Finding out your Reading Speed
Researching and Writing Assignments
The Learning Game
Reading Skills
As a distance learner reading is an essential skill and you probably spend more than 80% of your study time doing it. Even though you might say "I can read," there is always room to improve your reading skills.
How We Read
Believe it or not the brain actually becomes bored if you read too slowly. This is because you are not giving your brain enough stimulation to keep awake.
The way most people read is a habit, which they have developed over time and do not think they can improve. But reading, like any skill, can be improved. The eye does not move smoothly over the words, instead, the eye moves in jerks and fixates on a word or a group of words. An experienced reader will have two to three fixations per line of words. Very good readers can see two lines simultaneously and make sense of what they see.
Reading With A Purpose
A very important point about reading is that everyone has different reading strategies, depending on the purpose for which you are reading. When you read a magazine, for example, you would rarely read it cover to cover. Most people flick through magazines and select articles they are interested in reading. And they do the same thing with newspapers.
The mistake many students make is to think that they have to read every word of their study material from cover to cover. You should realize that you will not have the time to do this. To be an efficient reader you should be able to adjust your reading style to suit a different purpose.
The page was designed and edited in May 1998 by Karl Mair.