Mind Tools - Speed Reading

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Speed Reading

What is speed reading?

Speed Reading is a method of improving a reader's reading ability, improving both the speed at which a text can be assimilated, and the level of understanding of the material.

Why speed read?

Applying speed reading techniques gives the following benefits:

Large volumes of information can be assimilated rapidly
By reading faster and absorbing more information into short term memory, the meaning and structure of a document is easier to see.
Your eyes have to do less work, meaning that reading for long periods can be less tiring.

Background

Think about the way in which you are reading this text. Most people think that they read the way young children read - either letter-by-letter, or at best word-by-word.

If you notice the way in which your eye muscles actually move when reading a printed text, you will probably find that you are fixing your eyes on one block of words, then moving your eyes to the next block of words, and so on: effectively you are reading not words, but blocks of words at a time. The period of time during which the eye rests on one word is called a 'fixation'.

You may also notice that you don't always proceed from one block of words to the next: sometimes you may move back to a preceding block of words if you are unsure about something. These disruptions to the forward flow of reading are called 'skip-backs'.

A skilled reader will read many words in each fixation (typically from five to an entire line), will only fixate for a very short period of time (maybe quarter of a second), and will move on with very few skip-backs. This minimises the amount of work that the reader's eyes have to do, increases the volume of information that can be examined in a period of time, and maximises understanding of the material.

A poor reader will become bogged down, spending a lot of time reading small fixations. He or she will skip back often, losing the flow and structure of the text and hence overall understanding of the subject. The increased amount of irregular eye movement will make the reading tiring. A poor reader may therefore find the text significantly less satisfying, and may find it harder to concentrate and understand the text than a good reader.

Improving Reading Skills

Speed reading aims to improve reading skills in three main ways:

reducing skip-back
reducing fixation time
expanding the fixation zone

These are explained below:

Reducing Skip-Back

It can be useful to scan rapidly the line being read with a pointer, whether this is a finger, or a pen or pencil. Your eyes will follow the tip of your pointer, smoothing the flow of your reading.

If this seems silly, the point can be illustrated by drawing a circle on a piece of paper in front of you. If you think about the way in which your eyes are moving when you look around the circumference of the circle, you will probably find that your eyes are moving in fixations: actually the track of the movement of your eyes is probably a series of lines, not a circle. If, however, you run a pointer around the outside of the circle you will find that your eyes are smoothly following the tip of the pointer.

To a large extent the speed at which you read using this method will depend on the speed at which you move the pointer.

Reducing Fixation Time

It is thought that the minimum length of time needed for a fixation is only quarter of a second. By pushing yourself to minimise the time you take, you will get better at picking up information from a very brief fixation. This is a matter of practice and confidence.

Expanding the Fixation Zone

As with reducing the fixation time, try to expand the number of words that you read at a time. This may be improved by holding the material you are reading a little further from your eyes, and will be expanded by practice. The more words you can read in a single fixation, the faster you will read!

Summary

Speed reading can make reading a much more enjoyable experience, by reducing eye strain, increasing understanding of the flow of a document, and by reducing the time needed to assimilate it. This will help a reader to hold attention on a long document, extracting information from it that would otherwise be neglected.

Advanced speed reading may be learned from specialist training courses.

For further information on speed reading:
Use Your Head, Tony Buzan, 1995, BBC Books, London, UK. ISBN 0-563-37103-X.

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