Introduction
Have you tried the “Immersive Reader” feature within Office 365. Originally designed to help people with dyslexia and visual impairments this tool can help anyone read any text on a screen with ease and comfort. However, as the title suggests, it can also help improve reading comprehension and fluency.
Accessing Immersive Reader
You will find Immersive Reader across the Office Suite. It is usually accessed by clicking on the “View” tab and selecting Immersive Reader. Within Teams you can click on the three dots which appear when you hover over a message and select Immersive Reader from the menu.
Key Features
As we said Immersive Reader was first introduced to assist Dyslexic readers and people with visual impairments but a lot of these features can help all readers. So what can Immersive Reader do?
You can adjust the text size, font, spacing, and colour; including coloured overlays; to suit your preferences and reduce visual distractions.
You can highlight different parts of speech, such as nouns, verbs, and adjectives, to improve your grammar and vocabulary.
You can separate words into their individual syllables.
You can focus on single lines or multiple lines and space them out as needed.
You can use the read aloud feature to listen to the text spoken by a natural-sounding voice. You can also change the speed and voice of the narration.
You can use the translation feature to translate the text into another language of your choice. You can also hear the translated text read aloud.
The immersive reader is a powerful tool that can help you and your students improve reading skills and enjoy any text encountered.