All About Reading
By John D. Whitman
Think back to the time you were taught to read as a child. First, you learned the alphabet and how letters formed into syllables. Then, how syllables formed into words. Finally, you stood beside your desk and read aloud.
In oral reading, you were forced to read word by word. This habit probably carried over into your silent reading. If you are reading a word at a time silently, then you read no faster than you speak — 150 words per minute.
Forming letters into syllables and then syllables into words leads to the next logical step in reading — forming words into phrases or thought units. Words are symbols for communication that impart their fullest meaning only in association with one another.
Because you learned to read as a child, you are probably trying to meet the adult reading challenge with outdated methods from your elementary school days. Psychologists know that you form your strongest habits during childhood and reading habits are among these. No wonder most of us are unable to keep up.
Ineffective habits are generally characterized by passive behaviors, while effective ones require active behaviors. By learning to actively read, you read more in less time, improve your concentration, and understand and remember information better.
In the process of reading, your eyes function similarly to a camera. You take a picture of the words you are reading and flash them to your brain. Your brain instantly interprets the meaning of the words.
Actually, while you are reading this, your eyes are stopping about 95 percent of the time. You are not moving your eyes in a smooth flow but rather in jerky stops and starts.
Obviously, then, if you teach your eyes to take larger, or panoramic, pictures at each stop, they will stop less and get more. Larger pictures mean more words are flashed to the brain at each stop and your brain has the capacity to interpret phrases or even whole sentences.
Once you develop a sense of reading rhythm, you can read for longer periods without tiring and get much more meaning per minute.
When you improve your reading, you gain a lifetime of benefits such as being a better conversationalist and a more qualified job applicant. Most of the knowledge you acquire comes from reading, and knowledge is power! No other skill you possess contributes so richly toward improving your earning power, giving you pleasure, and allowing you to lead a fuller life.
➞ Mark your reading time on a piece of paper: (minutes) (seconds).
2. Respond to Statements. Immediately answer the following statements to the best of your ability WITHOUT looking back at the reading. That's cheating! Estimate the number of answers you believe are correct and put the number in the blank provided.
Comprehension Statements
Without looking back at the reading passage, respond to the following statements by indicating whether the statement is True (T), False (F), or Not Discussed (N).
1. The article you have just read was mainly about eye movements.
2. The most important reason for poor reading is no additional instruction since primary school.
3. If you are a word reader, you are probably reading less than 300 words per minute.
4. The next logical step in reading is to form words into thought units.
5. Words are symbols of communication that impart their fullest meaning only in the dictionary.
6. Inefficient readers read only when they have to.
7. Keeping up with our reading is difficult because of the information explosion.
8. While you read, your eyes move in a smooth flow.
9. If you learn to read more rhythmically, you will read longer without tiring.
10. Reading faster means reading more at each stop.
Now, estimate how many of these answers you believe you have correct out of ten.
3. Check your responses. Turn to the Answer Key. If you have any incorrect, mark the correct response and return to the reading passage to try to understand where you had a problem.
4. Figure your comprehension percentage. Add the total number of correct responses you have and multiply by 10. For example, if you have 5 correct, your comprehension is 50 percent. If you have 8 correct, your comprehension is 80 percent, and if you had ten correct, give yourself 100 percent. Write your comprehension percent in your Personal Progress Chart.
5. Figure your Words per Minute. Look at your reading time and round off the seconds to the nearest 10-second mark. For example, if you read the passage in 2 minutes and 27 seconds, round higher, making your reading time 2 minutes, 30 seconds. If you read the passage in 1 minute and 42 seconds, round lower to one minute 40 seconds. Track your Words per Minute and your reading time. Record your Words per Minute in your Personal Progress Chart.
6. Track your Time Trial scores. Go to your Personal Progress chart and make sure you've recorded your Words per Minute, comprehension percentage, and the date you did the exercise. It's also helpful to document other details such as time of day, any preoccupations, strategies used, and so on. This information will help you understand what works and what doesn't when you read. You will use this chart to track your scores over the next ten days.
What Do Your Numbers Mean?
Your numbers reveal who you are as a reader now. The following gives you a quick view of what your Words per Minute mean:
If your Words per Minute were between: Then you are probably a:
100 — 200 Slow Reader
200 — 300 Average Reader
300 — 400 Good Reader
400 — 500 Above Average Reader
Slow readers are considered slow because they read at talking speed. A person speaks on average between 100 and 150 words per minute, so reading in this range makes you a "talker." Though you may be the quietest person in the world, it has no relationship to your reading. Talkers generally have one of two issues against them: They either move their lips while reading or they mentally whisper, or subvocalize, every single word they read. They're basically hearing their own voice reading to themselves word-for-word.
