Speed Reading: Learning to Read Faster

By Joan Whetzel

In today’s high-tech, fast paced environment, it seems impossible to wade through the volumes of information we need to digest every day. Whether it’s a report we need to read for work, or dozens of e-mails, or reading textbooks for a college course, a few speed reading techniques may prove helpful in getting though all that material and still comprehending the information.

What Is Speed Reading?

Speed reading involves several methods for getting faster and more efficient at reading, while still comprehending the material. It is a way to increase our reading speeds without reducing the understanding or retention of what we read.

Speed Reading and Comprehension

Speed reading only works if the reader has a good vocabulary and is a good reader to begin with. Anyone who can read a text book or a piece of technical information, for example, and can understand and remember what was read, can benefit from learning speed reading techniques. It won’t work well with beginning readers because they still need to learn the basics of reading and writing and English grammar.

The basics of learning speed reading techniques involves a bit of preparation ahead of time. First review the information by doing a quick scan-through to get the general idea of what you will be reading. Also, know the reason for doing the reading ahead of time. If you’re reading a report in preparation for a meeting at which someone else is doing the presenting, a simple scan of the report may be all that’s necessary. If it’s highly technical, and the information is necessary to perform a job or to answer an exam essay in detail, a simple scan of the material may not be enough to comprehend the material completely. Before beginning any reading, be sure you are in a comfortable reading position, have plenty of light, and have eliminated as many distractions as possible.

Speed Reading Techniques

There are several techniques that can help.

1)      Focus on Blocks of Words: Don’t read word-by-word, which only slows reading speed. Look at the sentence as a total block. Grasp what the words as a group imply, suggest – their meaning. As you get better with this through practice, try including more words in the text block.

2)      Avoid Sub-Vocalization: Stop the habit of pronouncing each word in your head, or mouthing words while reading them by making a conscious effort at not repeating them in your head or with your mouth while reading the words.