Shadowing Practice: Storytelling in User Research - Learn English Speaking with Video
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50 sentences
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Most people think storytelling is about persuasion and how to communicate with impact.
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While storytelling is certainly a skill that helps you be a better communicator, did you know it's also central to good user research?
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Stories are what we collect in research and what we reference and communicate post-research sessions.
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Let me give you three examples of how stories feature in user research and why they're important.
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the first is that stories help us uncover insights
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when we interview users in discovery we don't just collect answers
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or facts we actually collect stories we ask users to tell
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us about their experiences we do this by asking open-ended questions like tell me about a time where dot dot
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or walk me through a typical day for you that's
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because people can confidently and expertly tell about things that happened to them and what their experience felt like.
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These stories reveal needs, pain points, expectations, often things people can't articulate in a direct answer.
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So, stories in interviews are the vessel where insight lives.
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They give us context.
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They help us understand not just what happened, but why it mattered.
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When running observational research, we also collect stories.
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We watch people as they work at a task, and we note what they did and why.
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These are stories.
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And we often use them when describing what isn't working and why, or why we think something is needed or valuable.
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Second, stories are what make insights intelligible.
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When we hear people express things they care about in an abstract way, we can't make sense of it.
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So we ask users to give us an example, i.e. a story.
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This is because we need those stories to understand what users communicate to us.
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It provides the necessary context for us to picture it, to tie it to something tangible.
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In design research, context is everything.
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Finally, stories are what drive action.
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Many of us have been in a research session where a user does something completely unexpected.
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The facilitator follows up and suddenly we're learning something we didn't anticipate.
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Those moments stick.
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And what happens next?
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Well, we talk about it.
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We debrief.
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It sparks conversation.
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That leads to action people start thinking differently designing with that moment in mind changing priorities
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because when teams watch research it's the stories that stay with them not the metrics
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these stories get remembered
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and more importantly they get retold in stand-ups in roadmap planning
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in design critiques they become a shorthand for a user need
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or a broken flow or a product opportunity they shape how decisions get made that's
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because storytelling is core to how humans process information we've used
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stories to make sense of the world for generations long before we had written language.
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Stories are how knowledge was passed down, how values were taught and how lessons we'll learn.
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They're easy to remember, they're easy to share and in product teams that's what makes them powerful.
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So in user research the story is everything.
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It's what we collect in research that helps us uncover insights.
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It's also the thing that helps us make sense of our data.
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And finally, it's the thing that lives on in stakeholders and our team's minds.
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So, embrace the story.
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Collecting and sharing meaningful stories is what makes you an effective design researcher. and UX articles.
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And if you're ready to dive deeper, we offer both live, hands-on UX training and self-paced courses you can take any time at your own pace.
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Explore our full course library at nngroup.com.
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This C1 speaking lesson is built on the video “Storytelling in User Research”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: stories, user, collect, insight, storytelling. This video has 50 sentences and 600 words to shadow. The speech runs for 4:12. The speaker talks at a steady 143 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 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 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| storytelling noun | The act and skills of presenting stories and tales. | |
| uncover verb | /ʌnˈkʌvɚ/ | To remove a cover from. |
| communicator noun | /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪtə/ | Someone who, or something that communicates. |
| confidently adverb | /ˈkɑnfɪdəntli/ | In a confident manner; with confidence; with strong assurance; positively. |
| debrief verb | /diːˈbɹiːf/ | To question someone after a military mission in order to obtain information (especially intelligence). |
| expertly adverb | /ˈɛk.spɝt.li/ | In an expert manner; with great skill. |
| facilitator noun | Something that facilitates | |
| intelligible adjective | /ɪnˈtɛləd͡ʒəbəl/ | Capable of being understood; clear to the mind. |
| observational adjective | /ˌɑbzɚˈveɪʃənəl/ | Relating to observation, especially scientific observation. |
| persuasion noun | /pɚˈsweɪʒən/ | The act of persuading, or trying to do so; the addressing of arguments to someone with the intention of changing their mind or convincing them of a certain… |
| retell verb | /ɹiˈtɛl/ | To tell again, often differently, what one has read or heard; to paraphrase. |
| shorthand noun | /ˈʃɔɹthænd/ | A rough and rapid method of writing by substituting symbols for letters, words, etc. |
| stakeholder noun | /ˈsteɪkˌhəʊl.də/ | A person holding the stakes of bettors, with the responsibility of delivering the pot to the winner of the bet. |
| articulate verb | /ɑːɹˈtɪk.jə.leɪt/ | To make clear or effective. |
| tangible adjective | /ˈtæn.d͡ʒə.bəl/ | Touchable; able to be touched or felt; perceptible by the sense of touch. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| follow up verb | To take further actions remaining after an event; to continue, revisit, or persist; especially, to maintain communication or verify. |
| pass down verb | To hand over, pass through or transfer to a lower level, next generation, etc. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | have been · we've used |
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is needed · was passed |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 12 contractions and reduced forms, such as they're, can't, didn't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: observational /ˌɑbzɚˈveɪʃənəl/, persuasion /pɚˈsweɪʒən/, shorthand /ˈʃɔɹthænd/, expectation /ˌɛk.spɛkˈteɪ.ʃən/
- Long words — get the stress right: communicator /kəˈmjuːnɪkeɪtə/, confidently /ˈkɑnfɪdəntli/, intelligible /ɪnˈtɛləd͡ʒəbəl/, observational /ˌɑbzɚˈveɪʃənəl/, articulate /ɑːɹˈtɪk.jə.leɪt/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like storytelling, uncover, communicator.
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.