First of all, do you read words one at a time, or are you able to read and process multiple words at once? If you know how to “chunk” words into phrases and take in text in larger units, you’ll definitely speed up your reading rate. Part of learning to do this is practicing widening your visual field so that you can see more words at once, and part is learning to relax and trust your brain to absorb words as phrases. Once you trust your ability to read in this way, you’ll also be able to eliminate the bad habit of regression (automatically going back over text unnecessarily) and learn to always keep moving forward in the text as you read.

One of the best ways to eliminate regression and have confidence in your understanding of text is to focus on the material that you’re reading. The ability to focus your mind is just as important as the ability to focus your eyes – and perhaps more, because you can focus your eyes on text quickly, but if your mind isn’t focused, you’re just exercising your eyes and not absorbing the information your eyes are seeing. Eliminate distractions around you and learn to concentrate on the text in front of you, rather than the cell phone or computer or television or person walking by or anything else that interrupts your focus.

Because practice makes perfect, an excellent way to learn to focus is to read as much as you can, every day. You’ll get into the habit of focusing on the text, and if you practice reading in a variety of situations, from a quiet library to a noisy commuter train, you’ll learn to shut your eyes and ears to everything but the words on the page.

Keep reading this blog, and we’ll keep giving you helpful hints on how to speed read that will keep you focused on your goals.

The object of the research study was to determine if speed reading would improve reading comprehension, and if it would also help students learn the most frequently-used English vocabulary words (necessary to fluently read in English). They tested groups of students who (1) received speed reading training only; (2) received vocabulary improvement training only; (3) received both types of training; or (4) received neither type of training.

The results of these tests showed that students who had speed reading training made significant advances over students without the training, with improvement in both speed and comprehension. The study also found that students using speed reading techniques were better able to improve their English vocabulary knowledge (we’ve talked about that before, too).

It’s obvious that speed reading skills have many benefits, whether you’re a student in school, an ambitious professional looking to advance in your career, or the parent of a child that you want to have all possible advantages.

For more information on this research study, click here.

Although we use the word “smoothly” in the paragraph above, the truth is that your eyes don’t really move smoothly at all when you read. Instead, they move in a pattern of stops and starts, usually called fixations and saccades. A saccade is a “jump” your eyes make between words as you read, or rather between the fixations where your eyes are focused on one particular spot in the text. This is a normal part of the reading process.

Where speed readers differ from regular readers is in the direction of the saccades, and the amount of distance between one fixation and the next. Although in general up to a quarter of all saccades are backwards jumps to previous words, a good speed reader has trained their eyes to keep moving forward. Getting over the habit of regression will do wonders for your reading speed.

Another aspect of saccades that distinguishes speed readers from the general reading public is the amount of information the reader is able to take in with each fixation. Widening the visual focus will increase the number of words and letters in each stop, which means the distance between the stops can be greater. If the amount of time in each saccade remains the same, but you’re stopping twice per line instead of five times per line, you’re obviously going faster as a reader.

The 7 Speed Reading program will teach you how to eliminate regression and widen your focus, so that you’re reading in the most efficient manner possible.

Reference: K. Rayner and G. McConkie, “The span of the effective stimulus during a fixation in reading.” Perception and Psychophysics (1975).

Using your finger or a pen to “scroll down” a page of text as you read actually helps improve your reading speed for two reasons. First, it forces your eyes to focus on the page, which means you’re less likely to get distracted by a pop-up message on your computer, or someone walking by your office, or any other visual intrusion (which can quickly become a mental intrusion). Second, you can gradually increase the speed that your finger is going down the page, and your eyes will automatically follow at that new speed. This helps you get into the habit of absorbing chunks of text (groups of words, or even entire lines) at one time, an important skill in speed reading.

If one of your bad reading habits is regression (also called “backtracking”) then instead of your finger, you can use a sheet of paper. Starting at the top of the page, cover up each line as you read it. If you can’t see the text you’ve just read, you won’t be tempted to go back to those lines. This will also help you focus and concentrate on what you’re reading, since it’s your “only chance” to read it.

