Shadowing Practice: CET-6 Listening Practice: Why Testing Yourself Beats Rereading - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
28 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
Good morning, everyone. Let me begin with a quick question about how you study.
2
When an exam is coming, what do most of you actually do?
3
If you're like most students, you read your notes again, and then again.
4
It feels productive, and the material starts to look wonderfully familiar.
5
The trouble is that familiarity isn't the same thing as memory.
6
Today I want to show you why testing yourself is far more effective.
7
Psychologists call this the testing effect, or retrieval practice.
8
Retrieval simply means pulling information out of your memory without looking.
9
In two thousand and six, Henry Roediger and Jeffrey Karpicke tested this idea carefully.
10
They asked university students to learn short passages about science topics.
11
One group simply read a passage four times, in four separate study periods.
12
Another group read it only once, and then tried to recall it three times.
13
During those tests, they wrote down everything they could remember, with no help at all.
14
Five minutes later, the students who had reread the passage did noticeably better.
15
So far, rereading seems to win, which is exactly what most of us would expect.
16
But the researchers also tested everyone again one week later.
17
And this time, the picture was completely reversed!
18
The repeated testing group remembered about sixty-one percent of the ideas.
19
The group who had only reread remembered just forty percent.
20
In other words, rereading helped in the short term, but testing lasted far longer.
21
What surprised me most, though, was what the students themselves predicted.
22
Those who had reread four times felt more confident that they would remember the passage.
23
Their sense of fluency fooled them, and that confidence turned out to be misplaced.
24
So how can you put this into practice tonight?
25
After reading a chapter, close the book and write down everything you can recall.
26
Then check what you missed, and test yourself again a few days later.
27
It'll feel harder than rereading, but that struggle is precisely what makes memories last.
28
See you next week, and do test yourselves before then!
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
B2114
28 sentences
Episode 1
CET-6 Listening Long Conversation: A Four-Day Work Week
American AccentBritish AccentCET-4/6 PrepBusiness EnglishUniversity Students
B2209
27 sentences
Episode 2
CET-6 Listening Long Conversation: Changing a Dissertation Topic
American AccentBritish AccentCET-4/6 PrepDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B279
25 sentences
Episode 3
CET-6 Listening Long Conversation: A Radio Interview with a City Beekeeper
American AccentCET-4/6 PrepDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B214
25 sentences
Episode 4
CET-6 Listening Long Conversation: Online or In-Person Classes?
American AccentBritish AccentCET-4/6 PrepDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B28
28 sentences
Episode 5
CET-6 Listening Long Conversation: Asking for a Recommendation Letter
American AccentBritish AccentCET-4/6 PrepDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B210
27 sentences
Episode 6
CET-6 Listening Long Conversation: Planning a Semester Abroad
American AccentBritish AccentCET-4/6 PrepTravel EnglishUniversity Students
B25
33 sentences
Episode 7
CET-6 Listening Passages: Why Boredom Helps Creativity and the Psychology of Waiting
American AccentBritish AccentTOEFL PrepCET-4/6 PrepUniversity Students
C132 sentences
Episode 8
CET-6 Listening Passages: The Dunning–Kruger Effect and the IKEA Effect
American AccentBritish AccentTOEFL PrepCET-4/6 PrepUniversity Students
C14
29 sentences
Episode 9
CET-6 Listening Passages: The Anchoring Effect and the Brains of London Taxi Drivers
American AccentBritish AccentTOEFL PrepCET-4/6 PrepUniversity Students
C114
31 sentences
Episode 10
CET-6 Listening Lectures: The Decoy Effect and the Hawthorne Studies
American AccentBritish AccentTOEFL PrepCET-4/6 PrepBusiness English
C11
30 sentences
Episode 11
CET-6 Listening Lectures: The Default Effect and the Bystander Effect
American AccentBritish AccentTOEFL PrepCET-4/6 PrepUniversity Students
C13
26 sentences
Episode 12
CET-6 Listening Lecture: The Forgetting Curve and Spaced Practice
American AccentBritish AccentTOEFL PrepCET-4/6 PrepUniversity Students
C12
23 sentences
Episode 13
CET-6 Listening Lecture: What the Marshmallow Test Really Tells Us
American AccentBritish AccentTOEFL PrepCET-4/6 PrepUniversity Students
C15
28 sentences
Episode 14
CET-6 Listening Lectures: The Pygmalion Effect and the Spotlight Effect
American AccentBritish AccentTOEFL PrepCET-4/6 PrepUniversity Students
C14
21 sentences
Episode 15
CET-6 Listening Lecture: Why Heavy Multitaskers Struggle to Focus
American AccentTOEFL PrepCET-4/6 PrepUniversity Students
B21
28 sentences
Episode 16
CET-6 Listening Practice: Can Older Brains Still Change?
