ELT365 · D174 — Reading aloud — when it helps and when it doesn’t

Idea — Reading aloud trains pronunciation and fluency. It does not practise reading comprehension: the cognitive load is on performance, not meaning.

Example — A student reading aloud attends to pronunciation, stress, and pace. Their processing of meaning drops measurably compared to silent reading of the same text.

Try — Ask a student to read a paragraph silently, then aloud. Ask comprehension questions after each. Where was understanding higher? Use that data.

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