Speed Reading

What is slow reading speed?

A slow reading speed is when you read more slowly than what is expected of you.

Suggestions to speed up reading:

According to Buzan (2007), there are mainly three aspects could help to read more quickly.

1. Improving concentration

Causes of poor concentration:

Vocabulary difficulties
Conceptual difficulties
Inappropriate reading speed
Distraction
Poor organization
Lack of interest
Lack of motivation

2. Using skimming and scanning and change reading speed according to need.

3. Good environmental influences.

Suited hardware to type of reading
Minimize interruptions
Optimum time of day
Alert posture
Study materials to hand

According to Buzan (2007: 85), faster reading may aid actually better comprehension.R eading slowly and carefully encourages your brain to read more and more slowly, with less and less comprehension.

List of other common speed reading strategies:

Read more advanced texts to train your brain being used to dealing with complex sentences and ideas.
Finger-tracking. Move your finger directly from top to bottom, to train your eye to move more quickly down the text.
Read selectively and actively. Work out what you are looking for to read first. You will finish reading more quickly, even though your reading speed may be the same.
Read larger chunks. Practise reading by resting your eye on several words at once. This is also less tiring for the eyes so you should be able to read for longer periods.
Build up to difficult texts. Start with a simpler text and then move to complex sections or more difficult books later.

Example

Vary your eye movement strategie

The 1^st movement pattern illustrates that eyes are taking in every word in the paragraph.

The 2^nd movement pattern illustrates that eyes are leading for bigger blocks of meaning.

The 3^rd movement pattern illustrates that the central focus is on the detail but peripheral vision is taking in the whole text.

Please click on Speed Reading Exercise to go to the next section.