British AccentCET-4/6 PrepDaily ConversationUniversity Students
C12
27 sentences
Episode 17
CET-6 Listening Practice: How Sleep Protects Memory
British AccentTOEFL PrepCET-4/6 PrepUniversity Students
B228 sentences
Episode 18
CET-6 Listening Practice: Should I Take a Gap Year?
American AccentBritish AccentCET-4/6 PrepDaily ConversationUniversity Students
C13
28 sentences
Episode 19
CET-6 Listening Practice: Why Familiar Things Feel Better
British AccentTOEFL PrepCET-4/6 PrepUniversity Students
C128 sentences
Now playing
CET-6 Listening Practice: Why Testing Yourself Beats Rereading
British AccentTOEFL PrepCET-4/6 PrepUniversity Students
B21
28 sentences
Episode 21
CET-6 Listening Practice: Working from Home and Loneliness
American AccentBritish AccentCET-4/6 PrepBusiness EnglishUniversity Students
B211
28 sentences
Episode 22
CET-6 Listening Practice: Switching from Accounting to Design
American AccentCET-4/6 PrepDaily ConversationUniversity Students
C128 sentences
Episode 23
CET-6 Listening Practice: When More Choice Means Less
British AccentTOEFL PrepCET-4/6 PrepUniversity Students
B23
28 sentences
Episode 24
CET-6 Listening Practice: Why We Should Talk to Strangers
British AccentCET-4/6 PrepDaily ConversationUniversity Students
Same Channel
A1756
A Day in My Life 29: Washing Mrs. Lee's Car
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
A12,363
A Day in My Life 24: Watching TV
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
A14,692
A Day in My Life 1: Getting Up
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
A2429
A Day in My Life 28: Renting a Car
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
A1322
My First Swimming Lesson: I Can't Swim!
American AccentBritish AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B12,854
Discipline Beats Motivation
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
A1278
A Day in My Life 26: Reading a Book
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
A1766
A Day in My Life 2: Brushing My Teeth and Taking a Shower
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
A2591
A Day in My Life 21: Taking a Taxi
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B2120
Office Gossip 5: The Secret Meeting
American AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationWorking Adults
A21,348
A Day in My Life 19: Cleaning the House
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
A2131
A Day in My Life 30: Taking the Car to the Garage
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B21,037
IELTS Speaking Part 2: Describe a Quiet Place You Like to Go
American AccentBritish AccentIELTS PrepUniversity Students
B1253
SE-Ed: Why Do We Get Goosebumps?
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B1401
CET-4 Listening Long Conversation: A Part-Time Job or an Internship?
American AccentCET-4/6 PrepInterview EnglishDaily Conversation
A11,375
Fast and Slow: The Big Race
American AccentBritish AccentKidsDaily Conversation
A197
Not Me! Who Ate the Cookies?
