This is Salad Burnett - I wonder why?
Reading Better and Faster
Dennis Doyle
An excellent article. M’reen
Your reading rate is often just a matter of habit.
But to begin, you may need to try to change some habits and try these tips:
1. Pay attention
when you read and read as
if it really matters.
Most people read in the
same way that they watch television,
i.e. in an inattentive,
passive way. Reading takes effort and you must make the effort.
A wise teacher once told me
that you can learn anything if you do three things:
PAY ATTENTION
PAY ATTENTION and
PAY ATTENTION.
There are some simple
methods that you can use to pay better attention
and get more out of your
textbook reading time. Different authors call it different things,
but many researchers say
that you will improve your comprehension
if you somehow
"preview" the passage before you actually sit down and read every
word.
To do a preview you:
take 30 to 60 seconds.
look over the title of the
chapter.
look at all the headings,
subheadings and marked, italic or dark print.
look at any pictures or
illustrations, charts or graphs.
quickly skim over the
passage, reading the first and last paragraph
and glancing at the first
sentence of every other paragraph.
close the book and ask
yourself:
---What is the main idea?
---What kind of writing is
it?
---What is the author's
purpose?
You might not think that you could possibly answer these questions with so little exposure to the material, but if you do the preview correctly,
you should have some very good general ideas. If you have a general idea of what the passage is about before you really read it, you will be able to understand and remember the passage better.
When you finally get to the
point where you are actually slowly reading the passage,
read in a
"questioning" manner -as if you were searching for something.
It sometimes helps if you
take the heading or title of a chapter and turn it into a question.
For example, if the heading
of a section in the text is "The Causes of the Civil War",
take that title and switch
it into a question like: "What are the causes of the Civil War?".
Now you have a goal;
something to look for; something to find out.
When you are goal-oriented,
you are more likely to reach the goal.
At least you'll remember
one thing about the text which you have just read.
2. Stop talking to
yourself when you read.
People talk to themselves
in 2 ways, by:
vocalizing, which is the
actual moving of your lips as you read,
and subvocalizing, which is
talking to yourself in your head as you silently read.
Both of these will slow you
down to the point in which you find that you can't read any faster
than you can speak. Speech
is a relatively slow activity; for most, the average speed is about 250 WPM
(words per minute).
Reading should be an
activity which involves only the eyes and the brain.
Vocalization ties reading
to actual speaking. Try to think of reading as if you were looking
at a landscape, a panorama
of ideas, rather than looking at the rocks at your feet.
3. Read in thought
groups.
Studies have shown that
when we read, our eyes must make small stops along the line.
Poor readers make many,
many more fixations (eyestops) than good readers.
Not only does this slow you
down, but it inhibits comprehension
because meaning is easier
to pull from groups of words rather than from individual words
or even single letters. Try
to read in phrases of three or four words,
especially in complete
clauses and prepositional phrases.
Your mind may internalize
them as if the whole phrase is like one big meaning-rich word.
4. Don't keep
re-reading the same phrases.
Poor readers habitually
read and re-read the same phrase over and over again.
This habit of making
"regressions" doubles or triples reading time
and often does not result
in better comprehension.
A single careful, attentive
reading may not be enough for full comprehension,
but is often more effective
than constant regressions in the middle of a reading.
It is best to work on
paying closer attention the first time through.
Do a preview first before
the careful reading and try the tips I mentioned above.
You'll remember better
without the rereading.
5. Vary your
reading rate
to suit the difficulty and
type of writing of the text.
Poor readers always read at
the same slow rate.
An efficient reader speeds
up for easier material and slows down for the hard.
Some things were not meant
to be read quickly at all. Legal material and very difficult text
should be read slowly.
Easier material and magazines and newspapers can be read quickly.
Poetry and plays were meant
to be performed, and if not acted out,
then at least, spoken out
loud orally.
This obviously will
conflict with good speed reading method which forbids vocalization.
Religious writings and
scripture were originally written to be recited and listened to
by an audience which was
likely to be intelligent, but illiterate.
The "fun" of
poetry, plays, or prayer is not really experienced if you "speed
read" the text.
http://english.glendale.cc.ca.us/speed1.html
You can TCR specialist and language dictionaries
that are spontaneously
accessed.
I can Turbo Charge Read a novel 6-7 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
I can TCR an instructional/academic book around 20 times faster and remember what I’ve read.
A practical overview of Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
How
to choose a book. A Turbo Charged Reading YouTube
Advanced Reading Skills Perhaps you’d like to join my FaceBook group ?
Perhaps
you’d like to check out my sister blogs:
www.innermindworking.blogspot.com gives many ways
for you to work with the stresses of life
www.ourinnerminds.blogspot.com which takes
advantage of the experience and expertise of others.
www.happyartaccidents.blogspot.com
just for fun.
To
quote the Dr Seuss himself, “The more that you read, the more things you will
know.
The
more that you learn; the more places you'll go.”
No comments:
Post a Comment
Your opinions, experience and questions are welcome. M'reen