Speed Reading
Speed reading encompasses various techniques designed to help individuals read faster than the average pace of 200 to 400 words per minute. Some practitioners claim to achieve rates between 1,000 and 1,700 words per minute, although these assertions are met with skepticism. The practice gained renewed interest in the 2010s, largely due to the rise of smartphone applications that facilitate speed reading. Key methods include skimming, where readers glance through text to capture main ideas; meta guiding, which involves using a finger or pointer to direct eye movement; chunking, where groups of words are read as single units; and rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP), where individual words are displayed sequentially on a screen.
The origins of speed reading trace back to World War II when the U.S. Air Force sought ways to improve data processing speed for military purposes. Evelyn Nielsen Wood played a pivotal role in popularizing speed reading in the late 1950s, claiming significant improvements in reading speed and comprehension through her training methods. Despite its appeal, speed reading faces criticism for potentially undermining comprehension, especially with complex texts, as well as concerns about the cognitive overload associated with methods like RSVP. Overall, while speed reading offers various strategies for increasing reading pace, its effectiveness and impact on understanding remain contentious topics.
Speed Reading
Speed reading refers to several techniques used by people to read at a quicker pace than normal. Studies have shown that the average person can read at a rate of 200 to 400 words per minute. Some speed readers have claimed that their techniques allow them to read anywhere from 1,000 to 1,700 words per minute, though others question these results. The advent of smartphone technology and mobile application programs brought about a revival of speed reading in the 2010s. This revival has continued into the 2020s, with consumers being able to choose from a variety of speed-reading apps. The different methods of speed reading include skimming, meta guiding, chunking, and rapid serial visual presentation.
Brief History
The concept of speed reading first began to be explored during World War II, when the US Air Force was suffering from a crucial data acquisition problem. The soldiers operating their antiaircraft weapons were struggling to quickly distinguish between enemy and friendly aircraft. To solve the problem, Air Force psychologists used a training device called the tachistoscope, which flashes images on a screen for a controlled amount of time, to increase data acquisition and analysis speed. These experiments concluded that people could understand four words flashed on a screen for 1/500 of a second.
Teacher Evelyn Nielsen Wood popularized speed reading in 1958. Wood, who coined the term "speed reading," noticed that by sweeping a finger across the page as she read, she could read at a much faster pace. She then studied the habits of fast readers and discovered that they avoided subvocalization, or mental sounding out of words, and read entire groups of words at a time. She claimed that following these techniques allowed her to read 2,700 words per minute.
Wood incorporated these techniques into her Reading Dynamics Institute and educational program. She claimed that her program could train the eye to recognize groups of words and phrases on sight to increase both reading speed and comprehension. Her program become so popular that she taught it to US president John F. Kennedy, who was a strong supporter of speed reading.
Once Wood’s program became popular, speed reading courses were introduced in community colleges and mail-order services around the country. With the advent of personal computers, software was developed to teach speed reading. The popularity of speed reading waned in the 1990s and 2000s until the rise of mobile smartphone applications introduced it back into the mainstream with new programs to encourage speed reading of online articles and ebooks.
Skimming
The most basic form of speed reading is skimming, which some readers do naturally. Skimming involves glancing through a text and finding important parts to read in order to find meaning. Some argue that this is not really a form of reading but simply a way to learn which words and parts of a text can be skipped over without losing comprehension. Sections of text that skimmers typically skip over are details not necessary for understanding main ideas or themes. Studies have shown that people read faster when they skim but do not comprehend as well as they would if they had read carefully. With the advent of the internet and smartphones, more people skim than ever before.
Meta Guiding
Meta guiding is one of the first techniques that Wood developed back in the late 1950s. With this method, readers use their finger or another pointer, such as a pen, to guide their eyes along the pages and to specific words. Another word for the instrument or finger used to guide the reader’s eyes is a "pacer." The pacer, in essence, decreases readers’ distraction and allows them to focus on the text and certain words to increase their reading speed. Some speed readers use meta guiding to invisibly underline words as they go, while others draw invisible patterns that act as motion guides. When using a computer, speed readers who practice meta guiding will oftentimes use their mouse cursor as a pacer.
Chunking
Chunking is the reading of groups of words as one whole piece. In theory, practicing chunking means that words are not separate from one another but are one group of information. The concept of chunking comes from the fact that humans have 180 degrees of vision ability but only use about 12 degrees to read. Chunk readers soften their focus and utilize their peripheral vision to read groups of words at once, typically in the middle of a page.
Rapid Serial Visual Presentation
Rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) was developed in the late 1970s to research how people comprehend and memorize information. With the advent of smartphones and mobile tablets in the 2000s, people began reading more on these devices. RSVP has been applied to this through speed reading application programs that highlight one word at a time rather than presenting the whole text. These single words flash on screen and the words speed up as readers get used to the program.
Criticism
The largest criticism of speed reading is that it significantly decreases a reader’s comprehension, which ultimately defeats the purpose of reading. Research has shown that when a text is difficult, techniques like eliminating subvocalization substantially reduces comprehension. Other experts claim that techniques that utilize eye fixation to absorb text simply cannot work because the physiology of the retina does not allow readers to take in more than a single line of text at one time. Criticism of the RSVP method states that since the words come quickly one at a time, the working memory becomes overloaded and readers are unable to remember what they read.
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