Verbal fluency: 12 psychological tricks to improve it

The human being is continuously communicating with those around him, using different types of language.

One of the main ones is oral language, speech. Communicating orally and doing it in a fluent, understandable way that allows the transmission of meanings easily is something which is taken for granted by most people, while not being able to do so is a high level of limitation functional. Fortunately, verbal fluency is a trainable skill..

In this article we present a dozen tricks that can help us improve our level of verbal fluency.

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The concept of verbal fluency

In order to correctly train verbal fluency, we first need to know what we are training. For this reason, we will first make a brief comment on what this concept implies.

We understand verbal fluency as the ability to establish a dialogue clearly and spontaneously., establishing connections between sentences and ideas in a natural and unforced way so that the speech appears as continuous and prolonged in time. A fluent speech will allow ideas and information to be transmitted in an understandable way to the receiver, with a proper rhythm and avoiding unnecessary pauses and breaks in rhythm and tone that could alter the comprehension.

The lack of verbal fluency can have different causes, from regulations such as certain types of character or the lack of practice in the use of language (for example when we learn a language we are not very fluent, or in situations of deprivation of stimulation) until the presence of neurological alterations and disorders, such as aphasia of Drill.

A dozen tricks to improve our verbal fluency

Fortunately, verbal fluency is a skill that can be trainedThere are multiple ways to improve it. Next we leave you several tricks and strategies of common use for it.

1. Tongue twister

Fluency comes with practice. One way to do it in a more or less entertaining way is through the use of tongue twisters.. While challenging for most of the population, they allow the subject to challenge themselves to complete more or less long sequences of words with similar sounds and with few pauses between they. If we are trying to improve a child's fluency, it is useful to see it as a game and not punish errors or slowness, otherwise could generate frustration and reluctance to do so.

2. Dramatization of scripts and role-playing

One way to improve verbal fluency can be found in the use of dramatization.. It is an entertaining way in which the person will have to expose himself publicly by recounting a text that he must have studied and repeated numerous times before. The use of representation and dramatization, costumes, scenery and gesticulation allows fluency to be improved in a fun and entertaining way.

3. Talk about topics in which we have mastery

To speak fluently we have to be confident in what we are saying.. Although in daily life the topics of conversation and what we are going to have to communicate can vary enormously, it can be useful in order to start training fluency to talk about topics about which the trained subject has a certain domain. Knowing what he is talking about will allow him to prolong his speech and gradually gain confidence in his abilities.

4. Create a story together

Cooperative activities also help reinforce verbal fluency. One of the ways to do it is to make a story cooperatively, chaining words and forming meaningful sentences.. Each member of the group must repeat what the previous ones have said and add a word or phrase, so that in the long run the flow of words increases and it is seen making a story more and more complex and fluid.

5. Loud self-instructions

It may be useful to ask the subject to carry out an action and while he carries it out, explain the actions and steps. that he is doing. In this way, fluency can be improved in a more unconscious way, since the person will be focused on carrying out the activity itself.

6. repeating tasks

One of the most used techniques is based on making the subject repeat what we have said. Initially, relatively short words and phrases are used, to gradually increase in complexity as it is managed to exceed its length with a normal rhythm and speed.

7. songs

Another little trick that can increase our verbal fluency is to sing. Through singing we are replicating the sounds and intonation of the authors of the song, producing a increasingly prolonged speech and that we will try to adapt it to the parameters with which we have listened.

8. Pictures Explanation

A common trick that can improve verbal fluency is make the subject to be trained explain the content of an image that reflects a situation, whose complexity can vary. If a simple and short explanation is offered (for example, a wedding is observed and the subject limits himself to saying the word that identifies the situation), questions can be asked about it.

9. similarities

Another task that can be seen as a game is to ask the subject to express the similarities or differences between two elements, which must be very perceptible and clear at the beginning and more abstract as it progresses going forward.

10. Learning vocabulary and expressions

In order to be fluent in the language it is necessary to have a base of knowledge about what things are and how they are called, so that in the event that there is not enough vocabulary, it is necessary to implement it little by little. Although this does not generate verbal fluency per se, it is a necessary requirement that facilitates it.

11. turn based tasks

Sometimes verbal fluency is diminished not by lack of speed, but by excess of it. In this sense, playing games or activities that require turns or take certain breaks. It does not have to be a language task only, but motor tasks (such as English hide and seek) or conducting debates can also be used.

12. Time limit

Setting time limits for saying something can be helpful if it is experienced as a game or competition. For example, it can be proposed to carry out an exhibition of a specific topic in which certain information has to be reflected during five minutes, to subsequently gradually reduce the time available for it, having to keep the information on each occasion proposal.