Shadowing Practice: Will reading out loud improve your pronunciation & speaking skills? - Learn English Speaking with Video
Choose a practice mode
Each mode opens a full-screen practice room.
33 sentences
If sentences are too short or too long, click Edit to adjust them.
1
hey what's up Stefanie the English coach here from EnglishFullTime.com in this video I'm going to answer the question will reading out loud help me improve my pronunciation and speaking skills now the simple answer is that yes
2
it will help in some ways but there are better methods and I don't recommend that you primarily use this method reading out loud to improve your pronunciation and your speaking skills so I'm going to explain why in this
3
video okay so several months ago I wrote an email about this to all of my subscribers and one person wrote back and he was so angry and he was like how
4
can you say that reading out loud isn't the best method for improving our pronunciation and our speaking skills this is what we've been taught this is what our teachers have shown us this is what we all do and first of all I was
5
kind of like okay just because that's what everybody does and that's what you're being taught doesn't mean that that's the best method right the reason why reading out loud is not the best way to practice your pronunciation is
6
because words in English and I say this all the time are not pronounced the way that they are written in fact words in English often have nothing to do their
7
pronunciation has nothing to do with the way they're written we have silent letters we have confusing letter combinations you know when we're speaking we cut off the ends of words we add sounds we eliminate sounds and when
8
you are reading text on a page that text is flat you can't read what intonation you're supposed to speak with you can't read what emphasis you're supposed to
9
put on which syllable you can't read any of that information so reading the words on a page you could be reading them incorrectly and who's gonna be there to correct you right who's gonna be there to say hey no you keep messing up right
10
there you keep doing that that's not how it's done if you're just reading out loud you could be practicing something incorrectly and then practicing it consistently incorrectly and then you're gonna solidify an incorrect language
11
pattern in your mind simply put you cannot read sounds you can hear sounds so if you're trying to improve your pronunciation you should not be
12
reading and then trying to pronounce you should be listening and then imitating what you hear because your ears will not deceive you but your eyes will you'll read a word and you'll see a silent letter there and you won't realize it's
13
silent so you think you have to pronounce it right your eyes are deceiving you they're making you think that you need to pronounce a word in a certain way when you don't so rather you should listen to words listen to sentences listen to audio clips and just imitate what you hear
14
right many of you know this as shadowing you're shadowing what you hear you're saying it as you're hearing it or you're pausing the audio pausing the video and then repeating what you just heard and then replay those audios again and again
15
listen repeat listen repeat and that way you will learn to start sounding and speaking more like a native speaker and less like a textbook a lot of foreign speakers when they speak in English they actually sound like a book like very
16
choppy you know like they're reading one word at a time and pronouncing everything perfectly but nobody speaks like that right so reading out loud is
17
not a great method because your eyes are gonna see separations between words they're gonna see the spaces and it's gonna give you this idea that oh my gosh there's a space here between these words so I need to make spaces in between my
18
words when I speak and that's simply not true we run all the words together practically okay you guys we use so many contractions in English so again if you're listening and then repeating what you hear you're more
19
likely to develop a natural sounding English now the other reason why reading out loud won't necessarily help you with your speaking is because the way that
20
sentences are constructed in a book are not the way that they are spoken in conversation okay and I'm going to give you an example of this so I have a book here it's called the e-myth revisited and here on chapter 3 the very first
21
sentence goes like this it is self-evident that businesses says like people are supposed to grow and with growth comes change that's a great sentence but it's a great sentence for a book I do not talk like this okay
22
so instead of saying it is self-evident I would say like hey it's obvious it's obvious and instead of starting my sentence like that I might not even say it's obvious cuz when something is obvious we just say it we don't have to
23
say it's obvious so I would just say you know businesses are like people they have to grow that's it that's how I speak I don't have to speak in this fancy way that this book is written and this book isn't even that fancy but as
24
you can see from this sentence here it still has some pretty complex sentences and again these sentences are very well-written but nobody talks like that so if you want to learn to speak in a natural way you have to imitate people
25
and not even people giving speeches because the way you speak when you give a speech is a lot different than the way you speak in a conversation so in conclusion reading out loud will help you improve reading out loud okay if you
26
want to improve your pronunciation listen and repeat what you hear and if you want to improve your speaking skills then do that same thing listen and repeat but engage in conversations with other people where you can practice your
27
speaking skills and where you can get feedback because in a conversation someone's gonna say oh I'm sorry what what do you mean by that or I don't understand what you mean or could you explain that more or something like that
28
that shows you how you're doing and likewise if nobody asks that if nobody says oh what do you mean if they just carry on with the conversation and keep going then that confirms to you that they understood you and you're doing
