Improvement of Reading Rate
It is safe to say that almost anyone can double his speed of reading
while maintaining equal or even higher comprehension. In other words,
anyone can improve the speed with which he gets what he wants from his
reading.
The average college student reads between 250 and 350 words per
minute on fiction and non-technical materials. A "good" reading speed is
around 500 to 700 words per minute, but some people can read a thousand
words per minute or even faster on these materials. What makes the
difference? There are three main factors involved in improving reading
speed: (1) the desire to improve, (2) the willingness to try new
techniques and (3) the motivation to practice.
Learning to read rapidly and well presupposes that you have the
necessary vocabulary and comprehension skills. When you have advanced on
the reading comprehension materials to a level at which you can
understand college-level materials, you will be ready to speed reading
practice in earnest.
The Role of Speed in the Reading Process
Understanding the role of speed in the reading process is essential.
Research has shown a close relation between speed and understanding. For
example, in checking progress charts of thousands of individuals taking
reading training, it has been found in most cases that an increase in
rate has been paralleled by an increase in comprehension, and that where
rate has gone down, comprehension has also decreased. Although there is
at present little statistical evidence, it seems that plodding
word-by-word analysis (or word reading) inhibits understanding. There is
some reason to believe that the factors producing slow reading are also
involved in lowered comprehension. Most adults are able to increase
their rate of reading considerably and rather quickly without lowering
comprehension. These same individuals seldom show an increase in
comprehension when they reduce their rate. In other cases, comprehension
is actually better at higher rates of speed. Such results, of course,
are heavily dependent upon the method used to gain the increased rate.
Simply reading more rapidly without actual improvement in basic reading
habits usually results in lowered comprehension.
Factors that Reduce Reading Rate
Some of the facts which reduce reading rate: (a) limited perceptual
span i.e., word-by-word reading; (b) slow perceptual reaction time,
i.e., slowness of recognition and response to the material; (c)
vocalization, including the need to vocalize in order to achieve
comprehension; (d) faulty eye movements, including inaccuracy in
placement of the page, in return sweep, in rhythm and regularity of
movement, etc.; (e) regression, both habitual and as associated with
habits of concentration; (f) faulty habits of attention and
concentration, beginning with simple inattention during the reading act
and faulty processes of retention; (g) lack of practice in reading, due
simply to the fact that the person has read very little and has limited
reading interests so that very little reading is practiced in the daily
or weekly schedule; (h) fear of losing comprehension, causing the person
to suppress his rate deliberately in the firm belief that comprehension
is improved if he spends more time on the individual words; (i)
habitual slow reading, in which the person cannot read faster because he
has always read slowly, (j) poor evaluation of which aspects are
important and which are unimportant; and (k) the effort to remember
everything rather than to remember selectively.
Since these conditions act also to reduce comprehension increasing
the reading rate through eliminating them is likely to result in
increased comprehension as well. This is an entirely different matter
from simply speeding up the rate of reading without reference to the
conditions responsible for the slow rate. In fact, simply speeding the
rate especially through forced acceleration, may actually result, and
often does, in making the real reading problem more severe. In addition,
forced acceleration may even destroy confidence in ability to read. The
obvious solution, then is to increase rate as a part of a total
improvement of the whole reading process. This is a function of special
training programs in reading.
Basic Conditions for Increased Reading Rate
A well planned program prepares for maximum increase in rate by
establishing the necessary conditions. Four basic conditions include:
- Have your eyes checked. Before embarking on a speed reading program, make sure that any correctable eye defects you may have are taken care of by checking with your eye doctor. Often, very slow reading is related to uncorrected eye defects.
- Eliminate the habit of pronouncing words as you read. If you sound out words in your throat or whisper them, you can read slightly only as fast as you can read aloud. You should be able to read most materials at least two or three times faster silently than orally. If you are aware of sounding or "hearing" words as you read, try to concentrate on key words and meaningful ideas as you force yourself to read faster.
- Avoid regressing (rereading). The average student reading at 250 words per minute regresses or rereads about 20 times per page. Rereading words and phrases is a habit which will slow your reading speed down to a snail's pace. Usually, it is unnecessary to reread words, for the ideas you want are explained and elaborated more fully in later contexts. Furthermore, the slowest reader usually regresses most frequently. Because he reads slowly, his mind has time to wander and his rereading reflects both his inability to concentrate and his lack of confidence in his comprehension skills.
