The Influence of Audiobooks on the Development of English as a Foreign Language Learners’ Reading Fluency in Jordan

This study aimed to discover how audiobooks affected the development of the English reading fluency of Seventh grade EFL students at Jordan University School. A quasi-experimental strategy using a two-group pretest-posttest design achieves the study's goals. Over a month, thirty students experienced the opportunity to learn through audiobooks (Experimental group), while another group received traditional instruction (Control group). Two measurements were carried out for the experimental and control groups before and after various treatments. The researchers developed a similar reading assessment test to evaluate the students’ reading fluency. In addition, they utilized an observation card that included multiple criteria to assess the accuracy and automaticity of students’ reading abilities. The prosody was measured using Rasinski's Multidimensional Fluency Scale. The effect of the audiobook approach on the three reading fluency levels (accuracy, automaticity, and prosody) was investigated using a one-way multivariate analysis of covariance (MANCOVA). The study revealed the positive impact of audiobooks on improving reading fluency. The study suggested that educators should enhance their understanding of incorporating audiobooks in classroom and non-classroom settings.