American AccentKidsDaily Conversation
A253
A Day in My Life 31: Sending a Parcel
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
A1400
A Day in My Life 3: Getting Dressed
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C1274
IELTS Speaking Part 3: Advice, Experts and the Internet (Band 8.0)
American AccentBritish AccentIELTS PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
FOR YOU
Recommend Video
C13
26 sentences
CET-6 Listening Lecture: The Forgetting Curve and Spaced Practice
American AccentBritish AccentTOEFL PrepCET-4/6 PrepUniversity Students
C114
31 sentences
CET-6 Listening Lectures: The Decoy Effect and the Hawthorne Studies
American AccentBritish AccentTOEFL PrepCET-4/6 PrepBusiness English
C12
69 sentences
TOEFL Listening Practice | Lecture | Learning a Foreign Language
TOEFL PrepUniversity Students
C11
144 sentences
How I Study SMARTER, Not HARDER (10 Science-Based Tips)
Daily ConversationUniversity Students
C14
347 sentences
IELTS Listening Part 3 Only Podcast January | Luyện nghe tiếng Anh thụ động | Full Test & ASMR #ib8
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B25
156 sentences
Get Better at IELTS Reading in 13 Minutes
British AccentIELTS PrepCambridge Exam PrepUniversity Students
C17
35 sentences
PTE Read Aloud Practice: Pronunciation Tips That Actually Work
IELTS PrepTOEFL PrepUniversity Students
B25
205 sentences
TOEFL Speaking: Listen and Repeat Training (2026)
TOEFL PrepUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C13
51 sentences
How to do ACTIVE RECALL Effectively? (4 Techniques worked for me)
Business EnglishUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
C2104
138 sentences
Do THIS to Shadow English Properly & Improve Your Speaking (B1 to C2)
British AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
C12
389 sentences
C1 Advanced (CAE) Listening Test 1 with answers
Cambridge Exam PrepUniversity Students
B2543
18 sentences
The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Students (Part 5) 🌟
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity Students
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “CET-6 Listening Practice: Why Testing Yourself Beats Rereading”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: passage, testing, students, reread, rereading. This video has 28 sentences and 343 words to shadow. The speech runs for 2:16. The speaker talks at a natural 152 words per minute, close to everyday conversation. 85% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English; the rest is worth studying before you start.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 12 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| reread verb | /ɹiːˈɹiːd/ | To read again. |
| retrieval noun | /ɹɪˈtɹiːvəl/ | The act of retrieving or something retrieved. |
| familiarity noun | /fəmɪliˈæɹɪti/ | The state of being extremely friendly; intimacy. |
| fluency noun | /ˈfluːənsi/ | The quality of smoothness of flow. |
| misplace verb | /mɪsˈpleɪs/ | To put something somewhere and then forget its location; to mislay. |
| noticeably adverb | In a noticeable way. | |
| wonderfully adverb | /wʌn.də(ɹ).fli/ | In an excellent manner. |
| psychologist noun | /ˌsaɪˈkɑl.ə.d͡ʒɪst/ | An expert in the field of psychology. |
| yourselves | /jəˈsɛlvz/ | You (plural), used to intensify the subject as the group addressed. |
| researcher noun | /ˈɹiˌsɝ.t͡ʃɚ/ | One who researches. |
| sixty noun | /ˈsɪksti/ | A commercial lasting 60 seconds. |
| predict verb | /pɹɪˈdɪkt/ | To make a prediction: to forecast, foretell, or estimate a future event on the basis of knowledge and reasoning; to prophesy a future event on the basis of… |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| write down verb | To produce or set (something) down in writing; to record something. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | students who had · win, which is · Those who had |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | was completely reversed · be misplaced |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 3 contractions and reduced forms, such as isn't, it'll, you're. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- Long words — get the stress right: familiarity /fəmɪliˈæɹɪti/, psychologist /ˌsaɪˈkɑl.ə.d͡ʒɪst/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Start at 0.75× speed, shadow it sentence by sentence, then go back to normal speed once it feels easy.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like reread, retrieval, familiarity.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.