Reading Aloud Narrative Material as a Means for the Student’s Cognitive Empowerment

Listening to stories and brain processing of narrative material activates many areas devoted not only to the linguistic processing. In this sense, it could be hypothesized that if this activity would be integrated within the school curricula, it could bring benefits in terms of understanding the text as well as in basic essential cognitive dimensions. In a series of studies with different age groups, we investigated the effects of an intensive training in narrative listening, through different tools such as the standardized tests of understanding of the text. We also used a neuropsychological battery investigating basic cognitive processes (cognitive assessment system) that are directly related to the ability of text comprehension. Results show a significant improvement in all tests for all age groups in the experimental groups, in comparison with the control groups.