By reading aloud, students retain information better. When you read a text aloud, the information is stored differently and more strongly in your memory than when you read the text silently. The idea is that words read aloud gain both a motor (producing the word) and a perceptual (hearing the word) characteristic. As a result, words read aloud will be distinguished in your memory from words read silently. These distinctive memory traces are better remembered than silently read word traces (see graph, MacLeod, 2010). This is also known as the production effect. So, have students read aloud more often in class, for example by creating reading groups. Additionally, explain to them the benefits of reading aloud and try to encourage them to do this at home.
Fawcett, J. M., Quinlan, C. K., & Taylor, T. L. (2012). Interplay of the production and picture superiority effects: A signal detection analysis. Memory, 20(7), 655-666. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2012.693510
Forrin, N. D., & MacLeod, C. M. (2018). This time it’s personal: the memory benefit of hearing oneself. Memory, 26(4), 574-579. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658211.2017.1383434
MacLeod, C. M. (2010). When learning met memory. Canadian Journal of Experimental Psychology/Revue canadienne de psychologie expérimentale, 64(4), 227. doi: 10.1037/a0021699
Ozubko, J. D., & MacLeod, C. M. (2010). The production effect in memory: Evidence that distinctiveness underlies the benefit. Journal of Experimental Psychology: Learning, Memory, and Cognition, 36(6), 1543.
