MacOS highlight individual words as they are spoken, as iOS
VoiceOver on macOS can do this.


Use VoiceOver Utility.app to activate move highlight cursor by word
Activate VoiceOver with Cmd+F5
Click on the text you want to read
Press Control+Alt+A to "read all"




How well it works will vary by application and how well they support VoiceOver. 


  These animations were recorded on 10.13.6 High Sierra, but VoiceOver has been around since 10.4 Tiger - so you should be OK in 10.11 El Capitan.


Pages - works well



FSNotes - works well



Safari - depends on how the page is built