- Develop a wider eye-span. This will help you read more than one word at a glance. Since written material is less meaningful if read word by word, this will help you learn to read by phrases or thought units.
Rate Adjustment
Poor results are inevitable if the reader attempts to use the same
rate indiscriminately for a-1 types of material and for all reading
purposes. He must learn to adjust his rate to his purpose in reading and
to the difficulty of the material he is reading. This ranges from a
maximum rate on easy, familiar, interesting material or in reading to
gather information on a particular point, to minimal rate on material
which is unfamiliar in content and language structure or which must be
thoroughly digested. The effective reader adjusts his rate; the
ineffective reader uses the same rate for all types of material.
Rate adjustment may be overall adjustment to the article as a whole,
or internal adjustment within the article. Overall adjustment
establishes the basic rate at which the total article is read; internal
adjustment involves the necessary variations in rate for each varied
part of the material. As an analogy, you plan to take a 100-mile
mountain trip. Since this will be a relatively hard drive with hills,
curves, and a mountain pass, you decide to take three hours for the
total trip, averaging about 35 miles an hour. This is your overall rate
adjustment. However, in actual driving you may slow down to no more than
15 miles per hour on some curves and hills, while speeding up to 50
miles per hour or more on relatively straight and level sections. This
is your internal rate adjustment. There is no set rate, therefore, which
the good reader follows inflexibly in reading a particular selection,
even though he has set himself an overall rate for the total job.
Overall rate adjustment should be based on your reading plan, your
reading purpose, and the nature and difficulty of the material. The
reading plan itself should specify the general rate to be used. This is
based on the total "size up". It may be helpful to consider examples of
how purpose can act to help determine the rate to be used. To understand
information, skim or scan at a rapid rate. To determine value of
material or to read for enjoyment, read rapidly or slowly according to
you feeling. To read analytically, read at a moderate pace to permit
interrelating ideas. The nature and difficulty of the material requires
an adjustment in rate in conformity with your ability to handle that
type of material. Obviously, level of difficulty is highly relative to
the particular reader. While Einstein's theories may be extremely
difficult to most laymen, they may be very simple and clear to a
professor of physics. Hence, the layman and the physics professor must
make a different rate adjustment in reading the same material.
Generally, difficult material will entail a slower rate; simpler
material will permit a faster rate.
Internal rate adjustment involves selecting differing rates for parts
of a given article. In general, decrease speed when you find the
following (1) unfamiliar terminology not clear in context. Try to
understand it in context at that point; otherwise, read on and return to
it later; (2) difficult sentence and paragraph structure; slow down
enough to enable you to untangle them and get accurate context for the
passage; (3) unfamiliar or abstract concepts. Look for applications or
examples of you own as well as studying those of the writer. Take enough
time to get them clearly in mind; (4) detailed, technical material.
This includes complicated directions, statements of difficult
principles, materials on which you have scant background; (5) material
on which you want detailed retention. In general, increase speed when
you meet the following: (a) simple material with few ideas which are new
to you; move rapidly over the familiar ones; spend most of your time on
the unfamiliar ideas; (b) unnecessary examples and illustrations. Since
these are included to clarify ideas, move over them rapidly when they
are not needed; (c) detailed explanation and idea elaboration which you
do not need, (d) broad, generalized ideas and ideas which are
restatements of previous ones. These can be readily grasped, even with
scan techniques.
In keeping your reading attack flexible, adjust your rate sensitivity
from article to article. It is equally important to adjust you rate
within a given article. Practice these techniques until a flexible
reading rate becomes second nature to you.
Summary
In summary, evidence has been cited which seems to indicate a need
for and value of a rapid rate of reading, while at the same time
indicating the dangers of speed in reading, as such. We have attempted
to point out the relationship between rate of reading and extent of
comprehension, as well as the necessity for adjustment of reading rate,
along with whole reading attack, to the type of material and the
purposes of the reader. Finally, the factors which reduce rate were
surveyed as a basis for pointing out that increase in rate should come
in conjunction with the elimination of these retarding aspects of the
reading process and as a part of an overall reading training program
where increase in rate is carefully prepared for in the training
sequence.