Reading To Speak
How reading can improve your speaking skills
Image by: Priscilla Du Preez
By Hanyu Tales (19th December 2024)
In this video, Steve Kauffman highlights four benefits of reading: developing vocabulary, increasing general knowledge, offering natural language acquisition, and of course, improving reading. However, reading is just one of the four major language skills, and many students would prefer to improve their speaking rather than their reading. As a result, learners focused on improving their oral language skills may disregard reading as a practical use of their time. Yet, linguists have stated that by improving vocabulary through reading, speaking skills are certain to improve. This theory is supported by students' perceptions of their own learning too, as this study found that 80% of students felt that reading had improved their speaking. So what are the driving factors behind this improvement?
Speaking in Silence
In this clip from neuroscientist Andrew Huberman, he explains how reading silently activates the same motor units in the throat used for speaking—just too quietly for us to notice. This means that while you are reading, you are flexing your voice muscles too! This concept of subvocalising while reading has been widely discussed, such as in this article about subvocalisation, or in this journal about our inner voice. Research has confirmed the significance of this concept too, as a study of 71 participants at Beijing Stomatological Hospital found that reading Chinese characters, even silently, activates speech-related brain regions and enhances articulation. Moreover, another study found that when people silently read direct speech (like “I’m hungry”), their brain activates areas linked to hearing voices, as if they’re imagining the speaker’s voice—like practicing shadowing but without needing to open your mouth.
Reading Aloud
Silence is golden, but not always necessary. Reading aloud is a commonly used method of transforming students into competent speakers, and for good reason. Reading aloud allows students to work on their pronunciation and intonation while practicing a multitude of grammatical structures. In addition, it can help shy students feel more comfortable about speaking out loud; this reduction in learner anxiety as a result of reading aloud was discussed in this journal. In terms of what the studies show, this study on 70 Indonesian secondary students learning English revealed that:
“Based on the pretest score result and posttest score result, the students' in the experimental group were improved in speaking ability, especially in pronunciation and fluency because it showed the increment number in the posttest score after they were taught by using Reading Aloud”
Meanwhile, other studies such as this one and this one found similar results, suggesting that the popularity of the reading aloud among language teachers is not without justification.Become a Better Listener
Unless you plan to speak to a wall, listening is a vital supporting skill for speaking. Just as reading supports speaking by enriching vocabulary and grammar, it also sharpens listening skills by increasing word recognition. Repeated exposure to language improves our familiarity with words, making it more likely that we will understand when these words are spoken to us. Given that native speakers may speak quickly or unclearly, it is vital to build familiarity with their vocabulary, and the best way to achieve this is by encountering many words many times in many contexts—reading stories allows exactly this. that students who regularly consumed stories in their target language improved in both reading and listening at twice the normal rate. The best case scenario, however, is to combine reading and listening, as confirmed by this meta-analysis showing the improvement of combining them. In addition, a study from Taiwan saying reading while listening to audiobooks is better than just listening in terms of heightening fluency. It is clear that pairing reading with your listening practice will bring you closer to fluency faster than listening alone.
Image by: Mohamed_hassan
Vocabulary Acquisition
As aforementioned, vocabulary improvements are an inevitable part of reading, as constant exposure to words leads to heighten familiarity. Vocabulary is crucial for being an effective communicator, giving you more tools to use when expressing ideas and feelings. This idea was expressed by Dash:
“Extensive reading will help us to develop our ability to express ideas, feelings, and emotions and also enlarge the size of vocabulary. Vocabulary knowledge is one of the crucial factors that will influence fluency in speaking”
This paper from the Arab World English Journal highlights the importance of a wide vocabulary for learners aiming to reach high levels of speaking proficiency. Flashcards are a widely adopted approach for learning vocabulary, but reading can be just as effective, as it allows you acquire words through context. By improving your vocabulary, you will improve your speaking, as stated in this paper:“There is no question that people who develop large reading vocabularies tend to develop large speaking vocabularies.”
Actionable Steps
In terms of maximising your reading time as a learner focused primarily on speaking, it should go without saying that a varied approach to language learning is best. However, you can certainly make reading (even silently) your main task, and with the following suggestions it will be even more effective:
- Read aloud: look up the pinyin and tones of any words you do not know how to pronounce, pay attention to punctuation that may affect intonation, and try to mimic the emotions of different characters
- Choose suitable material: read stories that you can read without having to check the translation of every other word
- Save useful words: if you find a word you could envisage yourself needing in a conversation, be sure to keep track of it
- Read a lot: do not overthink the process too much, any reading you do will aid you in improving your language skills; consistency beats perfection so do what you enjoy
Further reading
If you enjoyed this article, you might also like Defeating TikTok Brain: How reading protects your brain in the age of distraction. And if you want to master Chinese, get your free reading path to take you from your current level to reading Chinese literature.
Get Started!
Reading is a convenient and effective way to improve not only your reading skills, but your speaking too, and research has proven this time and time again. However, whether reading aloud or reading in silence, the most important thing is to simply read a lot. Find a text that is suitable for your level, read it from start to finish, and don’t overthink the process too much!
Check out our varied collection of stories in Chinese—with difficulty levels ranging from HSK3 to native level—and see how reading can transform your language skills!
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Free stories with HSK-graded versions
New to graded reading? Start at HSK 4, HSK 5 or HSK 6.
Short story
狂人日记
Diary of a Madman
By 鲁迅 (Lu Xun) • 1918
A classic short story exploring societal oppression and human cruelty.
Psychology
Political
Available in:
4032 chars
Essay
差不多先生傳
Mr. Almost
By 胡適 (Hu Shi) • 1924
A satirical tale about 'Mr. Almost', a man whose indifference to precision leads to absurd—and fatal—consequences.
Satire
Philosophy
Available in:
845 chars
Essay
孙子兵法
The Art of War
By 孫子 (Sun Tzu) • Circa 5th Century BC
A classic text on military strategy and tactics.
Philosophy
Political
Available in:
6170 chars