How do you know if you comprehend something you read? Why is it that 2 people can read a document and walk away with differences in understandings? Has one person understood the document more correctly than the other?
Reading comprehension is actually a form of art. This is in part because the kinesthetic link between sight, sound and speech is mirrored by an inner speech, inner sight and inner sound. Our thoughts are a combination of inner sight and inner speech. When we see a word on a page, it triggers the mind to respond from previous experiences and learnings. With this inner kinesthesia, enhanced by our individual creativeness, we name things as we see them and form images of things about which we hear (from our inner sayings of the words). An able contemporary reader reading silently will hear an inner voice, which may call up inner sight. When the term “image” is used, it seldom refers to anything that can be seen on the page, but rather the inner vision of the reader. It is the mind that responds. One can not comprehend if one’s mind does not respond. Thus reading comprehension in essence is thinking. You can read as fast as you can think. The graphic symbols stimulate your brain’s reaction. Comprehension is in you.
However, for many people, reading is sometimes a dreary task. Its main objective (even in fiction) has become the acquisition of data. Standardized orthography and usage have taken the fluidity and magic out of the language and encouraged silent reading. Reading is now something most people want to get out of the way as quickly as possible, and speed reading is perceived as the ideal way to read.
Since speed reading alters the order of words, makes some words disappear or pass in a blur, negates the timing of poetry, suppresses the sensations of inner and outer ear as well as the throat, tongue and mouth, it deadens the physical bases of language and is completely incompatible with poetry. This advanced reading approach is what true reading is all about. Seeing the printed word, and then understanding the meaning. Traditional reading methods go through the process of seeing the word, saying the word in the mind, hearing the word in the mind, then understanding the word.
Even people who don’t know how to read faster approach reading as if they did, wanting to get it over with as soon as possible and trying to avoid its physical qualities as much as they can.
Since the late 20th century, large numbers of people in the United States, United Kingdom, Australia and others countries have been trained to read at twice and even three times their original speed without losing any of the comprehension of the material which they are reading, and in many cases with a improvement in comprehension.
Evidence accumulated from reading efficiency courses in the last century indicated that individuals reading for a general understanding of everyday reading material could attain speeds of 300 to 800 words per minute after brief training in speed reading techniques, with a pronounced increase in comprehension.
As noted by one author: “Faster reading leads to more reading, which leads to more varied reading, which leads to better reading, which leads to a better understanding of one’s work, one’s leisure interests and oneself.”
What is certain is that most readers are capable of reading material of easy and average difficulty (for them) far faster than they do.
It is also certain that the mind is capable of receiving and assimilating ideas more quickly than they are presented to the reading eye. In addition, it is certain that fast readers are efficient readers. Also, the faster you read, the more time you will have for reading.
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