Text-To-Speech and the Writing Process

I have personally never used something described as text-to-speech.  In fact, the first time I saw that term was when I accidentally tapped a button on my cell phone and the term popped up.  However, after teaching Kindergarten for many years, I can see that I may have been more familiar with the concept of text-to-speech than I had originally thought. 

When I taught Kindergarten, there was a website that I loved to use whole-class and individually for students.  The site www.starfall.com had lots of songs and readings that would let the students listen to the words that they see on the screen (often the words highlighted themselves as the stories read).  Many other websites did the same thing.  I always used this as a reading strategy.  Now that is has been brought to my attention, I have opened my mind to the possibilities of using this for writing as well.

Humans are programmed for sound.  We are not hardwired for reading.  Using TTS has obvious benefits for struggling readers (and I feel confident that it does not harm students who are average and above readers).  If we are not hardwired for reading, I am sure that writing is also something that does not come innately to us.  This is why babies are not born with the ability to write as infants (crying, eating, and expelling waste seem to be something at which they excel). 

As a current 4th grade teacher, I understand the emphasis placed on writing and writing well.  I also work in a school that suffers from the effects of being lower socioeconomic and having a high mobility rate.  I work with students who have not had the opportunity of growing up in environments where rich vocabulary flourishes and is rewarded.  However, they have a creativity and imagination that is impressive.  The only problem is translating the ability to tell stories and use imagination into an essay. 

After having read some about the benefits of TTS for struggling readers (from the article Text-to-Speech Software for Helping Struggling Readers by Ernest Balajthy; retrieved from http://www.readingonline.org/articles/balajthy2/) 

I can see some of the benefits for writing too.  How many authors either read their own work out loud or have someone else read their work to them?  Why?  WE ARE WIRED FOR SOUND!  If a student is able to type an essay and then have the ability to replay it, they can HEAR the mistakes and HEAR when the grammar is a bit off.  Also, when we read our own work, we tend to skim and read what we MEANT  to write as opposed to actually what we wrote.   The act of rereading what a students wrote is daunting from them.  They feel as though the task is complete once the last word is written.  If the only thing that have to do at the end of an essay is click a button and HEAR what they wrote, they are more likely to take advantage of listening to their story.

Also, knowing the egocentricity of students, hearing their own words read back to them is a mark of pride.