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Reading Aloud Technique | ||
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 Language Learning Forum : Learning Techniques, Methods & Strategies |  | |
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6137 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes  Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 1 of 70 17 November 2011 at 9:55am | IP Logged | ||
I think this is a separate discussion from the original threa, "Memorizing lists of phrases" . I've never tried this method, but I'm curious now. Has anyone done this ? I have done Arguelles shadowing which was pretty effective. Edited by DaraghM on 17 November 2011 at 9:56am 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Cainntear Pentaglot Senior Member Scotland linguafrankly.blogsp Joined 5997 days ago 4399 posts - 7687 votes Speaks: Lowland Scots, English*, French, Spanish, Scottish Gaelic Studies: Catalan, Italian, German, Irish, Welsh | Message 2 of 70 17 November 2011 at 10:39am | IP Logged | ||
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I recall hearing a few years ago that studies had found this to be a cognitively difficult task.
I'm not sure of the details (it was before I got into languages) but as I recall it went something like this: There is a single "language channel" in the brain that all language (spoken, written, heard and read) has to go through. This makes it impossible to listen to two things at once, or even listen while reading. People who appear to be listening and reading simultaneously, and people doing things like simultaneous translation, aren't actually doing two things at once, but actually "timeslicing" -- switching between two tasks quickly enough to give them the appearance of being simultaneous. It's a very difficult skill -- my big sister claims to be able to read a novel while having a conversation, but I could never manage it. How does this apply to reading out loud? Well, in order to read with proper intonation, you need to "read ahead" by several words, so that you can reconstruct the structure of the sentence. This means that you only start speaking once you've finished reading -- you are not simply "reading aloud", you're actually "reading and repeating", and that means you're trying to do two things with the language channel at once. As I say, though, I heard this quite a while ago and I couldn't give any citations. Further studies may have shown this wrong, too. Anecdotally, though, I've been reading aloud a lot for my Gaelic studies, and even the native speakers find it difficult. Also, whenever I've tried using reading aloud in an English class, I've found most people end up reading -- a -- word -- at -- a -- time, with no intonation or flow. I don't consider reading aloud to be a good general technique. However... That's not to say it's a bad thing. If you're at the level to do it correctly, it may be good as a "stretch" exercise, working on your speed and flexibility. I've always been afraid of simultaneous translation, so I might start using reading aloud as a way to improve my timeslicing.... I wouldn't say not to do it, 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| Ari Heptaglot Senior Member Norway Joined 6568 days ago 2314 posts - 5695 votes Speaks: Swedish*, English, French, Spanish, Portuguese, Mandarin, Cantonese Studies: Czech, Latin, German | Message 3 of 70 17 November 2011 at 12:47pm | IP Logged | ||
This is surprising, since "reading aloud" is a much older skill than "reading silently". Before, I think, the rennaissance or so, people would always read text either aloud or with lip movements and subvocalisation. But I guess they didn't read with proper intonation. Edited by Ari on 17 November 2011 at 12:47pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| DaraghM Diglot Senior Member Ireland Joined 6137 days ago 1947 posts - 2923 votes Speaks: English*, Spanish Studies: French, Russian, Hungarian | Message 4 of 70 17 November 2011 at 1:46pm | IP Logged | ||
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Like Ari, I think reading aloud came before reading in silence.In Augustine's Confessions he says of Ambrose,
"When [Ambrose] read, his eyes scanned the page and his heart sought out the meaning, but his voice was silent and his tongue was still. Anyone could approach him freely and guests were not commonly announced, so that often, when we came to visit him, we found him reading like this in silence, for he never read aloud" Isn't reading in silence an acquired skill for a child. I remember some pupils who needed remedial help to read in silence. However, as Cainntear mentions with 'good intonation', this is a different skill. It's what distinguishes professional presenters from those who read aloud monotonously. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
 Iversen Super Polyglot Moderator Denmark berejst.dk Joined 6689 days ago 9078 posts - 16473 votes Speaks: Danish*, French, English, German, Italian, Spanish, Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Esperanto, Romanian, Catalan Studies: Afrikaans, Greek, Norwegian, Russian, Serbian, Icelandic, Latin, Irish, Lowland Scots, Indonesian, Polish, Croatian Personal Language Map | Message 5 of 70 17 November 2011 at 2:38pm | IP Logged | ||
I have also seen somewhere that Ambrosius was the first silent reader: to the astonishment of his surroundings he didn't even move his lips while reading. He was lucky that they didn't accuse him of black magic in the service of the devil!
