What Causes Slow Reading?

 1- Reading word per word

2- Longer time in reading chunks of words

3- Eyes going back to a word or sentence previously read

4- Unable to recognize and respond immediately to the material

5- Slow vocalization and comprehension

6- Incorrect eye movements and regression

7-Slow reading habits do to past reading experiences

8-Inattentiveness and absent-mindedness during reading

9-Lack of practice and interest in reading

10- Spending alot of time on individual words to be able to sustain comprehension

11- Poor recognition of important and unimportant things

12- Remembering everything rather than selectively       

              Tips for increasing reading rate

1-Improve your vocabulary. Expose yourself with new words so when you encounter them, you won’t spend more time figuring out what they mean.

2-Know your reading purpose. For main ideas only, skimming the material is already enough.

3-Read faster by reading with the mind instead of the lips.

4-Read more! Take 15 minutes of your time a day reading an average sized novel, magazines, or other books.

5-Every day, increase your reading rate by reading faster(about 2-3 times faster) than your normal speed.

6-If reading concentration is poor, practice reading for 5-10 minutes only at a time. Gradually increase this rate over time.

More Speed Reading Tips

                Once you start reading, don’t stop! Read the text straight through. If you have any questions after you have completed reading the material, go back and reread the relevant sections. 

Reread the marked sections of the text(the items you indicated that you didn’t quite understand).                                        

Write a small summary at the beginning of the chapter-consisting about 3-4 sentences. If you ever need to return th the text, the information is much more easily found with summary markings.

Read once, you can’t read everyhting all at once, and wouldn’t want to. If it’s important, read it now, if it’s not, let it wait.

Read the title and the first paragraph more carefully than the other parts of the section.

If there is a summary at the end of the chapter, read it.

Get a grasp of how the material is organized.

If you need more background, seek another source.

A paper and a pen at hand while reading are helpful. Make sure to have both beside you before beginning to read.

Use the cursor on a computer as a pointer when you read text on the screen. The cursor will then act as a finger, and your eyes will most likely follow for moving objects.

Use a guide(pencil,finger,ruler,etc.) to stop regression.

Train yourself to bypass your automatic response to mentally speak each word. Instead, read words and phrases at a time, using only the peripheral vision.

When you are reading, it is often useful to highlight, underline, and annotate the text as you go on. This emphasizes information in the mind, and helps you to recall important details after reading the material.

Underline relevant information in a section as if you were preparing brief notes from which you could study.

Underline all definitions of terminology.

Mark or label examples that represent main ideas.

Circle and box special vocabulary words and transitional words and phrases.

Number important or sequential ideas.

Jot down paraphrases, questions, and summaries in available spaces within the text.

                                                                                     

The Hand Technique

The first technique is to simply place your right hand on the page and slowly move it straight down the page, drawing your eyes down as you read. Keep an equal, gradual motion, as if your right hand has its own free will. Your eyes may not be exactly where your hand is, but this simple movement will allow you to go faster. Don’t start, read a little, stop, read a little, start, read a little. Keep the movement slow and easy. Only do it once per page. If you are”left handed”, use your left hand as the dominant pacing hand.

Lift your fingers and make two even bounces on each line. Each time you bounce, you are ought to be making a fixation of about sets of3-4 words. This should be done with a balanced arm muscle and not just wiggling the wrist.

The next method is to utilize a card or a folded-up piece of paper on top of the line of print to block the words after you read them. Move it down the page slowly and evenly, and try to read the lines before you cover the words up. This helps break the habit of reading a line of text over and over again. It helps you pay more attention the first time. Be sure to push the card down quicker than you think you can go. Slide the card down once per page.

Another tactic is to use your hand to help draw your eyes across the page. Slightly cup your right hand, keep your fingers together. With a very loose and fluid motion, sweep your fingers from left to right, underlining the line with the tip of your tallest finger from about an inch in and an inch out on each line. Use your whole arm to move, balancing on your arm muscle. Imagine that you are dusting off dirt from the page.

The next method is to utilize

topspeedreading.com 

Techniques In Speed Reading

                Speed reading is not a big incomprehensible subject. Proffesional speed reading classes mainly teach a handful of quick methods that help people focus their attention better. The eyes are drawn to movement. The speed reading methods put that motion on the material being read.                            

               Your starting position is essential. You should sit up straight, grip the book down with your left hand, and use your right hand to do the pacing.                                                                    

                 You should already be an able reader before you try to speed read. Speed reading will not help you, if you have problems in understanding the meaning of the words. In fact, it may be fruitless for you to try to rush through things that you can’t comprehend. You should have the basics down first.       

               Before you start speed reading, you should do a survey of the data first and foremost to get a general idea of what you will be undertaking and of the type of writing. The self-pacing methods below used in speed reading can help in increasing focus and understanding. They can also help in breaking the habit of reading the same page over twice.             

              

The Poor Readers

                Poor readers, on the other hand, spend a lot of time reading small blocks of words. They will skip back often, resulting to decrease in reading speed. This irregular eye movement will make reading tiring. That is why poor readers tend to dislike reading, and may find it harder to concentrate and understand any reading material.

                Speed reading aims to improve reading skills by:

Increasing the number of words in each block:

Consciousness is necessary in trying to expand the number of words that you read at a time. Practice will help you read faster. You may also find that you can increase the number of words read, by holding the text a little further from your eyes. The more words you can read in each block, the faster you will read!

                Reducing fixation time:

The minimum length of time needed to read each block is probably 1/4 of a second. By pushing yourself to reduce the time you take, you will get better at picking up information quickly.   

