What’s the best way to study for you?Many people study reading in silence, others do so aloud. If you’re one of the last, you’ll probably walk where you study while reciting what you’ve read or learned. In some cases, you can even start a conversation with yourself, but what might be more effective: study reading aloud or quietly?
What we are suggesting is that both options be used, because as we will see later, when we read aloud and silently, we improve different aspects, even if we prioritize and give more importance to one of them, we will see what each one brings and makes it difficult.
- When studying silently it is ideal to make a first reading in which the subject of the text we are reading is more or less clear.
- But it cannot be so.
- After this first reading.
- It is important to emphasize important ideas.
- Focus on what is unclear.
- And reflect or seek information that clears doubts.
It is important to emphasize and take notes, and even use highlighters of different colors, as they favor our visual memory (remembering the location of the information facilitates the process of recovering our memory: recovery). In addition, the use of colors also encourages us to pay more attention, focusing on what we previously thought was more important.
To better establish knowledge, silent reading should be complemented by summaries and diagrams.
The importance of studying while reading in silence is that we can focus on what we are reading, but if we do nothing but read, this action will do us little good. The reason lies in the fact that we have to actively work with the study element, to make it our own. Not only to read, but also to write, to take notes, to put in our words what we assimilate. This is the heart of the matter and why studying aloud has so much to offer us.
When we study reading aloud, it’s as if the ear becomes part of the experience, do cognitive skills related to memory, attention, understanding awaken?This activates the ability to store and store the information our brain has.
However, as we mentioned in silent reading, is there anything else ?, isn’t it much easier to hear an explanation from other people than to read your notes ?, is it because we give our personal value to what we read, we explain it in different words, but in addition, we can ask questions, questions, debates, which enriches the study and promotes our process of memorization.
When we study reading aloud, we make connections, suddenly we put together what we say with something we had read on another page, we make a mental diagram that can complement the pattern made in silence or the reading we did without speaking aloud It is an ideal contribution that sharpens knowledge and involves it in our minds.
Colin MacLeod and Noah Farrin are great researchers who have dedicated themselves to studying the effect of production aloud and their relationship to learning, so since 2010 they have dedicated themselves to the subject and one of their research has been published in Memory Magazine under the title “The Benefits of Listening to OneSelf”.
In this research, 100 students from the University of Waterloo, Canada, who received 80 words to be reproduced aloud, the vast majority of them wrote on paper the words they remembered just in case.
Then they passed another test, but before approving it they had to choose 4 different ways of remembering the words, one was to read them in silence, another to listen to the words recorded on a tape by someone, another to listen to the words recorded in their own voice and, the last, to read them aloud.
The results were very revealing and the authors called them the “production effect”. After two weeks of testing, participants were given a list of words asking them to identify whether they had read or memorized. in the first experiment he responded better.
Studying aloud allows us to give a personal character to what we read, to remember better.
However, it has also been found that listening to your own recordings helps, however, the recordings made by someone else were in third place, so the more personal the recording, the more we will remember it.
While studying aloud is a good option, can’t we reject others?Normally we try to memorize material with meaning, not vague words. A good combination of all can bring satisfactory results.
For some people, it is best to study silent reading, record yourself by reading the text and listen to yourself, others will choose to read aloud from the beginning and then study silently by writing or describing what they have learned. ideally, with what research has told us, everyone adopts the methodology with which to achieve greater performance.