In order for your reading speed to surpass the speed of speech, you will need to be able to transform the visual representation of text into meaning without hearing the sound of each word in your head. The habit of sounding words out in your head as you read is called subvocalization, and is probably the deepest engrained reading habit instilled in people. The habit started at the very beginning of our reading careers, when our first reading teachers had us pronounce written words so we could associate the audio representation with the visual and thus add the words to our speaking vocabulary. These teachers were (and probably still are) oblivious to the fact that they were instilling a very low reading speed limit in each of us by emphasizing the importance of learning the audio equivalents of written words and thus encouraging subvocalization.
When you subvocalize, your reading speed is limited to the rate at which you can hear the sound each word makes. After subvocalizing for years and years, your comprehension becomes dependent on hearing the audible versions of words. The reason long-time subvocalizer's usually backtrack is because they failed to sound out the previous passage in their heads and consequently failed to grasp the meaning of the passage.
Here are a couple strategies to overcome subvocalization:
- Overload your audio facilities -- Try humming a tune or counting, "1, 2, 3, 1, 2, 3..." while reading. This will overload your audio facilities, preventing you from sounding out words in your head.
- Let go and speed up -- Temporarily let go of the need to comprehend every passage 100%, and instead focus on increasing the rate at which your eyes move across the page. Practice your pacer techniques at 150% of your normal speed. At first you will be catching only bits and pieces, but after a couple minutes your mind will begin to adapt to this faster pace, picking up more and more of the meaning residing in the text. Speed is the key to breaking the subvocalization habit. You can visually take in thousands of wpm, but only speak rates in the low hundreds (auctioneers speak around 250 wpm according to wikipedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Words_per_minute).
2 comments:
I find this blog very fascinating. I've been a slow reader my whole life, which has always been a downer because I love to read but I'm really limited on what I can read because of the time it takes. Reading through your tips, I can identify all of them as obstacles that I've had but never been conscious of (regression, sub-vocalization, etc.). I am excited to try out some of your suggestions and see what happens. Thanks!
My dad is all about speed reading and we have always argued because we feel so different about the subject. I've always felt that reading slowly is a good thing because you are able to pick out every detail and really appreciate the authors style and choice of words rather than just looking for main ideas in the text as you speed read. Not only that but I feel like reading slower and looking at every word makes the reading more enjoyable for some reason. HOWEVER, Being able to read quickly through things would be nice. Sometimes there isn't time to relax and thoroughly go through a reading, so speed reading could come in handy. Your blog seems interesting and it feels like you know what you're talking about. I'll have to try some of the pointers out.
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