                Reducing skip backs:

To reduce the number of times your eyes goes back to a previous text, run a pointer along the line as you read. Your eyes should follow the tip of your pointer to smoothen the flow of your reading.

Technical Improvement Issues

    Even when you know how to ignore irrelevant details, you can make other technical improvements to your reading style that can increase your reading speed.                       

                As what we have mentioned earlier, most people tend to read the way young children do, letter-by-letter or word-by-word. But the truth is, reading is about fixing the eyes on one block of words, then moving them again to the next block, and so on. Thus, you are reading blocks of words at a time, and not individual words one-by-one. 

                Skilled readers are able to read the most number of words in each block. They will dwell on each block for an instant, and will immediately move on. This technique reduces the amount of work that the readers eyes have to do. It also increases the volume of information that can be read in a certain period.                                               

     

Increasing Your Reading Speed

                Speed reading helps you to read and understand texts more quickly. It is an essential skill in any environment where you have to learn bulky pieces of information fast.

                  The most important thing you need to know about speed reading is to identify what information you need from a  document before you start reading. For example, if you only want an outline of the different computer programming languages, then you can skim the document very quickly and extract only the essential facts. On the other hand, if you need to understand the real detail of the document- how program X differs from program Y and Z- then you need to read it slowly enough to fully understand it. You will get the greatest time saving from speed reading by learning to adjust your reading type depending on your purpose and need.

Reading For Leisure

Casual reading tends to be “light”, thus, the main purpose of the reader in performing this type of reading is when he has ample time in such activity. Light reading is done according to the following:

Read at a pace that feels comfortable.

Read while understanding.

Skim the boring, irrevelant passages.

An average light reading speed is 100-200 words per minute. This form of reading does not generally require detailed concentration.

“Word by word reading”

This type of reading is time consuming and demands a high level of concentration. It is done by reading a word after every word. Some materials are not readily understood, so they require slow and careful analytical reading. People use this type of reading for unfamiliar words and concepts, scientific formulas, and technical materials. It can take up to an hour, just to read a few paragraphs or chapter of the text.

The main method used in reading to study is called”Sq3R”. It’s aim is to understand the material in some depth. The method involves five simple steps, namely SURVEY,QUESTION, READ, RECALL and REVIEW, in which the name came from.

SURVEY:skim thoroughly to gain an overview and note key points.

QUESTION: devise questions you hope the text will answer.

READ: slowly and carefully.

RECALL: from memory, write down the main points made by the chapter.

REVIEW: revisit and answer the questions you first raised. Compare these to your recall and establish how well the text answered them. Fill in any gaps by further reading.

Why Should I Scan?

                When you’re looking, say for instance a car service phone directory, you don’t read every listing, do you? Instead you skip over a lot of unrelated information and scan for a visual image of the name of the company on the relevant page. It’s like looking for a friend at a football game. You do not look at each individual face across every row of seats. Because you have a visual image of your friends face, you scan the audience until you see him. Scanning printed words is similiar to this. 

               You scan to locate a single fact  or a specific bit of information without reading in the whole text material, or even in just a chapter. Perhaps you have a list of terms that you know are going to be on the next biology test. You have already encountered them during the lecture in class so while reviewing, you just look up each word in the index, go to the given page number, and scan for just that word. When you find them, you read the sentence in which they appear. If it is not clear to you, then you may want to read the entire paragraph.        

               You scan by flipping through the pages to see how the information is organized. It may be alphabetical, chronological, topical categories from most important to least important, or the standard essay format of introduction, body, and conclusion. Turn to the section most likely to contain the specified details. Keep a visual image of the key word in mind. Run your eyes over the material in a search for that keyword visual image. Don’t be tempted to stop and browse, you can do that some other time.                                                                                       

               

Five Types Of Reading

                                          Skimming                                                             

                   Skimming refers to reading quickly to gain a general impression as to whether the text is of use to you. You are not necessarily searching for a specific item because it only provides an “overview” of the text. Skimming is somewhat like reading the morning newspaper. You don’t actually start at the top left corner and read every article on every page. You read the headlines, reject many of the articles that you don’t find relevant, and read only those that interests you, sometimes in a hit and miss fashion- reading the headline, the first paragraph, skipping down to check out the names of the people.                                                                                                   

                                    Why Should I Skim?                                            

               Contents of most reading materials are not all important and relevant. Some of them are simple supporting details in which absence of them still makes the text complete. In other words, they are only trash. You wouldn’t waste your time reading the trash at all. would you? The important items may be skimmed and earmarked for later reading. The critical ones may be skimmed to confirm that they are really critical. What is left in the “really critical” stack will demand intensity. Even then, you may want to skim each one before you read in detail.                                                                                

               Skimming on a regular basis develops your ability to learn this strategy. It also improves other reading rates such as for studying for average reading. It builds your knowledge and vocabulary base so you have the background to rapidly absorb these ideas as they appear in other context.                    

                                        How To Skim                                             

               Read the title. This focuses your attention on the topic. Then read the introduction, this may be the first paragraph or two. It usually describes, in general, what the entire selection will be about. Read the first sentence in each paragraph. Often, as many as 80% of the paragraphs start with a summary or topic sentence. The rest of the sentences in the paragraph simply elaborate. You may skip the elaboration unless it is obviously necessary, such as the definition of a very important term. When you skim, you really are only looking for general ideas. Read the conclusion, this may be the last paragraph or two. It usually summarizes the article, specifies an opinion, or makes some recommendations based on the general content. Test your comprehension, look away from the article and tell yourself in a sentence or two what the entire article was about.