Research Article 

ICT infused Print to Audio Textbooks: Studying the Effect on 

English and Hindi Reading Comprehension 

in Inclusive Classroom 

Bharti 

Associate Professor, DEGSN, NCERT, New Delhi 

Email: bharti.kaushik@ciet.nic.in 

Abstract 

The present research attempts to study the effect of JCT based aural reading with the 

use of handheld device called "Smart Speak" through specially printed textbooks on the 

English and Hindi reading comprehension of students studying in class 5. Smart Speak 

looks like a thick pen which converts printed text into speech. This helps students'facing 

challenges in reading print to meaningfully engage with the printed text. A batch of 31 

sighted students and 3 students with Visual Impairments (VI) studying in class 5, in in­

clusive education settings, formed the sample for this study. 

After establishing the reading proficiency of participating students in English Braille, 

English Print, Hindi Braille and Hindi Print, researcher made Reading Comprehension 

Tests was administered as pre-test. The same reading comprehension test was used 

both as the pre-test and post-test. The purpose of pre-test was to establish non-famili­

arity of students with the text selected for the intervention. The use of the same test as 

post-test provided the measure of effect of intervention on the reading comprehension. 

The data analysis indicated that the JCT based aural reading intervention was found to 

be statistically extremely significant in enhancing the reading comprehension in both 

English and Hindi for students with and without VI studying in inclusive classroom. 

Keywords: Reading comprehension, Talking pen, Print to Audio, Audio textbooks, 

studying language in inclusive classrooms 

Introduction Cardillo Arniew et al. (2007) discussed 

For sighted persons, reading is usually 

understood as the skill of decoding the 

printed text and verbalizing the same. In 

the absence of sight, for Children With 

Visual Impairments (CWVI), reading is 

a tactile experience. CWVI touch the 

Braille script letter by letter and read it 

aloud. Another alternative available to 

CWVI for reading is, reading by hearing, 

which may be called as "Aural Reading". 

A number of audio books in different 

style of production are available. 

I
Indian Journal of Educational Technology 

Volume 3, No. 1,January 2021 

that the Audio Books are available in 

read along, single voice narration and 

full cast audio production format. They 

also highlighted that audio books would 

be useful for adolescent readers by 

providing reading time during transit, 

serving as model of verbal fluency and 

by motivating the reluctant readers. 

The usage of audio books (both, 

school-books and books of various 

genres, recorded on digital media) 

for preadolescents and adolescents 

m