Yes. Listening to a book uses many of the same skills as reading it. For younger or developing readers, it often builds skills that reading alone cannot reach yet. Here is the fuller picture, because the nuance is worth understanding.
Reading is more than decoding
When we picture reading, we usually picture decoding, which means turning letters into sounds into words. That is one essential skill. But comprehension, vocabulary, background knowledge, and a feel for how language sounds matter just as much, and audiobooks build all of them.
A child's listening comprehension also runs years ahead of their decoding ability. A seven-year-old can follow and enjoy a story written for a ten-year-old long before they can read it alone. Audiobooks let them live in those richer stories now.
What the research says
Audio-assisted reading helps to build fluency skills including proper phrasing and expression, improves sight word recognition, and builds comprehension.
Reading Rockets (WETA / U.S. Department of Education)
Studies of read-aloud and audio-assisted reading have found positive effects on children's language, vocabulary, comprehension, and phonological awareness. Listening is especially valuable for reluctant readers, English-language learners, and kids who find decoding effortful. It keeps the story alive while the mechanics catch up.
Listening plus seeing the words
There is one thing even better than listening alone. That is listening while following the printed words, which is called read-along. Here audio does double duty. Your child hears fluent narration and connects each spoken word to its written form. Over time, that connection is exactly what teaches independent reading.
This is why every audiobook on Sherwood includes word-by-word read-along. Kids get the joy of a great story and the quiet skill-building of seeing the words light up as they are spoken.
So should audiobooks replace reading?
No. They are a powerful addition. Keep the print books, the bedtime read-alouds, and the finger under the words. Add audiobooks to stretch your child into stories above their reading level, to keep reluctant readers engaged, and to fill the car and the quiet afternoons with language.
Audiobooks count, and they count a lot. The goal was never decoding for its own sake. It is a child who loves stories and grows into a confident reader. Audio helps get them there.
Sherwood pairs every audiobook with read-along text. Try it free for 60 minutes, no card required.