Read Faster

Obstacles to faster effective reading

Perhaps you have seen very young children - or older people - learning to read. They move the index finger along the line of print, pointing to each word, sometimes even to individual letters, saying the word or letters to themselves in a low voice. This is call 'vocalizing'. Sometimes the learner makes no sound thought his lips may move to form the word, sometimes there is not even any perceptible movement of the month at all, but the learner is still activating hit throat muscles slightly to 'say' the word to himself. He is still vocalizing.
   However slight the extent of vocalizing may be it will still be impossible for such a reader to reach a speed of more than 280 w.p.m. The appreciation of written word my be entirely visual and we must read more than one word at a time.
   Look at 'you', the second word of this passage. Even if you look straight at the 'o' of that word, without moving your eyes at all you can clearly see 'perhaps' and 'have' on either Sid. So you can read three words at once. Now look at the word 'word' on line 2. With a very slight movement of eyes, you can take in the whole phrase '... saying the word or letters ...' in the same glance. In the same way, you can probably take in a complete shorts sentence on one line , like the one on line 3, at one glance. None of the lines of print on a page this size should need more than four eye movements. Take line 4. This would perhaps break up into four word group: (1) ... May move to form the word ...(2)... sometimes there is not even ...(3)... any perceptible movement ...(4)... of the month at all, but the ... When you reading well, your eyes will be one or two word group ahead of the one your mind is taking in.

Practise on something easy and interesting
Many students trying to increase their effective reading speed become discouraged when they find that if they try to race through a passage faster, they fail to take in what they  have read. The problem here is that  the material they practising on is either too difficult for them in vocabulary or content, or not sufficiently interesting. Read things you like reading. Go to the subject catalogue in the library. Biography, sport, the cinema ... there is bound to be some area that interest you and in which you can find books of  about your level of ability or just below.
   If you want a quick check on how easy a book is, read through three or four page at four pages at random. If there are, on average, more than five or six words on each page that are completely new to you, then the book is not suitable for reading-speed improvement.
 



     To try it. I try it. It good solution to read faster.