I agree paraphrasing is usually better. But with complicated matters you are having trouble understanding, word-for-word repetition can help a lot. Also, for t

I agree paraphrasing is usually better. But with complicated matters you are having trouble understanding, word-for-word repetition can help a lot. Also, for teaching, a lot of people need to do word-for-word first in order to learn how to really concentrate, then they can switch to paraphrasing. In fact, I have found that a large portion of the population has a problem listening where their attention wanders away and they miss much of what is said, but they don't realize it and think they have heard it all. When you have them do word-for-word reflecting, they miss a lot of the content, and are shocked to realize their attention has wandered away, and indeed they have probably been doing this all their life, and they suddenly become very focused in their listening. It is quite something when you see this happen.