The Benefits Of Large Print Books
TEACH: Jan/Feb 2020 by Tasha Squires
As
a librarian, there are certain moments that stick with me. When one of my
students unexpectedly gave me a mutinous look, I knew it was the start of one
of them. Bobby had always been an affable student, but one day when I asked him
to return the book he had been reading, he gave me the look. At first, I didn’t
understand. It was a small ask after all. The book was brand new, one I hadn’t
catalogued or even stamped with the school’s name yet. It was not ready to be
loaned out.
Advancing Literacy
with Large Print
It
turns out, I had inadvertently stumbled upon something special. Bobby, like all
the 8th grade students in our school that year, was reading The Outsiders by
S.E. Hinton. I just had received several copies of the title in large print so
I asked Bobby to switch from reading his regular print to the larger text. I
was curious to see if he would notice any difference between the two formats.
Bobby obliged and spent the rest of the period quietly reading, but when the
bell rang and it was time to return the book—that’s when he gave me the look.
So
I relented and let him keep the book. The next day when I asked Bobby why he
didn’t want to return the book, he responded that he didn’t want to stop
reading. “It was easier to read, and I didn’t lose my place as much as I
usually do, especially reading and then looking up, and then going back. It was
easier to find my place in the large text book than the small text book.”
Bobby
also commented that he noticed the page color in the large print book (bright
white) made reading easier than regular print (grayish). His comment about
looking up and getting back into his book faster led me to capture video of
students reading large and regular print titles.
National Literacy Study Echoes Classroom Experiences
Project
Tomorrow, an education nonprofit, recently released a national literacy
study examining the impact of large print texts on students in grades 3-12. The
findings reflect what I’ve seen in my own school. A 7th grade boy I interviewed
said: “I read the book faster and I could understand it better.” An 8th grade
girl reported after her first experience with large print: “…felt like I was
accomplishing more and I wanted to keep reading.” I created a survey for my
students to take after reading a large print text. To date, 226 students in 7th
and 8th grades over the last two years have completed the survey.
Here
are a few differences students have reported when reading large print books:
➤ Read
for a longer period of time
➤ Are
able to focus and stay connected to the text more
➤ Remember
and comprehend more of what they are reading
➤ Enjoy
the reading process (perhaps for the first time)
➤ Read
with greater fluency
➤ How
to Build a Large Print Collection
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