Efficient

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Efficient Flexible Reading5th edition by
Kathleen McWhorter

• Chapter 14 Techniques for Reading
  Faster
  
• PowerPoint presentation by Gretchen
  Starks-Martin, 1999, St. Cloud State University,
  Minnesota

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In this chapter you will learn

• About the physical eye-movement process.
• Five techniques for increasing and varying your
  reading rate.

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Eye Movement Patterns

• Left-right progression
• Fixations
• Eye span
• Return sweeps
• Regression

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Three Experiments for Observing Eye-Movement
Patterns

• Observing Eye Movement
• Counting Fixations
• Observing Regression

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Techniques for Reducing Regression

• Reread the whole sentence.
• Use an index card and move it down the page.
• Move at a slightly uncomfortable pace to
  challenge yourself.

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Techniques for Reducing Regression

• Use your hand or index finger and move down the
  page.
  
• You can also use a pen, pencil, or marker.
• Again, challenge yourself.

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Vocalization Excessive Subvocalization

• Can limit the reader to word-by-word reading.
• Read the following from right to left to feel how
  word-by-word reading feels.

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V O D K A
spirits neutral of combination a is Vodka
bring to added is water The . water and
neutral Since . proof final its to vodka
,neutral equally much pretty are spirits
but subtle for makes that water the is it
.differences appreciable
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Techniques for Reducing Subvocalization

• Practice pushing yourself to read rapidly.
• This will make it difficult to subvocalize.

• Place your hand or fingers near your lips as you
  read.
  
• You will feel your lips moving and can work to
  eliminate the habit.

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5 Reading Techniques

• Cluster reading
• Key word reading
• Using cue words
• Pacing
• Rereading

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Cluster Reading

• Widen your eye span to read words in meaningful
  groupings.
  
• Start with magazine and newspaper articles of
  interest.
  
• Look at the pattern of the page (columns,
  boldface, etc.)

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Key Word Reading

• Reading only important words that carry the
  meaning of the sentence.
  
• Can cause a decrease in comprehension of facts.
• Similar to reading a telegram, newspaper
  headline, or news caption on TV.
  
• Clues are punctuation, boldface, nouns verbs.
• Expect 50-70 comprehension.
• Expect 600-700 wpm.
• Used for reading movie reviews, newspaper
  articles, letters, e-mail, etc.

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Cue Words in Reading

• Use transitional words to know how to adjust your
  rate
  
• speed up
• slow down
• maintain your pace.

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Speed-Up Cues

• Repetitious information
• Examples

• again
• in other words
• that is
• to illustrate
• for example
• suppose
• for instance
• such as

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Slow-Down Cues

• Change in thought
• Summary
• Conclusion
• Emphasis

• however
• instead of
• in brief
• for these reasons
• therefore
• thus
• most important
• it is essential

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Maintain-Speed Cues

• Continuation
• Enumeration (listing)

• likewise
• similarly
• also
• furthermore
• added to
• in addition
• first, second, third
• then
• one, two, three
• numbers

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Pacing Methods

• Use an index card and move it down the page.
• Move at a slightly uncomfortable pace to
  challenge yourself.

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Pacing Methods

• Use your hand or index finger and move down the
  page.
  
• You can also use a pen, pencil, or marker.
• Again, challenge yourself.

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Pacing Methods

• Use a timer or alarm clock to set goals for
  reading certain passages.
  
• Push yourself to read the material faster.

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Rereading for Rate Increase

• Read a textbook section as you normally would.
• Time yourself and compute for wpm.
• Take a 5-minute break, then reread and push
  yourself to read faster.
  
• Time yourself and compute for wpm.
• Read another section, again pushing yourself.

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Summary Questions

• What are 5 aspects of eye movement that can
  directly affect your reading rate?
  
• What 2 reading habits, when taken to excess, can
  decrease your reading efficiency?
  
• What 5 techniques can you use to read faster?

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Academic Application

• Choose a section of a chapter from one of your
  textbooks and circle the reading rate cues
  contained in it. Determine if each cue is a
  speed-up, slow-down, or maintain speed cue.

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Longman English Skills Web Site Practice

• http//longman.awl.com/englishpages
• See your instructor for username and password.