Speed reading

Speed reading is a technique used to improve one's ability to read quickly. Speed reading methods
include chunking and eliminating subvocalization. The many available speed reading training programs
include books, videos, software, and seminars.

History
Psychologists and educational specialists working on visual acuity used a tachistoscope to
conclude [1] that, with training, an average person could identify minute images flashed on the screen for
only one five-hundredth of a second (2 ms). Though the images used were of airplanes, the results had
[citation needed]
implications for reading.
It was not until the late 1950s that a portable, reliable and convenient device would be developed as a
tool for increasing reading speed. The researcher was a school-teacher named Evelyn Wood. She was
committed to understanding why some people were naturally faster at reading than others and was trying
to force herself to read very quickly. It is told that in 1958, while brushing off the pages of a book she had
thrown down in despair, she discovered that the sweeping motion of her hand across the page caught the
attention of her eyes, and helped them move more smoothly across the page. She then used the hand as
a pacer. Wood first taught the method at the University of Utah, before launching it to the public as Evelyn
[2]
Wood's Reading Dynamics in Washington, D.C. in 1959.

Methods
Skimming
Skimming is a process of speed reading that involves visually searching the sentences of a page for
clues to meaning. For some people, this comes naturally, and usually may be acquired by practice.
Skimming is usually seen more in adults than in children. It is conducted at a higher rate (700 words per
minute and above) than normal reading for comprehension (around 200-230 wpm), and results in lower
comprehension rates, especially with information-rich reading material.
Another form of skimming is commonly employed by readers on the Internet. This involves skipping over
text that is less interesting or less relevant. This form of reading is not new but has become increasingly
prevalent due to the ease with which alternative information can be accessed online. Some of the
sentences have minor information that might not be required.

Meta guiding
Meta guiding is the visual guiding of the eye using a finger or pointer, such as a pen, in order for the eye
to move faster along the length of a passage of text. It involves drawing invisible shapes on a page of text
in order to broaden the visual span for speed reading. For example, an audience of customers at a speed
reading seminar will be instructed to use a finger or pen to make these shapes on a page and told that
this will speed up their visual cortex, increase their visual span to take in the whole line, and even imprint
the information into their subconscious for later retrieval. It has also been claimed to
reduce subvocalization, thereby speeding up reading. This encourages the eye to skim over the text but
reduces comprehension and memory, and leads to missing important details of the text. An emphasis on
viewing each word, albeit briefly, is required for this method to be effective.

Commercial speed reading programs

Speed reading programs are available through courses, both in person or software based, and manuals.
[3]
While the average adult reading rate is 250 words per minute with 70% comprehension, speed reading
programs typically claim that improvements to 500 words per minute or more while maintaining or
improving comprehension are possible.
One point of difference between the various speed reading courses is the assertions
concerning subvocalization. Some courses claim that the main obstacle to speed reading is any form of
subvocalization. Although absence of subvocalization might not improve reading speed, its presence
might obstruct high speed. These statements are equally valid, since there is no evidence that less
subvocalization can improve reading or even can willingly be changed at all.[4] Other courses claim that
subvocalization can be used on keywords in order to speed up learning and reading.
Speed reading courses and books take a variety of approaches to the concept of reading comprehension.
Some courses and books claim that good comprehension is essential to speed reading, and that
comprehension will improve with speed reading. Special non-standardized reading comprehension
questionnaires are provided in order to convince the reader of the effects of the program. Some courses
advise that while comprehension is important, it should not be measured or promoted. Speed reading
[5]
courses variously claim that not all information in text needs to be covered while speed reading. Some
claim that speed reading involves skipping text (exactly as has been measured during studies on
skimming), whereas other speed reading promoters[who?] claim that all of the text is processed, but with
some or most becoming subconsciously processed. Similarly, some courses claim that text should be
serially processed whereas others say that information should be processed in a more haphazard or ad
hoc fashion.

Speed reading programs and Standardized Tests

Speed reading can be effective in terms of time management on high-stakes test taking (SAT, GMAT,
LSAT, GRE, SSAT etc.) whereby some companies such as Test Prep New York integrate it into their test
preparation curriculum, and claim their students increase their speed up to 400% speed improvement and
[citation needed]
have average of 13% score improvement on the Verbal section.

Reading Dynamics
Reading Dynamics is the speed reading system taught by Evelyn Wood. It was endorsed by
President John F. Kennedy[citation needed]and other famous figures[who?] as a means of remembering the
information from thousands of words read per minute.
The system centers on moving one's hand across the page in order to maintain eye focus on the words.
Like most speed reading systems, it also suggests trying to suppress the instinct ofsubvocalization or
"thinking aloud", instead focusing on the meaning of the words without being limited by the time it would
take to mentally pronounce the syllables.

PhotoReading
PhotoReading is a commercial product promoted by Learning Strategies Corporation with the
phrase PhotoRead at 25,000 words a minute. Doubts have been raised by new students about the ability
of the brain to take in such a quantity of data at once. The human vision span is somewhat limited for this
purpose if peripheral vision is not used.

