Strategies for Increasing Reading Rate:
1. block out unrelated thoughts;
2. concentrate on getting the gist as you go along;
3. read in chunks of meaning, moving your eye quickly across the lines and pausing only
two or three times on each line to pick up a "mindful" at each pause;
4. vary reading rate based on the kind of material you are reading.
Developing Your Powers of Concentration
You must concentrate on the task at hand if you are to
read rapidly with a high level of comprehension. For rapid reading, you must block out
external distractions - movements of other students in the room, the noise of people
talking, the noise of cars in the distance. You must look for a quiet place to study,
without loud music and radio talk in the background. You must block out thoughts that do
not relate to the reading task - fears of not doing well, thoughts about other events,
thoughts about how other people are doing. How do you do this?
One way is previewing the selection by running your eyes
over it quickly before beginning, noting the title, introductory and concluding words, and
headings and italicized words, if there are any. Based on your preview, you make
predictions of what is to come and phrase questions you will answer through reading.
Knowing the purpose of your reading helps you to understand what you are reading. It also
helps you to concentrate. With longer selections, too,
it pays to stop after reading sections of text to recite to yourself what you have read.
At first you may think this slows you down. It does not. It makes you think about what you
are reading.
With some selections that are preceded or followed by
questions, it helps to survey those questions before reading the selection. Previews of
this kind should be rapid, but research indicates that your ability to answer those
questions is increased if you know them ahead of time. That makes sense, doesn't it? So
where it is allowed, before reading, quickly skim the questions you must answer after
reading.
Reading in Chunks of Meaning
It is important to read in "chunks of meaning"
rather than to focus on every word. Reading in chunks, or chunking, helps you
understand what you read and increases your reading speed.
Efficient reading requires that you not dwell on
individual words. Pointing your finger at or focusing your eyes on each word slows down
your reading. So does moving your lips to say each word as you read and moving your head
from left to right as you read lines. Here is a summary of "Don'ts" to help you
read more rapidly:
1. Do not point at each word as you read.
2. Do not move your head or lips while reading. Reading is thinking, not mouthing
individual words.
3. Do not focus on individual words. Rather keep your eyes moving across lines and down
the page, and focus on meaningful chunks.
What's Involved in Rapid Reading
by Nila Smith and H. Alan Robinson
Investigations of eye movements have shown that the rapid
reader's eyes move fleetingly across the lines, pausing briefly two or three times on each
line, picking up an "eyeful" of words at each pause, while the eyes of the poor
reader pause on every word or on small word units. It is the mind, of course, that
controls the eye movements. The great value of eye-movement investigations is that they
furnish us a picture of the different ways in which the mind works in perceiving reading
symbols.
They tell us that the mind of the poor reader loafs along,
picking up very small units at a time, while the eyes of the excellent reader race over
the lines, gathering an entire, meaningful idea at a glance.
Cultivating the habit of reading for ideas not only
increases speed; but also increases understanding. A person who reads one word at a time
thinks in terms of the meanings of these separate words and thus 'can't see the woods for
the trees.
The first and most important instruction is, 'Read for
Ideas!' If you can cultivate the habit of rapidly picking up one complete thought unit
after another, the eye movements will take care of themselves. Now based on your reading
of the passage, select the best answer.
Most important in rapid reading is
a. keeping the eyes moving.
b. reading for ideas.
c. keeping the lips still.
d. keeping the head still.
How do rapid readers move their eyes in reading?
a. They pause two or three times per line.
b. b. They never pause while reading.
c. They look primarily at the first words on a line.
d. They look primarily at the last words on a line.
What controls eye movements?
a. the eyes themselves
b. the hand
c. the mind
What's Involved in Rapid Reading (broken into chunks)
Investigations of eye movements have shown
that the rapid reader's eyes
move fleetingly across the lines,
pausing briefly two or three times on each line,
picking up an "eyeful" of words at each pause,
while the eyes of the poor reader pause
on every word or on small word units.
It is the mind, of course,
that controls the eye movements.
The great value of eye-movement investigations
is that they furnish us a picture
of the different ways in which the mind works
in perceiving reading symbols.
They tell us that the mind of the poor reader loafs along,
picking up very small units at a time,
while the eyes of the excellent reader
race over the lines, gathering an entire,
meaningful idea at a glance.
Cultivating the habit of reading for ideas
not only increases speed;
but also increases understanding.
A person who reads one word at a time
thinks in terms of the meanings
of these separate words and
thus 'can't see the woods for the trees.
The first and most important instruction is,
'Read for Ideas!'
If you can cultivate the habit
of rapidly picking up one complete thought unit
after another, the eye movements
will take care of themselves.
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