Verbal fluency: 12 psychological tricks to improve it.

The communicative capacity of each person has a lot to do with this skill.

Human beings are constantly communicating with those around them, using different types of language.

One of the main ones is oral language, speech. Communicating orally and doing so in a fluent, understandable way that allows the transmission of meaning with ease is something that is taken for granted in most people, while not being able to do so implies a high level of functional limitation. 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.

• Recommended article: "14 top social skills to succeed in life".

The concept of verbal fluency

In order to correctly train verbal fluency, we first need to know what it is that we are training. Therefore, let us first make a brief comment on what this concept implies.

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

The absence of verbal fluency can have different causes, from normative ones such as certain types of character or the absence 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) to the presence of neurological disorders and alterations, as in Broca's aphasia.

A dozen tricks to improve our verbal fluency

Fortunately, verbal fluency is a skill that can be trained, and there are many ways to improve it.There are many ways to improve it. Here are some commonly used tricks and strategies to improve fluency.

1. Tongue twisters

Fluency is acquired with practice. One way to do it in a more or less enjoyable way is by using tongue twisters.. While challenging for most of the population, they allow the subject to challenge him or herself to complete more or less long sequences of words with similar sounds and with few pauses in between. If we are trying to improve a child's fluency, it is useful to see it as a game and not to punish mistakes or slowness, otherwise it 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 role-playing.. This is an entertaining way in which the person will have to expose him/herself publicly by relating a text that he/she must have studied and repeated numerous times beforehand. The use of representation and dramatization, costumes, scenery and gesticulation allows to improve fluency in a fun and entertaining way.

3. Speak on topics in which we have mastery

To speak fluently, we need to be confident in what we are saying.. Although in daily life the topics of conversation and what we will have to communicate can vary enormously, it can be useful to start fluency training by talking about topics on which the trained subject has a certain command. Knowing what they are talking about will help them to prolong their speech and gradually gain confidence in their abilities.

4. Elaborate a story together

Cooperative activities can also reinforce verbal fluency. One of the ways to do this is to make up a story cooperatively, stringing words together and forming meaningful sentences.. Each member of the group should 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 the story becomes more complex and fluent.

5. Self-instructions aloud

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

6. Repetition tasks

One of the most commonly used techniques, is based on making the subject repeat what we have said to him/her.. Relatively short words and phrases are used initially, to increase in complexity as the subject is able to overcome their length with a normal rhythm and speed.

7. Songs

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

8. Explaining images

A common trick that can improve verbal fluency is to have the trainee explain the content of an image reflecting a situation. the subject to be trained to explain the content of an image in which a situation is reflected, the complexity of which may vary.The complexity of the picture can vary. If a simple and short explanation is offered (for example, a wedding is observed and the subject simply says 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 the task progresses.

10. Learning vocabulary and expressions

In order to be fluent in language it is necessary to have a knowledge base of what things are and how they are called.In the case of insufficient vocabulary, it is necessary to introduce 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 speed overload.. In this sense, the performance of games or activities that require taking turns or making certain pauses. It does not have to be only a language task, but motor tasks can also be used (as for example the English hide-and-seek) or the realization of debates.

12. Time limits

Setting time limits for saying something can be useful if it is experienced as a game or competition.. For example, it can be proposed to carry out a presentation on a specific topic in which certain information has to be reflected for five minutes, and then reduce the time available for it, having to maintain the proposed information on each occasion.