Hi again, Richard!  This is a continuation of my previous message to you:

RW>  [...] when using qedit I want my synthesizer to give
RW>  me punctuation spoken aloud because it may be crucial
RW>  to proper syntax for program code.


           Uh-huh.  Some folks say guys aren't detail oriented, but the guys I
hang out with regard the punctuation of batch files as a serious matter.  :-))



RW>  IF I'm using it to just read a textfile though I'll
RW>  shut it off.


           Too bad you can't use Victor Borge's Phonetic Punctuation... [BEG].



RW>  still speech doesn't have that immediate connection
RW>  to the brain braille has.


           Although I don't read Braille, I can relate as a clarinet player to
the concept.  Where speech does have an immediate connection to the brain it's
probably not the literal meaning of the words which engages the audience.  :-)



RW>  I can speed read and still comprehend using Braille,
RW>  synthesized speech, I'm limited to the rate at which
RW>  I can understand spoken words, if not a bit slower.


           IOW, you find reading more efficient... just as I do.  You can skim
or scan the information in the owner's manual which you already know.  You can
slow down and/or re-read as necessary when you get to the more difficult bits.
You can take a moment to stop & enjoy a particularly good turn of phrase or an
amusing example of Chinglish.  If you're reading for pleasure you can also use
your imagination to understand how I'd read "Double, double, toil and trouble"
to a group of fifteen-year-olds who considered me to be an old hag even when I
wasn't much older than they were.  Maybe it's type casting, but it works.  ;-)



RW>  Other disadvantage:  WHen doing something such as sitting
RW>  in a waiting room I don't want to be closed off from the
RW>  rest of the world as I would be with audio reading and
RW>  headphones, even one earbud is more cut off from the world
RW>  than I like to be.


           Yes.  When I'm sitting in a waiting room I play solitaire on one of
Dallas's castoff pieces of hand-held electronic wizardry which is still usable
as long as you don't mind too much if it reboots without warning & forgets all
about what you've been doing for the last ten minutes.  These games don't take
up so much bandwidth that I'm not paying attention to my surroundings....  :-)



AH>  As a teacher I generally found a multi-sensory approach
AH>  most effective... i.e. the more connections one can
AH>  establish the better.

RW>  Always.  IN fact, some of my arguments in other activities
RW>  is that we're too busy teaching to standardized multiple
RW>  guess tests than we are putting folks' hands on what is to
RW>  be learned.  I get a bit frustrated with that .


           As do I.  Some folks like standardized tests because they think the
numbers are all that matters.  Okay, so here is a question from a standardized
oral test... "What are the colors of our country's flag?"  The standardization
was done in the US.  Is it fair to expect elementary school students living in
another country to figure out what was going on in the mind of the author(s) &
respond accordingly??  I often felt similarly betrayed when I was a kid.  Tell
me what you see... I'll take the flak if it messes up the standardization!  As
I'm sure you realize, I'm not singling out Americans.  What bothers me is that
kids are rewarded for memorizing textbook answers & punished for noticing when
the textbook disagrees with their own observations.  I feel for the latter.  I
found myself under a lot of pressure as a teacher, however, to fill up my mark
books with numbers.  It didn't seem to matter to the folks who were evaluating
me what the numbers really meant.  Encouraging kids to think for themselves is
much more challenging & the assignments take longer to mark.  If others prefer
the easy way out sometimes I can well understand the temptation... [wry grin].




--- timEd/386 1.10.y2k+
 * Origin: Wits' End, Vancouver CANADA (1:153/716)