technology/assistive-techn
ologies-basics/will-listening-to-audiobooks-make-it-harder-for-my-third-grader-to-l
earn-to-read.

Reading vs Listening - YouTube. (2017, September 16). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKGB3k6cPCU

Sea Turtles. National Wildlife Federation. (n.d.).

https://www.nwf.org/Educational-Resources/Wildlife-Guide/Reptiles/Sea-Turtles.

What's Your Learning Style? 20 Questions. (n.d.).

http://www.educationplanner.org/students/self-assessments/learning-styles-quiz.sht
ml.

Why AUDIOBOOKS Are NOT The Same As READING | Audiobooks VS ... (2019,
October 12). Retrieved October 27, 2020, from
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Dr4FoRs4xIY

World Wildlife Fund. (n.d.). Sea Turtle. WWF.

https://www.worldwildlife.org/species/sea-turtle.