Reading out loud is slower than reading silently, but does it help you to learn, if you read aloud?
Reading out loud can help you to memorize the learning materials more efficiently, according to studies. However, it does take a longer time to read something out loud, instead of silently.
In this post, we will go through possible reasons why reading out loud is an effective method of studying, as well as compare reading out loud to silent reading. Let’s begin.
Does reading out loud help you to study?
Reading out loud can help you to study and learn more efficiently. Most importantly, reading out loud can help you to memorize things you read much better. (Source)
According to the study, people who read out loud remember the text much better, compared to other groups of people, who read silently, listen to someone read out loud, or listen to themselves read out loud.
Reading out loud forces you to pay attention to each word much more carefully, compared to reading silently in your head.
It is also slower to read out loud, giving your brain more time to digest the information you just read, instead of flooding it with tons of new information, if you were to read silently or speed reading.
It is true that it takes more time to go through a certain amount of text if you read it out loud. On the flip side, that means you might learn the topic in hand more efficiently, even though you use more time to learn it.
In conclusion, reading out loud can help you to study more efficiently. Try it out yourself, and see if you can notice a difference. Reading out loud does have other benefits to it as well.
Later in this post, we also have other ways you can make your learning more efficient.
Does speaking out loud help you to learn?
Speaking the things you should learn out loud as if you were to teach someone can help you to learn and memorize the topics better as well.
You will also pay a lot more attention to individual words, making sure you do not miss anything important. Compared to speed reading through the book, you might miss an important detail that makes a huge difference.
Due to the slower reading speed when speaking the written text out loud, you also have more time to digest the information you are reading. That can be a big advantage, especially if you are unfamiliar with the topic.
One of the best ways I have found to learn is to create material that can be used to teach someone, who has no previous knowledge about the topic.
Is it better to read out loud or silently?
There are pros and cons of reading out loud, as well as reading silently.
The good thing about reading things out loud is that it can help you memorize the text and topics of the text better.
On top of that, by reading out loud, you are forced to read each word. You can not skip words and possibly leave important things unnoticed. When you read out loud, you have to focus on each word, which can help you to remember what you read.
On the other hand, reading out loud is a lot slower than reading silently. Especially if you talk slower, reading out loud can significantly increase the time it takes to read the same amount of text, compared to reading silently.
That comes with the benefit of you having more time to digest the information you are reading. Especially if the topic is new to you, reading out loud can help you to memorize the topic a lot better. (Source)
Other ways to improve your studying process
As we have discussed, reading out loud can help you to memorize things you read better. On top of that, there are other ways you can further improve your memorization of a topic.
First of all, taking notes about the topic as you progress can help out a lot. When I was still in school, I found out that by writing down notes about the topic of each lesson, I was able to remember much better, even if I never read those notes again.
It takes a different kind of effort to write things down. That effort can help you to remember them easier in the future when you have fully understood the topic and written it down.
On top of that, having some kind of visual demonstration of the topic can help out a lot (if possible). Images that represent the topic that explains the written text in a visual form can further improve your learning efficiency.
Final thoughts
In conclusion, reading text out loud can help you to memorize that text better, compared to reading silently or listening to someone else read.
That might be because you have to spend more time on each word, or because you use more senses to consume the same information.
When you read a text out loud, it becomes really difficult to skip words from the text, without making the sentence sound unnatural.
Hopefully, this was helpful, have a wonderful day!