That's also what my computer does. If the timeslices are sufficiently short it is almost as good as having two channels at your disposal. I have noticed that I can listen to (instrumental) music while working with difficult texts or with language where I have problems understanding anything - but I have to turn the TV down if it speaks a language I understand. This supports the theory quoted by Cainntear. On the other hand I haven't got any problems doing easier tasks while I have my TV or computer speaking in another language. It may very well be that my brain then uses sufficiently short timeslices for my task which can be mixed with equally short timeslices reserved for the external source of babble. One thing more: I have tried Arguelles' shadowing technique, but I simply don't listen carefully enough when I speak. On the other hand, thinking along with a mental 'daimon' using my own voice and intonation is possible. And I sometimes also translate speech from my TV into other languages to train my 'bulldozing' skills. So those timeslices have to be fairly short.. Edited by Iversen on 17 November 2011 at 5:56pm 1 person has voted this message useful | |||
| hypersport Senior Member United States Joined 5867 days ago 216 posts - 307 votes Studies: Spanish | Message 6 of 70 17 November 2011 at 3:11pm | IP Logged | ||
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When I was in grade school, we had to take turns reading aloud out of our textbooks. This proved extremely difficult for some kids and much easier for others.
Regardless, with enough reading, just like speaking we can anticipate sentences as we read them. We don't need to read something, then go back and read it out loud. We are not repeating what we just read. Someone in your house is reading the directions for assembly of something you just bought...they read it out loud as you both do the work. The flow and intonation is perfect because the words aren't foreign. The sentences are easily anticipated and the words flow naturally. Same when a teacher reads a story to the children in class out loud. Not only is she reading with natural speech, she also can anticipate what's happening in the story and change her tone and expressions to give the story more life. 4 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Arekkusu Hexaglot Senior Member Canada bit.ly/qc_10_lec Joined 5367 days ago 3971 posts - 7747 votes Speaks: English, French*, GermanC1, Spanish, Japanese, Esperanto Studies: Italian, Norwegian, Mandarin, Romanian, Estonian | Message 7 of 70 17 November 2011 at 4:09pm | IP Logged | ||
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I almost always read outloud. When that's not possible because I'm on the bus or in a public space, I read as though I were reading outloud, either by whispering or by simply imagining that I'm reading it to people. Since I'm not recording myself, I don't know if it sound natural, but it's certainly my intention to make it sound as natural as possible.
I don't choose to do so, it just happens. I'm guessing this is one of the reasons other learners tend to read a lot more than I, yet they tend to not be as comfortable speaking. I guess it's also why I don't read that much. I do believe however that reading outloud gives a huge advantage in speaking a language. It's no longer just a passive knowledge; you are making what you are reading into active language. You add an extra sensory dimension -- you feel the language. I suppose people who read silently also just do so -- you could tell them to read outloud, but they would likely feel frustrated by how slow it is in the long run and would probably naturally revert to reading silently. Reading an unknown text in class, however, in front of a live audience, is in my opinion a completely useless task wasting both the student's and the teacher's time. To read it well, you'd need a certain degree of foresight (which can only come after reaching a good level) or you'd have to read ahead, and students are rarely given the time to do so when their turn comes -- the better readers often scan ahead when they sense their turn might come. When you read alone, you are free to start over as you please. As for native speakers reading "perfectly", I think you'd be surprised how close analysis would prove that either intonation often isn't quite natural or else the reader actually started over or corrected themselves many times. We tend to not pay attention to these details. I'm not sure how all this relates to what Cainntear was saying. I also do simultaneous interpretation, and although I can't feel if I'm timeslicing, there is no doubt that this activity uses almost all of the brain's available language bandwidth. After an interpretation session, one hardly remembers what was heard or said. We momentarily lose consciousness of our surroundings and if something brings us out of our task, we lose focus right away. Sometimes, interpreters translate speakers who are reading outloud, and we are given the text ahead of time. Most interpreters will acknowledge that it's extremely difficult to listen, read and speak at the same time. We usually give up on either listening or reading, but most will use the text as a general guideline, still following along generally with their finger, jumping to numbers and names for accuracy. 2 persons have voted this message useful | |||
| Hendrek Diglot Senior Member United States Joined 4868 days ago 152 posts - 210 votes Speaks: English*, Italian Studies: Persian | Message 8 of 70 17 November 2011 at 4:51pm | IP Logged | ||
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I'm a bit skeptical personally of the cited difficulties, only because I find it to not be very difficult.
I never read aloud or even move my mouth when reading in English, but I actually find it quite helpful to read aloud a bit in Italian (I make it a point to try to get the overall intonation of the sentence and the words in real time, particularly because it is so important in Italian). I get the impression that doing so helps with my recall of the words as well. I do also read silently during the more "extensive" periods. As for the native intonation, I also have never recorded myself, but never found it to be difficult to read aloud a text in L1 in a class, even one such as shakespeare... you just have to "feel" the writing while you're reading, which is obviously easier in L1. That's the best I can explain it from my perspective. Besides, I'm listening to an audiobook which is read aloud quite well, so that to me serves as a counter example, though perhaps it has the benefit of several attempts and edits. Also, having started the L-R approach, listening in L-2 while reading in L-1 may well involve time-slicing, but to me it feels rapid and effective enough that I'm mostly able to apply the written meaning (which I'm silently reading) to the spoken words in real time. Of course this is all anecdotal. 1 person has voted this message useful |
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