Suggestions For Improving Speed Reading And Effectiveness
Suggestions For Improving Speed Reading And Effectiveness
Slow, word-by-word, critical reading is an essential part of some reading tasks. However, when time and purpose is being considered, you must learn to adjust your reading speed and effectiveness. Thus, speed reading is not applicable to all types of reading situations. Learning the skill will, however, enable you to add an additional dimension to the scope of your current reading skills.
Major Causes of Slow Reading Speed
Individual variables such as intelligence, motivation, and physiological and psychological traits cause slow reading speed. Also included are:
Deficiencies in vocabulary and comprehension levels required by the particular reading material greatly affects reading rate. Learning will not help a student who has difficulty understanding the reading material. In addition, learning will not help a student who is hindered by an inadequate vocabulary to skip any faster through unknown or vaguely defined words.
Inflexibility – the tendency to read everything the same way regardless of what it is, why it is being read, etc.
Passivity – the failure to become involved with the material being read; the failure to interact with the author and to anticipate his following thoughts.
Unnecessary and habitual regression or re-reading due to lack of concentration.
Habitually slow “reaction time” to reading material – a general “rut” which makes attempts at faster reading extremely uncomfortable at first.
Where to Begin … with Your Next Reading Assignment
Determine your PURPOSE for reading: What type of information do you really need the most? How long do you have to keep the information in mind? How useful this selection will be? Why was this reading assigned?
Be FLEXIBLE. Difficulty of the material and your purpose are the two factors that determine how to read a selection. Readers, especially college students, must realize that there are a number of reading speeds, not just one. These speeds must vary with the nature of the reading task – whether they are for leisure, as a review for tomorrow’s exam, etc. – and the reader’s familiarity with the materials.
PREVIEW the selection to be aware of its depth: Are you familiar with the field of study being discussed in your reading material? How many essential words are in it? Scan the introductions, subheads, italicized sentences, marginal notes, and conclusion first. Then, try to grasp the general thought structure the author wants to convey by integrating isolated clues.
READ
Make use of the head start you got during your preview.
Read for ideas and concepts, not for isolated words only. Pace yourself fast enough that you have to read concepts, not words!
Concentrate – if you push your rate up to capacity, you won’t have time to think about other things. Set reasonable but stiff time goals and race the clock.
Think, interpret, and analyze the FIRST time you read. Avoid unnecessary re-reading.
Note key words (subjects, verbs, objects). TELEGRAPH the message to yourself.
Pace yourself as fast as your purpose will permit. Pacing will discourage the tendency toward habitual and unnecessary re-reading and helps to keep your attention focused on the page. Try using one or several of the SELF-PACING METHODS discussed earlier. It might be uncomfortable and unnatural at first, but becomes most effective after the “newness” wears off.
STRETCH when your momentum seems to be slowing down. Stop, close your eyes, and squeeze them together tightly for a second, then open them wide. Play around for a few minutes by pacing yourself through “simulated” reading of a book held upside down, page by page, at extremely rapid speeds JUST TO GET THE FEEL OF rapid, rhythmic movement down the page again. With new momentum established, turn the book right side up again and continue reading at your fastest possible speed.
TEST yourself. Stop at the end of each “section” of material and recall periodically what you have just read. For materials in which you must remember for a certain period of time, practice reading quickly and efficiently with the intent to recall the important information at the end of each chapter, section, or paragraph – depending upon the difficulty of the material. Make notes or underline if appropriate.
Effective Reading Methods
Reading Daily News Method
News is redundant – previewed yesterday,