On the other hand, backtracking to re-read something is not always a bad habit, if you’re doing it for the right reasons. Having to re-read a page or two because you lost your focus and can’t remember what you read is one thing (that’s the bad habit), but deliberately reviewing the key points of a chapter to verify that you understood the main ideas is something else entirely. If you’ve remained focused on what you’re reading, this is the work of a few minutes, because you’ll remember where you saw those key points. There’s nothing wrong with pausing briefly to mentally sort and organize what you’ve learned in one chapter before moving on to the next.

Pay attention to the details of how you read, and you’ll quickly learn how to read faster.

Reading introduces you to new words, and your vocabulary study techniques allow you to build on those words so you’re learning groups of them at one time. Take the word insatiable, and apply some of the study tips to it that we’ve discussed in previous posts on this site. A good place to start is with the word’s etymology, so you can find out more about the word. If you look up the roots of this word, you’ll see that it comes from the Latin root satiare (“to fill full”) with the prefix in- (“not”). Without even looking up the dictionary definition, you can put those two root words together to get the meaning “not filled full” – that is, not satisfied. “Insatiable” (pronounced ihn-SAY-shuh-bull) is an adjective usually paired with the words “hunger” or “desire” and used to describe the feeling of never having enough. If you’re an insatiable reader, it means you’re never tired of reading, and perhaps would rather be reading than doing anything else.

When you’re looking at the root word satiare you’ll probably notice that another word shares that root, the verb satiate (“to satisfy, to fill to completeness”). If you pair those words together in your mind, you’ll be able to learn them both – and you can add even more words to the group by including the related words satiation (noun: the state of being completely filled or satisfied) and satiated (adjective: completely satisfied, usually referring to being full of food).

To increase your exposure to as many words as possible, pick from a variety of sources and topics. Keep a notepad handy to jot down words you’re not sure of so you can look them up later and practice them. As your vocabulary and reading skills improve, you’re sure to be satisfied with your progress and achievements.

Cross-posted at The Vocabulary Builder’s Blog.

That having been said, there are different levels of comprehension, and that’s something you also need to keep in mind. For example, if you’re an employee who has been given the task of reading a departmental procedure guide in order to do a new job, you’ll want to make sure you read it slowly enough that you get all of the details, so that you can do your job correctly. On the other hand, if you’re the head of the department and you’re reviewing the procedure guide for accuracy, a quick skim through will likely give you all the information you need about whether the author included the necessary steps. Obviously, as the employee in this example, you’re responsible for understanding and remembering the full text, as well as being able to apply what you’ve learned to your job. As the department head, you should be able to trust the author to have included all the details (which you would already know, we hope) and therefore would only have to scan for key words, headings, and categories to make sure they had covered all of the aspects of the procedure.

In other words, you need to think about why you’re reading something before you start to read it, and that will help you determine the appropriate reading speed to use. Think about questions you have that you’d expect the text to answer, and keep those in mind as you read. Don’t worry about your speed, but concentrate on comprehension instead. You’ll find that as you get more efficient as a reader, and better able to judge the rate you need as well as the answers you’re looking for, your speed will naturally increase.

Read phrases, not words. Good speed readers know how to “clump” words together into phrases, and have trained their eyes to take in the entire phrase, rather than reading each word one by one.

Improve your vocabulary. A successful speed reader has achieved this success in part due to their strong and expansive vocabulary. It’s just common sense: the more words you know, the faster you’ll read, because you won’t have to keep stopping to look things up, or going back to clear up confusion after you’ve misunderstood a passage.

Explore new materials. When you read a variety of materials (fiction, non-fiction, poetry, blogs) on topics that interest you, and also topics that are new to you, you’ll maximize your opportunities to learn new words. What’s more, you’ll become familiar with different styles of writing. This will speed up your overall reading time because you’ll be able to anticipate where you’re likely to find information, and how it will be formatted in the text.

Focus on comprehension. Many people new to speed reading think that speed is everything, but without comprehension, speed is useless. If you go so fast through the text that you don’t understand or remember what you’ve read, you’ll have to re-read it. Make sure that you’re reading at a pace that’s just slow enough for good comprehension.

Focus on concentration. A large part of comprehension comes from your mental focus. If you’re distracted, you’ll find it almost impossible to absorb the material you’re reading, and definitely impossible to remember it later. If there’s something you need to read, set aside time in a quiet place and concentrate on it.

Keep practicing. When you first learned to read as a child, it took constant practice before you could read with ease. Now that you’re an adult, you should devote the same effort to learn to read with speed.