Have you ever wondered why you sometimes daydream when someone is talking to you or while you are in class? Well, that's because the person talking to you is speaking an average of 150 words per minute and you can think upward of 400 words per minute. That leaves 250 words per minute looking for something to do. So, if you are not mentally engaged in receiving the information such as listening to a boring teacher or colleague, you will daydream … a lot!
Slow readers sometimes fall asleep while reading. Unfortunately, our voices when reading silently rarely sound like a hyped radio announcer. They are more like a monotone drone.
Average readers read at about 250 words per minute. This is the average words per minute others have come up with and I have done my own statistics gathering as well. I kept summary sheets of the classes I teach, which include beginning and ending statistical averages. The participants are generally corporate employees from various levels ranging from administrative and secretarial to managerial and executive. The classes were twelve hours long and had an average of fifteen participants. Using three years' worth of classes, I took all of the beginning averages, which consisted of two separate readings, and averaged them out. The resulting number was 252 words per minute. Most participants had not had any reading training since elementary school.
Average readers mentally whisper what they read but not as much as slow readers. They may feel they are slow readers, however. They do think more while reading than a slow reader does.
Good readers may talk a little while they read, but in general to a much lesser degree than slow and average readers. They typically don't decode the words anymore, rather they naturally break sentences up into thought units, or phrases. You will learn more about this on Day Four.
Above average readers, the few who come to my class without any formal training, are able to figure out on their own what works and what doesn't. They usually don't know strategies by name. However, they are looking to know if what
they are doing is right. They are happy to finally have names to attach to their self-made habits so they can continue reading well or improve without guilt.
Turbo Comprehension: How Does Your Comprehension Rank?
Good comprehension on this type of reading evaluation falls between 70 and 90 percent or seven to nine correct responses out of ten. Ten out of ten, or 100 percent, is excellent comprehension, but striving for it on a regular basis is difficult; remember, you're human!
You were asked to guess how many answers you thought you had correct out of ten before checking your answers. I asked you to do this because I have found that many people's perceptions of how many answers they thought they had correct does not match reality. Most underestimate their abilities, meaning they get more answers correct than they thought. You see, the brain works in mysterious ways. Many times it works subconsciously without your knowing or feeling secure. But miraculously, you get the right answer. If this happened to you, think about trusting your brain more and believing that you really are capable of better comprehension. In time, you will feel more confident about your comprehension.
TEN THINGS Your Elementary School Teacher Told You AND Your Secondary School Teacher Should Have Told You NOT to Do Anymore!
1. You have to read every word.
2. You need to sound out every word aloud or in your head.
3. Don't use your hands or fingers to help read.
4. You need to completely understand everything you read.
5. You need to remember everything you read.
6. Go for quantity — the more the better.
7. Don't skim, that's cheating.
8. Don't write in your books.
9. It doesn't matter what you read as long as you read.
10. Speed is not important.
By the end of this book, you will understand why these ten so-called rules are fallacies.
Fast Tracks: Adding a Stick Shift to Your Reading
Many readers are uncomfortable using their hands, or a pen, or a white card to read. Put on the brakes, I'm going to show you how to use these tools.
This approach is based on the fact that your eyes naturally follow movement. If you are in an office talking with someone and a fly is circling in your vicinity, your eyes notice it and momentarily follow it. Or, if you are facing a window where people are walking by, your eyes naturally gravitate toward the foot traffic no matter how riveted you are by your conversation.
Your hand, a pen, or a blank white card, when used to increase your reading speed, are called pacers. Think of a pacer as a stick shift. Pacers force the eyes to move in a directed pattern down the page to help you get up to speed.
Pacers function like a pace car in a race. A pace car leads the other cars, or in the case of reading, your eyes and brain, to a speed where the race begins. Once the cars reach a certain speed, the pace car exits the speedway, signaling the start of the race. In reading, your pacer ideally does the same thing: It gets you up to speed, then moves out of the way until you need it again. The pace car returns to the track, getting cars back up to speed if there is an interruption in the race such as an accident or debris on the track.
When you read, an interruption could simply be your mind taking a neutral dip in concentration or a sound like the honking of a car horn or the ringing of a telephone. Pacers are helpful in getting you dialed in, which in car racing means your car is perfectly set up for a race.
Each chapter — or day — of this book introduces you to a new pacer. Be aware they may not all work for you — but it's important to try them all and choose those that work best for you.
The general rules to follow when using any pacer are:
1. Keep your pacer moving down, not across the page.
2. Do not stop or go back.
Though rules can be broken, the more you can stick to these two, the better you will read.
