Shadowing Practice: The Truth About Shadowing for English Learners - Learn English Speaking with Video

So I've been teaching English for almost 20 years and it seems that many students misunderstand what shadowing is really good for.

I've met many learners who spend hundreds and hundreds of hours shadowing and yes they are more confident,

they sound more fluent, and they are faster at speaking.

But many of them still don't sound the way they hoped they would.

So what's going on?

Well, I don't think shadowing is the problem itself.

In fact, I love shadowing.

I think it's one of the most useful language learning techniques available,

especially for intermediate learners and up.

The problem, in my opinion,

is that many learners expect shadowing to do something it was never really designed to do.

Now, before I go any further, I should probably say that this isn't an anti-shadowing video.

I like shadowing.

I've used shadowing myself.

I recommend shadowing to my students.

But over the years, I've started to notice something.

Many learners shadow because they want a better accent.

Right?

They want clearer pronunciation.

They want to sound more British or more American or more like a native speaker.

And that's where a lot of frustration begins

because shadowing certainly helps some aspects of speaking but i don't think it works in the way

many learners think it does

so quickly what is shadowing well traditionally shadowing means listening to audio

and repeating um almost simultaneously as the speaker and that's it

of course it means different things nowadays

but activities like listen pause repeat that's not shadowing in my opinion it's very useful

but it's not shadowing um and i think it's important to understand where shadowing came from

and what it was used for

so from my understanding it came from the 1950s soviet russia

where researchers were trying to understand how quickly we can process speech

and reproduce it later it was used for interpreters interpreter training right where they have to translate in real time

so they also have to listen process repeat very quickly and And then I think in the 1990s,

a lot of researchers in Japan studied shadowing

and they they started to slowly popularize shadowing but i think nowadays many people will say polyglots like alexander arguelez

and uh there's a guy called moses mccormick who sadly passed away in 2021

but they really made it popular so i think it's just important to know that shadowing was originally for um

processing rapid speech and then reproducing it it was never meant for accent training pronunciation training

and i think that's really important nowadays there are many different

types of shadowing right there's uh traditional shadowing blind shadowing performative

shadowing prosodic shadowing content shadowing mumble shadowing i can go on

and on there's many different types and they also have different uses

if you would like to know the different types i will make a quick pdf for you guys

and there's a link in the comment section okay

so let me tell you a little bit about my experience with shadowing

which started around 17 or 18 years ago

when a friend of mine shared a video of this very strange man walking up up

and down a bridge in a park listening to audio

and speaking Mandarin Chinese using a book

and I thought what is happening what who is this guy

and now it is the very famous Alexander Arguelles and

so I really copied his approach

and it's very interesting I would say it's a very strict system you need bilingual texts

and you're switching between L1 and L2.

You start with like blind shadowing, so you just listen and repeat.

And it was really interesting, but it didn't really work for me.

And that's okay.

But I just wanted to understand the audio better at the start.

So I slowly and gradually,

step by step, created my own system where we do more understanding the audio and analysis

comparing ourselves to the speaker and noticing that's the most important part

so we do all these other things before we shadow

and don't worry i will talk about this more later on

and uh i will So we'll make another video as well to show you exactly how I do it, the full routine.

Very quickly guys, I just want to show you how amazing my camera operator

is today look at the terrain she has to walk on while filming me at the same time

so please thank her in the video it's my wife if you don't know already

now just because shadowing was originally designed for something doesn't really tell us how language learners should use it today.

Fortunately, shadowing has been studied quite a lot, especially in Japan.

And interestingly, many of the benefits researchers talk about

are the same benefits I've seen in my own students over the years.

So it's particularly useful for listening comprehension,

fluency, speaking flow, rhythm, processing speed, connected speech, confidence.

And that makes sense, right?

Because when you're shadowing, you're constantly listening and producing language in real time.

Your brain has to hear the sounds,

process the meaning, predict, guess what's coming next, you're moving your mouth, you're keeping up with the speaker,

all at the same time.

So if you've ever shadowed consistently and felt more fluent, more confident and faster when you're speaking,

well that's not your imagination.

That's exactly the kind of thing shadowing seems to be good at.

Now, does shadowing help pronunciation?

Well, yes, of course.

It can help you develop better, a better sense of rhythm,

stress, intonation and connected speech.

But I think this is where many learners become disappointed because they assume that if they shadow long enough,

their accent will eventually become British or American.

And personally, I don't think it's that simple.

So where do I think many learners go wrong?

Well, I don't think the problem is that they're shadowing.

I think the problem is that they start shadowing too early.

Many learners find a piece of audio and immediately start repeating it.

But they haven't really trained their ear.

They haven't spent time analyzing the audio.

They haven't studied the speaker's pronunciation.

They haven't listened closely for stress, rhythm, connected speech and reductions.

They haven't done careful listen and repeat exercises and they haven't recorded themselves

they haven't compared themselves to the speaker there are so many things

but because of that they're often trying to copy sounds they can't fully hear yet

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and in my opinion this is where many learners get stuck.

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Most learners shadow before they've learned to notice.

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So I think shadowing becomes much more useful

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when you've trained your ear to hear the differences between your speech and the speaker's speech.

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In fact, this is probably the biggest thing I've learned over the years,

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I don't think pronunciation improves just because of shadowing, right?

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I think pronunciation improves because of noticing.

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And shadowing simply gives you opportunities to practice what you've noticed.

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And I'd go even further and say

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that the biggest gains in pronunciation happen during analysis

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and comparison not shadowing itself so if you can't hear the difference between your pronunciation

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and the speaker's pronunciation well it's very difficult to change it

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so the goal isn't just repetition right more shadowing more shadowing the goal is learning to hear more accurately

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i just wanted to say don't you just love this area

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if you can see all the trees are on this hill

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and it makes you feel a bit dizzy

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because it's like it's a hill

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but they're all going straight up i absolutely love this place guys one of my favorite walks actually

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so is shadowing a good technique well yes especially for intermediate learners

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and up but i also think that many people expect it to do a job

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that should really be done by careful listening,

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analysis, comparing and many other activities even before you start shadowing.

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That's where real pronunciation work happens and shadowing comes after that.

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Now if you want to see my complete routine that really helps your pronunciation, accent, speaking, listening,

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so many skills click on the link somewhere here and please check

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that out thank you so much for watching until the end

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and uh yeah i'll see you in the next video bye

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.

Shadowing Practice: The Truth About Shadowing for English Learners - Learn English Speaking with Video

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What is the Shadowing Technique?