Reading aloud helps you remember a text, but not understand it better
In short: Across four experiments, people answered memory questions about passages better when they had read them aloud than when they read them silently. Reading aloud did not help with comprehension questions. The authors think reading aloud makes information distinctive, so it helps most when the test asks for exactly what was read.
| Paper | Reading text aloud benefits memory but not comprehension |
| Authors | Brady R. T. Roberts, Zoey S. Hu, Eloise Curtis, Glen E. Bodner, David McLean, Colin M. MacLeod |
| Published | 13 July 2023 · Memory & Cognition 52(1), 57–72 |
| Study type | Four lab experiments · Peer-reviewed |
| What we read | Abstract only. Summary based on the published abstract (via Europe PMC) only. |
| Summarized |
What they did
Participants read some reading-comprehension passages aloud and others silently, then answered multiple-choice questions after each. Questions were split into memory-focused and comprehension-focused.
Who took part
Participants in four experiments.
What they found
- Reading aloud consistently improved accuracy on memory-focused questions.
- It did not improve accuracy on comprehension-focused questions.
- The pattern fits the "distinctiveness" explanation of the production effect.
Effect size: Effect sizes are not given in the abstract.
Limitations
- Lab passages and multiple-choice questions.
- Reading aloud is not the same as explaining in your own words; this study tested reading aloud only.
- We read only the abstract.
What this means for learners and parents
- Reading key facts aloud can help you remember them.
- For understanding, explaining it in your own words (self-explanation) is the better-supported move.
- "Learning out loud" works best as recall and explanation, not just reading the page aloud.
Put it into practice (free tools)
Try it: Ask Poppy is an AI tutor for iPhone, iPad and Mac that asks questions and gives one hint at a time instead of handing over the answer. Free with 30 messages a day, then $3.99/week or $9.99/month. (We make it.)
Citation
Brady R. T. Roberts, Zoey S. Hu, Eloise Curtis, Glen E. Bodner, David McLean, Colin M. MacLeod (2023). Reading text aloud benefits memory but not comprehension. Memory & Cognition 52(1), 57–72. https://doi.org/10.3758/s13421-023-01442-2