Start Your Engines with a White Card
Let's start with our first pacer — the white card method. You need a blank white 3x5 index card or the blank side of a business card. Now, if you have ever read with a card before, you most likely place it under the line you are reading. Think about this: Why are you blocking where your eyes are going and leaving open where you have been? This encourages an inefficient, or passive, habit called regression, or going back over material you have already read.
So take your white card and place it on top of the lines you read, leaving the lane open where you are going. Try this while reading a magazine or newspaper or even this book. As you read, move the card down the page at your own pace. Later when you learn other speed techniques, the card helps you move even faster.
If you tried this and you feel really uncomfortable, please don't get rid of it so fast. Day 2 will help you better understand this skill-building process. Know that this discomfort is part of the learning process.
Pit Stop: Tip of the Day
Before you take things out of your reading pile, you need to know what you are receiving and where it comes from. Take a piece of paper and keep a record of your reading material, including newspapers, magazines, professional journals, newsletters, e-mail newsletters, and so on. Since most publications are issued weekly or monthly, keep the list for one month. Hence, this is called the "Reading Tracker Inventory." Then, rate each piece, assessing its value to you and why you should keep it. If you can't come up with a valid reason, cancel your subscription. The ones you don't have time for toss in the recycling bin. Hint: If you have five or more unread back issues of any one publication, chances are you either don't have time for it or do not find value in it. Get rid of it! Day 7 will provide you with more tips on reducing the pileup.
In Day 2, you will discover the parts of your "reading engine." You will gain an understanding about each part and what is involved in the tune-up. Make sure your gas tank is full. Tomorrow is another day on the roadway to faster reading.
Day 2: Rebuilding Your Speed Reading Engine
The engine is the core of a race car. When the engine is set up properly, the car is a solid contender in a race. When it's not, and the engine blows, the car is prevented from getting to the next level of competition. In reading, your engine is your eyes and brain. Though your hands are helpful, they are not necessary. (You can read a highway road sign without your hands.) Also, your mouth isn't useful, since it slows you down. Remember that when you "talk" while you read you limit your- self to around 150 words per minute.
In this chapter, you will discover the parts of your reading engine, gain an understanding about how they function, and what is involved in tuning up that engine.
Is Your Engine Inefficient or Efficient?
Here is a list of inefficient and efficient reader qualities. Each of these qualities is addressed through- out the book. As you will see, they are opposites of each other.
*The Qualities Most Asked About
Some of the above qualities are self explanatory while others on the list need further explanation. Let's take a look at the characteristics with asterisks and see what they mean.
Irregular vs. rhythmic eye movements. If you think you read one word at a time, or if you get to the end of a line and frequently miss the beginning of the next line, or if you find your- self re-reading the same line, then you have more irregular than rhythmic eye movements.
Narrow vs. wide eye span. You have a narrow eye span if you know you read word-for- word. If you don't read every word or you know you read more than one word at a time, you have a wider eye span. If you want to learn how to read faster, you will need to see more each time your eyes stop, widening your eye span.
Reading with vs. without a purpose. Reading with a purpose means knowing why or for what reason you are reading a certain book, magazine, or letter. It is similar to having a goal in mind. For example, when you read a newspaper you may read with the purpose of stay- ing on top of world or local current events. Reading without a purpose means reading with no goal in mind, like going to a department
store and saying "I'm just looking."
One reading rate vs. varied reading rates. If you read your favorite magazine at the same speed you read a school textbook, then you are reading with one reading rate. As an efficient reader you vary your reading rate, or change reading speed, depending on factors such as how much you already know about the content or what you need to learn from the reading.
Inefficient Readers: Passive vs. Active
Inefficient readers are considered passive because they don't do anything while reading to in- crease speed or comprehension. You may possess some of the inefficient reader qualities because you just haven't been taught how to be efficient. The educators I have worked with are unaware of what they should be teaching to make students efficient readers. No one taught them how.
What, then, is the opposite of passive? Active! Efficient readers activate their conscious mind. They're mindful in their reading and they know how to pull a reading tool out of their hypothetical pocket when needed. It doesn't mean they quickly read through everything, but they find the material mentally engaging and know how to get the most out of it, quickly.
Efficient Readers: Effective vs. Efficient
Please do not confuse effective and efficient, however. Effective reading simply means you read with satisfactory comprehension. For example, a twenty-five page chapter of a textbook can take you three hours to read. If you understand it, then you're reading effectively. If you don't grasp the content, you're reading it ineffectively. Efficient reading means you understand it the first time, read with good comprehension, and in less time. That same twenty-five page chapter read efficiently can be read in half the time while still being effective.
10 Days to Faster Reading Page 2