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Improve Your Reading Speed

Guest post by: Clare Evans

Article Overview: I bet you haven’t thought much about how you read since you learnt all those years ago at school. We’re taught to read using the phonetic or phonic method. I probably get through a couple of books a month just for my leisure reading, which might not seem like a lot if you’re already a fast reader.

Improve Your Reading Speed

I bet you haven’t thought much about how you read since you learnt all those years ago at school. We’re taught to read using the phonetic or phonic method. I probably get through a couple of books a month just for my leisure reading, which might not seem like a lot if you’re already a fast reader. More and more information comes at us from a variety of sources. Email being one that is increasing all the time and then of course there are all the magazines and publications that we subscribe to on a regular basis in either electronic or hardcopy format. Reading is an essential part of business and our personal development.

If you spend a lot of your time reading - emails, research, internet, business books, magazines, newspapers, novels etc., then you can certainly improve your reading efficiency by learning a few tips and techniques to speed things up. The average reading speed is around 200 words per minute (wpm) but speeds of nearer 1000 wpm are possible with a little practice.

This may sound obvious but what is it you’re reading and why? What is your level of interest and motivation in what you’re reading? This will affect your level of concentration and the outcome.

Create the right time and place for reading. If you need to concentrate on what you’re reading or you’re studying, then set aside time to do this when you’re rested, comfortable and in the right frame of mind. Is there a particular time of day that you prefer to read - early morning, mid afternoon or late at night? Read in a good light - preferably daylight but otherwise read in a good light coming from behind to avoid shadows and not too bright to cause glare.

Sit in a comfortable upright position, not slouched in a comfy chair - at least not if you want to concentrate on what you’re reading. Otherwise you’re likely to find yourself dozing off. Hold the book at a comfortable, natural distance from your eyes - about 40-50 cm (15-20 inches).

Have anything you need while reading easily to hand - pen, notebook etc. and have a clear reading space, so that you won’t get distracted or lose focus. Reduce the likelihood of interruptions by switching off the phone or closing the door. If you’re studying - take a few deep breaths before you start so that you’re in a relaxed frame of mind.

During traditional reading, the eyes take in perhaps one or two words at a time, skipping backwards and forwards, pausing at regular intervals along a line of text. Taking in more words at a time and moving the eyes smoothly along a line of text will immediately increase reading speed. Practise this by reading forward only, until it becomes more natural.

Avoid back skipping - you know, when you re-read the last few words or skip back to re-read a paragraph because you think you’ve missed something.

This definitely slows down reading speed and is just something we do from habit. Break this habit and you’ll again increase the speed at which you can read.

Another way we slow ourselves down is by reading every word on the page, in the belief that it will aid comprehension. In fact our brains are pretty fast at processing information and focusing on just one word at a time slows it down. Reading is more than what we see with our eyes.

Your brain is what actually does the reading. When you focus on something in front of you, your central, clear vision is only 20% of what you see. The other 80% is your peripheral vision. Using your peripheral vision when reading enables you to take in larger chunks of information.

When we’re learning to read, we use a finger to guide our eyes along the words and down the page. This is a habit that we grow out of as our reading ability improves.

Using a guide can help to increase your reading speed by guiding your eye smoothly and evenly along the lines and maintaining a continuous speed without skipping backwards.

Use a slim pencil, pen or even something like a chopstick as a guide. Move the guide smoothly along the line you’re reading. You don’t need to move it along the whole of the line just keep it to the middle of the page. Your peripheral vision will take in the words on either side.

Skimming and scanning - again based on the principle that you don’t need to read every word in order to understand a piece of text. If you set a purpose for the email, document, book, report that you are reading, you can use this technique to quickly find the information needed.

Perhaps you only need to skim read an email to see if any action is required from you. You can scan a document to find the specific piece of information you’re looking for in the same way you’re able to quickly scan a list of names and numbers or flick through a telephone directory to find the one you’re looking for.

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Article Tags: clare evans, effective reading, planning ahead, speed reading



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