Enjoy the process. As you increase reading speed, you’ll gain confidence in your abilities, and that will provide the motivation you need to keep reading and practicing. After all, the better you are at anything, the more you’ll enjoy doing it. Learn to enjoy reading, and you’ll easily improve your reading speed.

When we talk about a word’s “shape” we mean the pattern of above- and below-the-line letter parts as well as the shape of the individual letters. For example, the word obey has the same general shape as the word atop in that there’s a roundish vowel, a letter with a bit that sticks up, another roundish vowel, and a letter with a bit that hangs down below the line of text. Of course, the words themselves have completely different definitions, so just knowing the shape of a word won’t help you understand what you’re reading. However, if you can train your eye to recognize, identify, and skip over relatively unimportant words like the and and, you’ll save time without losing any contextual meaning.

Because we tend to first see shape rather than meaning, it’s important that when you’re practicing your speed reading techniques you use text that’s printed in both upper and lower case (as appropriate, of course). Studies have shown that when you’re reading in all upper case, all lower case, or an incorrect mix of the two, your reading speed slows considerably. Look at these examples:

helen’s not sure if the letter made it to spain. send it via us mail instead.

Helen’s not sure if the letter made it to Spain. Send it via US mail instead.

hEleN’s nOT sURe if The leTTeR mAdE iT TO sPaIn. seND It ViA uS maIL inStEaD.

HELEN’S NOT SURE IF THE LETTER MADE IT TO SPAIN. SEND IT VIA US MAIL INSTEAD.

Which is the easiest to read and understand, and which is the hardest? When you’re focused on improving your reading speed, choose text that’s clearly written with a clean typeface that makes letter-shape recognition easy. And when you’re writing e-mails to people, think about the examples above, and use capitalization wisely – remember, there’s no need to shout! You can make it easier for others to read what you write as you practice writing about what you’ve read.

References:
Fisher, D.F. Reading and visual search. Memory and Cognition (1975).
Reicher, G.M. Perceptual recognition as a function of meaningfulness of stimulus material. Journal of Experimental Psychology (1969).

Studies have shown that if you’re focused on one task and finish it before moving on to the next one, you actually end up going faster overall through the entire set of tasks, because you don’t have to go back and fix things you forgot. When you’re paying attention, you won’t have to reread text, or ask someone to repeat something. Obviously, if you don’t have to go back and read material again, you’re saving time, no matter how quickly you read it in the first place.

You can also save time by focusing on two questions before you begin: why are you going to read this text, and what will you do with the information? If the answer to these questions is “I’m not sure” then do you really need to read it? Save your time, energy, and concentration for the materials you really need to go over.

Keep your focus steady while you’re reading, and do your best to not think about unrelated things (doctor’s appointments, dinner plans, etc.). Any extraneous information in your mind will interfere with your comprehension and retention of the text you’re reading. On the other hand, thinking about related things in your experience helps retention. For example, if you’re reading an article on cooking while thinking about making those dishes for dinner, your visualization will add to your ability to recall the facts, ideas, or even an entire recipe. You won’t have to go back to refer to the information later.

To sum it up, speed reading isn’t just about your reading speed – it’s about the time you save by keeping focused and not having to go back to read something again.

Text comprehension is a multifaceted process, and one that isn’t always taught in schools any more. Part of comprehension involves what’s often referred to as “critical thinking” – that is, the ability to question and analyze text as you read it. In order to do this, you need to be able to both retain that analytical viewpoint and efficiently process text. Learning speed reading techniques will help you do this.

At its most basic level, reading is simply the recognition that the letters on a page are arranged to make words, and those words form sentences. It’s possible to “read” text in a language you don’t know just by sounding out the words, even if you don’t know the meaning of them. Comprehension is what takes reading to a meaningful level.

Comprehension starts with knowing the meaning of individual words. Next, the reader needs to understand the meaning of the words once they are combined into phrases. Finally, the reader must be able to understand the overall ideas and concepts that the author is communicating by using those phrases. Comprehension at this level depends on vocabulary skills, the ability to use context clues to derive meaning, and on the reader’s overall knowledge. That’s why it’s so important to read as much as possible as part of your vocabulary studies, and to choose reading material from a variety of sources. The more you know, the faster you’ll be able to read, and you’ll improve your comprehension skills at the same time.