29
great with your English okay so if all of this makes sense please let me know in the comments and I would love to do more videos like this where I answer frequently asked questions so if you have a question that you'd like me to do
30
a video about please let me know in the comments just type it out there in the comments and if you want to give me some context also that would be really helpful tell me why you're asking what you're struggling with and what your
31
goal is what you're trying to achieve okay alright so that is it if you want a guide on to senior English with native speakers meeting native English speakers online interacting with us so you can practice
32
your English improve your English learn new vocabulary build your confidence etc I have a guide on my website I'm going to link it here in the description I always share this guide because it is literally the most popular one on my
33
entire website EnglishFullTime.com that's it you guys have a great day and I will see you in the next video bye
Download App
Everything you need to speak fluently
AI PronunciationScore every sentence
IPA PracticeMaster every sound
VocabularyBuild your word bank
Vocab GameLearn while playing
📺 Same Channel
B25
How To Change Your Accent (Part 1: My Story)
Daily ConversationWorking Adults
B15
Practice Speaking & Reading Out Loud With This English Shadowing Exercise
American AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B19
Episode 1: Fluent Pronunciation Training
American AccentDaily ConversationUniversity StudentsWorking Adults
B12
Fast Speech | How To Sound Like A Native English Speaker
American AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B27
Practice Speaking & Reading Out Loud with This English Shadowing Exercise
American AccentDaily Conversation
B2an honest conversation about sounding like a native
American AccentDaily ConversationWorking Adults
B2What Fluency Feels Like
American AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
✨ Recommend Video
B23
427 sentences
7 Ways You're Overcomplicating English Learning
American AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B224
6 sentences
How to Improve Spoken American English - Sound like a Native Speaker
American AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B22
246 sentences
What Reading Out Loud Does to Your Brain
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B22
563 sentences
Speak With Me: 30 Minute English Speaking Practice
American AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B24
217 sentences
Why English is SO Hard to Learn!
American AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationHigh School Students
B23
173 sentences
Stop overusing 'I think...' - say THIS instead - 21 more advanced alternative phrases
British AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B24
35 sentences
Listen, Learn, Repeat & Shadow English
American AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B21
434 sentences
How to Improve Your English Speaking (Alone!)
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B21
236 sentences
7 Simple (and EASY!) Habits for Better English Speaking
American AccentBusiness EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
B23
95 sentences
How to “Actually” Read in English (Learn Ideas + Absorb Real English)
Business EnglishDaily ConversationUniversity Students
Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B2 speaking lesson is built on the video “Will reading out loud improve your pronunciation & speaking skills?”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: reading, word, English, loud, sentence. This video has 33 sentences and 1308 words to shadow. The speech runs for 7:00. The speaker talks fast, about 187 words per minute, so expect linked and reduced sounds. 88% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| pronunciation noun | /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/ | The formal or informal way in which a word is made to sound when spoken. |
| pronounce verb | /pɹəˈnaʊns/ | To declare formally, officially or ceremoniously. |
| imitate verb | /ˈɪmɪteɪt/ | To follow as a model or a pattern; to make a copy, counterpart or semblance of. |
| incorrectly adverb | /ˌɪnkəˈɹɛk(t).li/ | In an incorrect manner. |
| deceive verb | /dɪˈsiːv/ | To trick or mislead. |
| litter noun | /ˈlɪt.ɚ/ | Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. |
| evident adjective | /ˈɛv.ə.dənt/ | Obviously true by simple observation. |
| pause noun | /pɔːz/ | A temporary stop or rest; an intermission of action; interruption; suspension; cessation. |
| choppy adjective | /ˈt͡ʃɑ.pi/ | Having many small, rough waves. |
| contraction noun | /kənˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/ | An act of incurring debt; also (generally), an act of acquiring something (generally negative). |
| intonation noun | /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/ | The rise and fall of the voice in speaking. |
| revisit verb | /ɹiːˈvɪzɪt/ | To visit again. |
| solidify verb | /səˈlɪdɪˌfaɪ/ | To make solid; convert into a solid body. |
| syllable noun | /ˈsɪl.ə.bəl/ | A unit of human speech which often forms words corresponding to one opening of the mouth; a vowel and its surrounding consonants. |
| subscriber noun | /səbˈskɹaɪbɚ/ | A person who subscribes to a publication or a service. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| read out verb | /ˌɹiːd ˈaʊt/ | To read something and say the words to inform other people; to call. |
| cut off verb | /ˌkʌt ˈɔf/ [ˌkɐɾ ˈɔf] | To remove by cutting. |
| mess up verb | To make a mess of; to untidy, disorder, soil, or muss. |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 51 contractions and reduced forms, such as you're, gonna, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, contraction /kənˈtɹækʃ(ə)n/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/, combinations /kɑmbɪˈneɪʃənz/, gosh /ɡɑːʃ/
- Long words — get the stress right: pronunciation /pɹəˌnʌn.siˈeɪ.ʃən/, incorrectly /ˌɪnkəˈɹɛk(t).li/, intonation /ɪntəˈneɪʃən/, solidify /səˈlɪdɪˌfaɪ/, vocabulary /vəˈkæb.jə.lə.ɹi/
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 pronunciation, pronounce, imitate.
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.