Choosing A Speed Reading Technique

Summary: Before starting to learn a speed reading technique you should establish your current reading speed. Knowing your starting point will allow you to measure your improvement,this will help to keep you motivated. It is also helpful to set a target which you would like to meet, make sure that this is a sensible target, if you feel daunted by the large leap from your current reading speed to the desired reading speed you can always set smaller weekly targets. The first speed rea...

Before starting to learn a speed reading technique you should establish your current reading speed. Knowing your starting point will allow you to measure your improvement,this will help to keep you motivated. It is also helpful to set a target which you would like to meet, make sure that this is a sensible target, if you feel daunted by the large leap from your current reading speed to the desired reading speed you can always set smaller weekly targets. The first speed reading technique we will discuss is the line technique. Most people were taught to read by growing letters into syllables, syllables into words and words into sentences. When we read as adults we are continuing the same learnt pattern, starting with the left most word of a line and working across the page or column until we reach the right hand side. This speed reading technique replaces this habit with the concept of reading a phrase, sentence or line at one glance. The idea is to look at the middle of the line and the grasp the whole line at one time, then move onto the next line. By using this speed reading technique you are effectively reading down the page rather than across the page as traditionally taught. Some people believe that the line speed reading technique can improve your reading speed by as much as fifty percent. The second speed reading technique which we would like to introduce is called the card technique. Since we read one word at a time, there is a tendency for our eyes to be drawn back across text which we have already covered. Research shows us that this very high in primary school children who are just learning to read significantly less in students in tertiary education, implying that the more we read the less we do this. However, even university students have been recorded to regress read by as much as fifteen or twenty times per hundred words. This means that when we complete a passage, there may have been twenty percent of the text read twice. The card speed reading technique aims to reduce this wasted word absorption. This speed reading technique is simple; take a piece of card and place it above the first line you are going to read. As you read each line move the card down so that there is effectively not text to regress read to. As you are hopefully trying to apply the line speed reading technique as well you should draw a line vertically down the middle of the card, this will act as a guide to your eyes to help you apply the line speed reading technique simultaneously with the card speed reading technique. As will all new skills it is important to practice as much as possible. When learning or practicing a new speed reading technique you must ensure that your are working in a calm and uninterrupted environment, this will help you to achieve the best results. Good luck in you new speed reading technique.