Speed reading.

(Topic taken from advance academic reading and

writing.)
Speed reading ( Definition) :
Speed reading is the process of rapidly
recognizing and absorbing phrases or
sentences on a page all at once, rather than
identifying individual words.
Examples :
There are some extreme examples of speed reading.
For example Kim Peek, the savant who inspired the
film 'Rain Man', starring Dustin Hoffman, can read
two pages at once (one with each eye) and has
memorised 9600 books.
Types of speed reading :
There are two types of speed reading. These are
skimming and scanning. They are each used for different
purposes and they are not meant to be used all the time.
Readers who know how to skim and how to scan are
flexible readers. They read according to their purpose
and get the information quickly without wasting time. It is
important to know when and how to use skimming and
scanning.
Read skimming and scanning notes you already
have.👍
How to improve speed
reading?
1.Avoid distractions.
Create an environment where there are as few interruptions
and distractions as possible, to allow you to focus → fully on
the words in front of you.
2. Go easy.
Read an uncomplicated novel or a simple online article to
get a feel for which technique is going to work best for
you. Gauge how much you've remembered or
understood, and set a timer to see how much faster you
are now reading.
3.cover words that you have already read.

This helps you to stop your eyes flitting back to earlier words
and slowing down your reading.
4.know what you want from the text.

This can be useful if you are using the skimming method,

as it primes you to pay attention when you see relevant
words, sentences or phrases. You can then slow down at
these points, or circle them for emphasis, but otherwise
move across the page quickly.
5. Benchmark your progress.
This way you can tell whether your practice is paying
off. There are many free speed reading assessments
online, such as at “ReadingSoft.com.”
6. Notice and release infective habits.

Notice when you make regressions and try to limit them by

paying attention to the text the first time. Also notice
sub-vocalization. You can read faster if you don't mentally
"hear" the words as you read them.
7. Skim.
If you are pressed for time, skim. Read the headings,
subheadings, charts, graphs, and summary paragraphs.
8. Stay flexible.
Skillful readers vary their reading
rate according to the nature of the material. Or, you
can use different rates with the same material,
such as skimming a chapter before you read it
carefully.
9.Explore your resources.
There are speed-reading classes offered, Internet
articles, and books about reading rates. The first rule
of reading fast: Just do it!
10.Practice, practice, practice.
You have to practice speed reading to get good at it.
The more you train yourself, the more natural it will
feel.
When to speed read?
When you need to understand only the basic arguments or
conclusions being presented, though, using a speed reading
technique can work.
This may especially be the case if you intend to go back and
re-read something more slowly when you're less busy.
Speed reading
in seeing.
The first step in reading anything is seeing the words. But how do you see
words on the page when you read? Prior to the 1920s, researchers believed
that people read one word at a time. To read, they thought, you moved your
eyes left to right across the page, taking in one word after the other. Under
this theory, fast readers were people who could identify and recognize words
faster.
However, all but beginning readers have the ability to see and read more than
one word at a time. As you move your eyes across the page, you jump ahead
in fits and starts, taking in from one to five words at a time in quick glances.
Speed reading builds on these quick glances:
You read several words in a single glance unless you’re encountering words
you don’t know or haven’t read before.
You expand your vision so that you can read and understand many words in a
single glance.
You expand your vision to read vertically as well as horizontally on the page.
As well as taking in more than one word on a line of text, speed readers can
also, in a single glance, read and understand words on two or three different
lines.
Speed reading in silent reading.
When you read, you speak words to yourself (aloud or in your head)
because you learned to read with the sound-it-out method. In
school, your teacher taught that you can always read a word by
sounding out the letters and letter combinations, and he was right.
Being able to sound out words is an essential skill for beginning
readers.

The problem with the sound-it-out approach to reading is that it

slows you down. You read not at the speed you think but rather at
the speed you talk. Sounding it out is fine for beginning readers, but
at some point you have to dispense with sound if you want to be a
speed reader. Saying the words, even if you only whisper them
inside the confines of your skull, takes time.
Speed reading in
comprehending.
The purpose of reading is to comprehend what you read. How
well you comprehend what you read is determined by your
reading speed, the breadth of your vocabulary, and your degree
of familiarity with the subject matter.

Speed reading actually increases reading comprehension.

Because you read several words at a time when you speed read,
you can pick up the meaning of words in context. Speed reading
also has a snowball effect on the size of your vocabulary and
general knowledge, which increases your reading speed.
Speed reading in
concentrating.
All reading requires concentration, if only for a moment. Speed
reading, however, requires sustained, forceful concentration
because, when you speed read, you do many things at once. To
speed read well, you must see and read the words on the page,
remain alert to the author’s main ideas, think along with the
author and detect how she presents the material so you can pin
down the main ideas, and read with more perspective to
separate the details from weightier stuff. You have to know when
to skim, when to read fast, and when to slow down to get the gist
of it.
“The more you work ,the more
confident you feel.”