Level: Pre-intermediate and above

Brief description:

This material is designed to raise students’ awareness of their rate of speech, to gauge their natural speed in speaking, and to encourage speaking in an understandable, steady pace.

Read the article (189 words, including the title). Time yourself by using a stopwatch, the second hand of a clock or wristwatch. Read the text in your natural speech rate (speed) then find out how fast or slow you speak. Get the average of three (3) attempts – that is your rate of speech. Have fun!

Voice Timing Exercise

To test yourself, note your start time by using the second hand of a clock. Read this statement out loud. If you read this statement in less than a minute, you are speaking too fast and should make an effort to slow down. If you read this statement in more than a minute, you are reading too slowly and should try to speak faster when talking on the phone or to someone. Most experts agree that the ideal rate of speech is between 180 and 200 words per minute. At this rate, people who are listening to you will be able to hear and understand what you are saying. And it’s important that nothing you can control, such as the rate of speech, come between you and the person with whom you are talking. You want the other person to be able to concentrate completely on your presentation, rather than straining to understand you or forcing him or her to pay attention to you rather than letting his or her mind wander. Rate of speech is something you can change once you’re aware of the need.

Here are some tips to make your rate of speech more ideal. Grab a book or newspaper or choose a text and do these exercises regularly.

1. If you read or speak too fast, read a page of your book or an article from a newspaper out loud. By reading out loud, you concentrate on pronouncing words and phrases more accurately, and you pay more attention to pauses and full stops within and between sentences.

2. Reading out loud gives you more control of your intonation. Have fun varying the intonation of the sentences of the story you read and see what happens to the meaning of the sentences. Have a partner listen to you too.

3. If you read or speak too slowly, read a page or text of a book silently. Reading silently more often helps you focus on context rather than form or syntax (or order) of sentences in the text.

Glossary:

• Stopwatch (noun): an object similar to a watch but can count off seconds, minutes and hours elapsed (Đồng hô bấm giờ)

• Wristwatch (noun): an object you wear on your wrist that tells you the time (Đồng hồ đeo tay)

• To make an effort (verb): to try doing something (Nỗ lực)

• To strain to understand = to understand someone or something with difficulty (Hiểu một cách khó khăn)

• To force to pay attention = to make someone listen to you (Buộc ai đó chú ý)

This material is provided by the Australian Centre for Education and Training (ACET).