Factors that Reduce Speed Reading Rate

Some of the factors which reduce reading rate include:

(a) limited perceptual span i.e., word-by-word reading;

(b) slow perceptual reaction time, i.e., slowness of recognition and response to the material;

(c) vocalization, including the need to vocalize in order to achieve comprehension;

(d) faulty eye movements, including inaccuracy in placement of the page, in return sweep, in rhythm and regularity of movement, etc.;

(e) regression, both habitual and as associated with habits of concentration;

(f) faulty habits of attention and concentration, beginning with simple inattention during the reading act and faulty processes of retention;

(g) lack of practice in reading, due simply to the fact that the person has read very little and has limited reading interests so that very little reading is practiced in the daily or weekly schedule;

(h) fear of losing comprehension, causing the person to suppress his rate deliberately in the firm belief that comprehension is improved if he spends more time on the individual words;

(i) habitual slow reading, in which the person cannot read faster because he has always read slowly,

(j) poor evaluation of which aspects are important and which are unimportant; and

(k) the effort to remember everything rather than to remember selectively.

These conditions, as you may notice, may reduce not only the reading rate, but comprehension increase as well. Thus, eliminating them is likely to result in increased comprehension as well. This is an entirely different matter from simply speeding up the rate of reading alone.

In fact, simply speeding the rate especially through forced acceleration may actually worsen the real reading problem. In addition, forced acceleration may even destroy confidence in ability to read. The obvious solution then is to increase rate as a part of a total improvement of the whole reading process. This is a function of special training programs in reading.

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