diff --git a/.github/workflows/database.yml b/.github/workflows/database.yml
index 33a8d623e358f..e60db9b1ea61d 100644
--- a/.github/workflows/database.yml
+++ b/.github/workflows/database.yml
@@ -16,6 +16,7 @@ env:
   PANDAS_CI: 1
   PATTERN: ((not slow and not network and not clipboard) or (single and db))
   COVERAGE: true
+  SQLALCHEMY_WARN_20: true
 
 jobs:
   Linux_py38_IO:
diff --git a/pandas/io/sql.py b/pandas/io/sql.py
index afd045bd8bb2b..5bedaacdf0229 100644
--- a/pandas/io/sql.py
+++ b/pandas/io/sql.py
@@ -178,6 +178,10 @@ def execute(sql, con, params=None):
     Results Iterable
     """
     pandas_sql = pandasSQL_builder(con)
+    if isinstance(pandas_sql, SQLDatabase):
+        from sqlalchemy import text
+
+        sql = text(sql)
     args = _convert_params(sql, params)
     return pandas_sql.execute(*args)
 
@@ -1520,9 +1524,17 @@ def read_query(
         read_sql
 
         """
-        args = _convert_params(sql, params)
+        if isinstance(sql, str):
+            if isinstance(params, (list, tuple)):
+                result = self.connectable.connect().exec_driver_sql(sql, tuple(params))
+            else:
+                from sqlalchemy import text
 
-        result = self.execute(*args)
+                sql = text(sql)
+                result = self.execute(sql, params)
+        else:
+            args = _convert_params(sql, params)
+            result = self.execute(*args)
         columns = result.keys()
 
         if chunksize is not None: