Try Reading Words, Not Single Letters

A simple way of increasing your reading speed

Last week’s exercise prompted you to not only read a passage with completely mis-spelt words but also try your hand at reading a passage without any vowels. The passage was :

It is important to understand that no distinct “normal” and “speed-reading” types of reading exist in practice, since all readers use some of the techniques used in speed reading (such as identifying words without focusing on each letter, not sounding out all words, not articulating some phrases, or spending less time on some phrases than others, and skimming small sections).

Most readers found it very easy enough, except n_t__rt_c_l__ng which should have been n_t _rt_c_l_t_ng = not articulating. Sorry for the printer’s devil, but most got the message anyway. In any case, most of us have become comfortable with sms language, with scant regard for spellings.

The longest word without any vowel in English common usage is rhythms. However, the Oxford English Dictionary lists ‘twyndyllyngs’   - a 15th century Welsh spelling of  “twinling,” which means “twin” , in modern English.

These exercises demonstrate how our brain functions - usually, readers don’t read letter by letter but recognise whole words. So by reading all of the letters in a word, you slow down your reading speed. And as you have seen, the absence of vowels does not reduce the understanding of the text; a look at the word is enough to recognize it. If we were to look at s_t it could mean ‘sat’, ‘set’, ‘sit’ or ‘sot’ (yes indeed meaning drunkard). However your brain can decipher the word automatically in context to the sentence in which it is contained.

In short, you can improve your readig sped by not reading each letter, word, or sentence of a text.

High-frequency words are those words that occur often in print. Rather than having to sound them out individually, you will be able to read more fluently if these words are “automatized” (i.e., “automatically” recognize them when you see them). 

These are ‘sight words’ as listed in  the Dolch Word List, a list of 220 commonly used words that a reader automatically recognizes and can pronounce without decoding the word’s spelling. A common first sight word is a child’s name. Sight words just need to be memorized since they do not follow any rules or guidelines.
 
For a full list check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolch_Word_List. Examples of ‘sight words’ starting with ‘a’ are : a, and, away, all, am, are, at, ate, after, again, an, any, as, ask, always, around,  about

A study (Fry, Kress, and Fountoukidis, 2000) found that the 25 most common words make up about one-third of our written material. And the 100 most common words account for about 50 percent of the material we read. Imagine the positive difference it would make to your reading speed if you were to simply take them from granted.

Finally let me summarize some basic tips for improving your reading speed. There are several others, ofcourse.

• Ask yourself what you are looking for
• Practise the eye exercises given in an earlier edition of Open Mind.
• Get your eyes checked. Often, very slow reading is related to uncorrected eye defects.
• Force yourself to read faster to avoid moving your lips.
• Move your eyes faster over the text. Instead of taking in three words per ‘fixation’, take in six words.
• Spend a few minutes a day reading at a faster-than-comfortable rate (about two to three times faster than your normal speed).
• Don’t read every word. If you only need the main ideas, allow yourself to skim the material. This way you can get 80 per cent of the information in 20 per cent of the time.
• Improve your vocabulary. Familiarize yourself with new words so you don’t get stuck on them when you read them again.
• If you have poor concentration, practise reading for five to ten minutes at a time and gradually increase this window.
• Simply read more! 
  

The key to increasing reading rate is practice. Your reading speed will not increase overnight; the process will take some time. Don’t give up

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Thought for the Week

“I’m not a speed reader.
I’m a speed understander.”
Isaac Asimov
(Science fiction writer 1920-1992)
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First published in Gray Matter - The Hindustan Times