Speed Reading Articles
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Course
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Vocalization – the biggest
hurdle in speed reading
~ by
Melvin Ng
Very often, when perusing materials
relating to improving your speed reading skills, you’ll
see comments to the effect that vocalization is the biggest
hurdle in speed reading. Moreover, if you do happen to be one
of those people who vocalize when you read, you’ll need
to overcome this practice if you want to significantly
increase your reading speed.
All of this is a roundabout way of saying
that those of us who vocalize our words when we
speed read have not perfected our speed reading skills.
Having said that, what is vocalization – and why is it seen as
being one of the biggest hurdles in speed reading?
Vocalization explained
“Vocalization”, or
sub-vocalization as it is sometimes also known, is the
practice of pronouncing/speaking words out aloud, albeit under
your breath or even in your head, as you read materials. The
argument goes that this is a common flaw in most people’s
reading skills as it is a habit adopted from our formative
years, when we were encouraged, by our teachers, peers and
parents, to speak-out the words we were reading. The
net result of all this is that we place a limit on our ability
to speed read if we vocalize the words as we read. This
is because part of our brain needed to vocalize the
words being read has to be activated.
Vocalization – the cons
The overwhelming reason why
vocalization is seen as negative is the fact that it
inhibits your ability to speed read – it slows you
down! Here, empirical observation seems to suggest that those
who vocalize are unable to read more than 300 words per
minute – and are likely unable to exceed 250 words per
minute. Although reading at a rate of between 250 and 300
words per minute would make you an average reader, speed
reading techniques should help you to reach at least 500
words per minute. Furthermore, opponents of vocalization
argue that rather than helping a reader to comprehend
the text being read, vocalization is a barrier to such
comprehension; therefore, vocalization is a hurdle not
only to speed reading, but also comprehending
what is being read.
Vocalization – the pros
Proponents of vocalization who
argue that vocalization is actually a good thing, base
their counter-argument on two principles. First, they argue
that most people are able to speak faster than they can read.
Vocalization, where you speak as you read,
therefore enables us to read faster – not slower. Second,
vocalization is a process that involves repeating what one has
just read. Thus, by repeating something we have just read we
are far more likely to be able to retain that information in
our brain than would be the case if we merely only read the
material. Both of these are strong arguments: they both lead
to a logical and persuasive argument that vocalization
equals a better understanding of the text that we are reading.
And finally, another argument in favor of
vocalization harps back to the very reason why we may
vocalize in the first place: because vocalization
of text helps us in our skills of verbally pronouncing
the word being read.
Nonetheless, there are undoubtedly HUGE
flaws with vocalization. One of these is the need to
re-read material that we have only just read, which is another
commonly cited limitation on one’s ability to speed read.
Vocalization – eliminating this bad
habit
No tried and tested method of curing
vocalization has come to the forefront of speed reading
techniques. Rather, what is often cited is the need to
cure the problem through disciplining yourself not to speak
out (vocalize) the words that you are reading as you
read them. However, if you have been reading for some time,
re-training yourself so that you don’t vocalize words
can be exhausting and time consuming!
In this regard, one method that has
become popular is to read using a marker. The argument goes
that if you drag the marker along the page as you read, you
are less likely to vocalize your words and more like to
be able to read faster. Another method of avoiding
vocalization is to readjust the focus of your eyes.
Adjusting the focus of your eyes by zooming in on a word and
then adjusting your eye focus outwards to see the broader
picture of a whole paragraph enables you to read faster as it
increases the number of words your eyes can focus on at any
one time!
About the author:
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Melvin Ng teaches speed reading
through his
16-Minute Speed Reading Audio Program.
This breakthrough technique
Guarantees to
Double your reading speed in just
16 minutes!
http://www.bestspeedreadingcourse.com
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