Multidisciplinary Explanation of the Reading Voice as a Medium: Challenge to Family Media Literacy

Abstract

This study addresses the gaps in knowledge regarding the unique energetics of the reading voice in its role as a medium for the development of stalwart future readers. We take into consideration Maryanne Wolf’s reminder about the special need to "foster" readers due to the fact that reading is "unnatural". The purpose of this study is to identify the position of reading aloud as a basic media practice in parenting strategies dedicated to cultivating future readers in order to prove that the energetics of the human voice can serve as a communication medium. This study is committed to finding a solution to a specific scientific problem: could the media modality of the environment involving reading aloud from birth be the crucial factor for developing unfailing future readers? The multidisciplinary reading research analyzes the results of a quantitative sociological 32-item survey which assesses the level of awareness and perceptions towards parent-child reading of 71 families in Bulgaria. The analysis focused on parental attitudes towards pre-reading skills before the child learned to read in the conventional sense. From a new perspective, the study looks at the role of the human voice as a medium of unique energetics for family communication. The study demonstrates that the reading voice adds unique energetics to the parent-baby environment by elevating it with non-verbal rhetoric as well as maintaining it in mode of attention and affectionate sound register. These findings can inform decision-making to improve family media literacy on the protection of children's key right to a highly energetic cognitive environment that nurtures avid readers.