Is it recommended that you read out loud or to yourself to get a clear understanding of what you are reading?

It does not matter whether you read aloud or read silently to yourself. What matters is whether you are relating to and understanding the text that you are reading. To read for understanding, you must have some prior knowledge (whether learned or experienced)about the topic you are reading. It is on this prior knowledge that you can build new understandings. If you understand what you are reading, you should then be able to apply your knowledge in some way. What you are reading (a book for enjoyment or a dry text book)and the type of reader/learner you are, determines how you actually read the text. If you are reading aloud to an audience, chances are good you won't retain or understand the text because your first focus will be on reading aloud to the audience and making a half-decent impression. How you read is a matter of personal choice-I use both silent reading as well as reading out loud to myself for understanding. Good Luck on your reading!

IN ADDITION:

I was told by a teacher that the best way to retain knowledge was to read it outloud to yourself. This would be for preparing for a test and not necessarily for just reading in general. She explained it to me this way.
If you just scan the text, you can get into a habit of jumping words, sentences or even lines of text. When youy read something aloud, three stimuli or senses are used. Sight, speech and hearing. If it doesnt sound right, you will go back and reread it again until it makes sense. In order to recall this information at a later time, you have it in three places in your memory (or you remembered it three ways). You have read it before. You have spoke it before. You have heard it before. Hope this helps!

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