Professional Books — Review
 Guided Listening
by Lisa Donohue
Pembroke Publishers, 2007
ISBN 978-1-55138-219-7
$24.95, 160 pp, adult
www.pembrokepublishers.com
Guided Listening “effectively links elements of oral language with independent reading through the use of metacognitive strategies.” It helps students become more proficient at understanding that reading is a “dialogue with text.” Providing a purpose for listening, and teaching students how to think, make notes, and discuss ideas, encourages them to engage in important conversations that help make sense of text that they listen to, read, and hopefully write. The listening strategies become independent reading comprehension strategies: making inferences, predictions and connections; reading between the lines; synthesizing; asking questions; visualizing; and determining important ideas. These strategies have been well developed by Debbie Miller (Reading with Meaning, 2002) and Harvey and Goudvis (Strategies That Work, 2000), but with Guided Listening, you have increased opportunities for oral rehearsal and making the strategies more focused. The mechanics of guided listening are introduced with procedures and lesson suggestions. Lists of appropriate titles that match strategies are given, as well as a number of graphic organizers that students can use to organize their thinking. The final chapter contains numerous rubrics and other assessment tools that can help teachers evaluate student performance. Today’s curriculum has an emphasis on oral language, and this book will be helpful for teachers who want to integrate effective listening comprehension into their literacy teaching.
Reviewed by Betty Schultze
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