The PhotoReading system was said to be developed by Paul Scheele, co-founder of Learning Strategies.
A company called Subliminal Dynamics claimed that Scheele took a related seminar on subliminal
[6]
processing with them, which Scheele referenced on page 4 of the first chapter in the first edition of his
book.[7] According to Scheele, PhotoReading differs from their system in at least three ways (quoted here
verbatim):[8]
1. "The key is not subliminal perception. The key is the brain's capacity for preconscious processing.
I've spent my years developing a protocol to capture this capacity and put it reliably in the hands
of our clients. (Reference the work of N.F. Dixon from England, and P. Lewicki at Tulsa
University, Oklahoma)."
2. "Neuro-Linguistic Programming is the basis for our techniques of putting folks in contact with the
resources of the non-conscious data storage systems of the brain for activation and recall."
3. "Accelerative, brain-based teaching and learning are essential in the design and delivery of our
programs, including the design of the book."
A study by NASA titled "Preliminary Analysis of PhotoReading"[9] states:
These results clearly indicate that there is no benefit to using the PhotoReading technique. The
extremely rapid reading rates claimed by PhotoReaders were not observed; indeed the reading
rates were generally comparable to those for normal reading. Moreover, the PhotoReading expert
showed an increase in reading time with the PhotoReading technique in comparison to normal
reading. This increase in reading time was accompanied by a decrease in text comprehension.
These results were found for two standardized tests of text comprehension and for three matched
sets of expository texts.

Software
Computer programs are available to help instruct speed reading students. Some programs present the
data as a serial stream, since the brain handles text more efficiently by breaking it into such a stream
[citation needed]
before parsing and interpreting it.
The 2000 National Reading Panel (NRP) report (p. 3-1)
seems to support such a mechanism.
To increase speed, some older programs required readers to view the center of the screen while the lines
of text around it grew longer. They also presented several objects (instead of text) moving line by line or
bouncing around the screen; users had to follow the object(s) with only their eyes. A number of
researchers criticize using objects instead of words as an effective training method, claiming that the only
way to read faster is to read actual text. Many of the newer speed reading programs use built-in text, and
they primarily guide users through the lines of an on-screen book at defined speeds. Often the text is
highlighted to indicate where users should focus their eyes; they are not expected to read by pronouncing
the words, but instead to read by viewing the words as complete images. The exercises are also intended
to train readers to eliminate subvocalization, even though it has not been proven that this will increase
reading speed.

Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP)

A presentation method called Rapid Serial Visual Presentation (RSVP) was developed to diminish the
resource cost of readers' eye movements. RSVP is a method of displaying information (generally text or
images) in which the text is displayed word-by-word in a fixed focal position. This may be used to
increase reading rate or provide access to long text on small displays.

Effect on comprehension
Skimming on its own should not be used when complete comprehension of the text is the objective.
Skimming is mainly used when researching and getting an overall idea of the text. Nonetheless, when
time is limited, skimming or skipping over text can aid comprehension. Duggan & Payne (2009) compared
skimming with reading normally, given only enough time to read normally through half of a text. They
found that the main points of the full text were better understood after skimming (which could view the full
text) than after normal reading (which only viewed half the text). There was no difference between the
[10]
groups in their understanding of less important information from the text.
In contrast, other findings suggest that speed reading courses which teach techniques that largely
constitute skimming of written text result in a lower comprehension rate (below 50% comprehension on
[11]
standardized comprehension tests) (Carver 1992).

Claims of speed readers

The World Championship Speed Reading Competition stresses reading comprehension as critical. The
top contestants typically read around 1,000 to 2,000 words per minute with approximately 50%
comprehension or above. The world champion is Anne Jones with 4,700 words per minute with 67%
comprehension. The 10,000 word/min claimants have yet to reach this level.[citation needed]
Much controversy is raised over this point. This is mainly because a reading comprehension level of 50%
is deemed unusable by some educationalists (Carver 1992). Speed reading advocates claim that it is a
great success and even state that it is a demonstration of good comprehension for many purposes
(Buzan 2000). The trade-off between "speed" and comprehension must be analyzed with respect to the
type of reading that is being done, the risks associated with mis-understanding due to low
comprehension, and the benefits associated with getting through the material quickly and gaining
information at the actual rate it is obtained.
[12]

U.S. President John F. Kennedy was a proponent of speed reading

lessons.

and encouraged his staff to take

Jimmy Carter, also a U.S. president, and his wife Rosalynn, were both avid readers and enrolled in a
speed-reading course at the White House,[13] along with several staff members.
A critical discussion about speed reading stories appeared in Slate. Among others, the article raises
doubts about the origin of John F. Kennedy's allegedly amazing reading speed. Ronald Carver, a
professor of education research and psychology, claims that the fastest college graduate readers can

only read at most twice as fast as their slowest counterparts, namely about 600 words per
minute.[14] Other critics have suggested that speed reading is actually skimming, not reading.[15]