Ever wondered why teachers encourage children to read their lessons aloud?
If this thought has brought you to this page, you’ve come to the right place. Reading your text aloud is not just used for emphasizing or correcting your speech; there are many more unknown perks attached that can totally change the way you perceive information.
But the real question is: can reading aloud help you remember?
Speaking text aloud can help you get words into your long-term memory. According to a recent study by Waterloo, the production effect of speaking and hearing yourself during learning can have the most beneficial impact on your memory.
However, just like with any other technique, if you don’t know the right way to do it, it can just be a waste of time, and you’d eventually have to end up using your go-to method of learning.
So, what is it, you may ask?
Well, let’s find out!
Why reading aloud really helps you remember more?
Many people have a common misconception about reading aloud because it can help you remember your lessons and prepare you only by reading your textbook a day before exams.
Although this may be useful to digest the surface level information, it is never good enough for acing your exams.
This is because, as a general rule of thumb, learning is an active process.
The more you spend time hearing and speaking the same text aloud, the more you will be able to understand the underlying concepts and remember them too. The reason mainly revolves around the fact that humans love hearing the things that involve them somehow, and this technique does an incredible job at using it productively.
However, bear in mind that simply reading your entire textbook will probably do no good for you.
The technique of reading aloud to remember only works if you categorize, make questions, and summarize the big chunks of information into smaller, simpler concepts to help your mind organize the material and make sense of the words.
If you don’t read your textbook activity, you can expect to have a hard time anchoring the information right before the exam, let alone remember it for the rest of your life.
How does that differ from silent reading?
Glad you asked that. Let me explain.
Sure, it involves the same process of digesting information as your silent reading. However, here you aren’t just making use of one source of getting information into your brain.
You’re exercising your mouth, hearing your words, and engaging with your brain to get the most out of the information written. Where you’d be only using one of your senses to carry this out, you will now be using three.
How to properly read to retain more information?
Now that I’ve tapped into why simply reading aloud wouldn’t do the trick, what exactly do you need to make optimum use of your reading? Here are some of the things you can practice with reading aloud to retain more information.
Change positions
Reading for long periods can easily get boring and tedious.
Therefore, it is suggested that you keep changing the positions like where you read a chapter sitting for an hour, stand up, and read the rest. This also helps with laziness and feeling drained by the end of the studying session.
Underline the important keywords
Now that it’s clear that reading aloud helps to improve comprehension and enables your brain to process the information better, you take it to a whole nother level by underlining the keywords.
This is because while you are underlying, you’re more likely to repeat the words to add more emphasis and change up the tone to be a little softer, louder, or faster to bring attention to it. The act of repetition can eventually help to make the most out of this technique.
Summarise
We all have heard of the numerous benefits of summarizing your lessons at the end of each session. But how many times have you actually done that?
I get it; it can be exhausting first to take large sums of information, and now writing it all down when you have less time can surely be a lot of work. However, a more efficient way of doing this is to summarize everything you’ve read aloud.
You can either face the mirror and talk to yourself or sit and talk aloud about all the things you’ve learned today. To emphasize the points you lack, you can also try asking yourself questions and answering them to retain information better.
What to do if reading aloud is hard for you?
Reading aloud may not be the same for everyone.
One of the most common factors that restrict people from reading aloud is the problem of stuttering. When you have a lot of information to read, you tend to read it fast, which can make it harder to take out words properly and perhaps miss out on a few necessary pronunciations.
The best way to combat that is to read slowly. You can first try reading the text by emphasizing each word and trying not to predict the whole sentence by reading the first few words.
I get it; who has time to do all that while studying chunky books, right?
The point of reading slowly isn’t for the entire reading period. This is the initial step you take to speak words aloud properly and correct your pronunciation.
After a month or so, you will start to see an increase in your reading and speaking speed to improve overall productivity.
When you’re not studying, try to listen to a few podcasts and repeat after the speaker speed up the process in the most efficient way possible. Remember, the more you practice, the faster you will be able to see the results.
Another problem many people have is feeling awkward.
Think about it: you actually read aloud now than ever before. For example, you read memes aloud to your friends; parents read to their children every night; you deliver the news in your office from your phone or newspaper and perhaps read recipes aloud to remember them.
This subconscious act has been around you forever; you only need to shift your perspective and go for a room with fewer people to do your necessary reading and memorizing practice.
How to read out loud if you don’t want to distract others?
If you don’t want to disturb others while reading aloud, you can always find a private place. If that’s not available, try whispering to yourself in public places as it has a similar effect to reading aloud. Many people also prefer to do this in the bathroom when you find no one else there.
What are other great benefits of reading out loud?
If you think reading aloud only helps you remember more, wait till you find out what other benefits it can offer to change your life for good.
Improves Listening and Reading Skills
If you are a writer or perhaps need to be more likable by being a good listener, start reading your material aloud.
This will help you become more aware of the grammar, sentence structure, and mistakes you've been making in the past. This will help you improve your efficiency and expand your literary horizons to experiment with different writing ways.
As for listening, it helps you practice patience to interpret words and stories better. You can use the same rule of understanding what is being said better when listening to others.
Can Improve Career of a Voice Actor
Reading aloud can help you gain skills that can be applied to your personal life and professional life as well. By simply reading the text aloud every day with the necessary scripts and narrations, you can improve your vocal skills and enunciation skills.
It will also help you become a better speaker in general. This means you will be able to communicate ideas better and become an expressive individual.
In a nutshell, reading aloud gives you the freedom to verbally carry out anything you would like to do. Now, whether it is making a fortune as a side hustle or being a better communicator, it all depends on how much you read aloud.
Greater Reading Comprehension
The approach of reading aloud can instantly improve the way you take in information. If you are an auditory learner, this can help you become more ingrained into your reading stories and content.
Since most of your senses would be focused on reading a particular book, you are also less likely to get distracted.
Since you will be having more awareness of the words and text structure, you can use all the memorized content and awareness for your reference in the future. You can also go the extra mile and record yourself to listen to it in public places where you can’t actively speak aloud and disturb others.
