How to do Audio Journaling to Improve your English speaking

journaling for speaking

Journal writing is the practice of regularly recording one's thoughts, feelings, and experiences in a diary or notebook. It is commonly thought that journaling can serve as a tool for self-reflection, personal growth, and self-discovery. However ,surprisingly, it can improve your speaking skills too!

Journal writing can take many forms, such as writing by hand or typing on a computer, and can be done using prompts, commonly known as 'journal prompts', or journaling can also be done as a free-form writing. Some people use journal writing as a form of therapy to help process emotions and work through personal issues, while others use it as a way to track their progress, set goals, and record their personal experiences and it is this second type of journaling that we are interested in to improve our speaking skills.

Simply writing everyday, or every night ( whatever time of the day you'd prefer), you are going to practice new vocabulary and without even realizing it, you are also going to be practicing grammar rules in a non-threatening (not so scary) way. Now that you know what journal writing is, let me explain to you what Audio Journaling is and how does it work. This is how we do it:

Step 1

Choose a topic to write about. Watch my short prompt videos or read this post to get some more ideas.

Step 2

Write about the idea. You could write to express your feelings, emotions or actions plans or simply what would you do if you were in a certain situation. It depends on the topic or the prompt that you have selected for writing.

Step 3

The next day, record yourself speaking about that idea on your phone. Initially, you may simply read aloud your journal entry. As you become more comfortable, you may not look at your journal, but actually speak about the same idea without looking at your writing on a page. Record yourself on your phone using any voice recording apps. You don't need any fancy equipment for that.

Step 4

Listen to your recording. You may think, "well, how's that going to help me as I don't know what I'm doing...I need someone to listen to me and tell me what my mistakes are and how to fix them! " . While your fears and concerns are valid, they are not actually true! You do NOT need someone to listen to your audio journals and give you expert feedback on how you speak. If you journal everyday, both writing and speaking, over the course of a few months you are going to notice a change in your own understanding of English language. You are going to notice your own errors. For faster and better results and more significant improvement follow the next step!

Step 5

To improve your speaking, it is also important that you listen to more authentic and correct English. Once you start listening to more content in correct English, you are going to develop your 'listening muscle' that is going to help you 'hear' your mistakes when you listen to your own recordings!

You can also follow me Step by Step 12 months plan to improve your overall English language proficiency. You may purchase my book that guides you through the plan. It is available on Amazon worldwide. If you are in Pakistan, you may fill out this form to get the paperback at an affordable price in Pakistan.

Do you think this 'audio journaling' would work for you? Give it a try!

Love,

Aisha