Text to Speech: Play, Stop, Pause

Text to Speech: Play, Stop, Pause

This feature on the Read and Write for Google taskbar allows the user to highlight a specific area of the text or highlight the entirety of the text and it will allow the material to be spoken. When the user places their cursor or hovers over the desired words selected the student, teacher or user can then press the play button option and the text will be read aloud. The user can also pause and stop the reading when he/she needs to. The user can pause the reading, and reactivate it by clicking on the pause button to continue to the reading. If you stop the reading with the stop button, the cursor will go back to the beginning of the highlighted section and will not play from the place the reading was stopped. The Text to Speech function can be read in male and female voices from many different accents. This function is used the same way on the PDF and epub reader.

Supporting Learners:

This tool on Read and Write for Google is a function that would benefit all students in a classroom. It is a tool that will aid students with increased fluency, reading speed and reading comprehension. By utilizing this feature it allows the students to keep pace with the reading and understand the timing around reading. This feature also helps students with increased vocabulary, and understanding around the words and helps the students make meaning from the text. By using text to speech the student has increased independence and is able to participate in all tasks.

Using it in the classroom:

Teachers can use this in the classroom to help students learn about cadence and pacing. It also allows the teachers the opportunity to give their students independence and allows the student to build confidence and comfortability with reading. Because of the increase in independence for the students, it allows the teacher the opportunity to help the other students in the classroom.