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READP1.CMP
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1990-09-20
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Time spent in improving reading ability is the single best
investment a person can make toward success in life. The
ability to read well is a dominant factor in competence.
Consider the number of words you have read from street signs,
instructions, contents, reports, newspapers, billboards, etc.
School places the earliest and most stringent requirements
for reading and comprehension skills. Every subject has
written material to be read, studied, reported, and
examined. Many subjects cannot be mastered without devoting
much time and concentration to the written component of the
course. How much more difficult would it be to assimilate
the many details of the History of Ancient Civilizations
without the ability to read?
Many students believe that reading will not be a requirement
in their chosen career. They suggest that a future
mathematician or carpenter or mechanic would be wasting time
with vocabulary training and grammar exercises. Carpenters
must keep up with new building techniques, new materials,
new regulations on the building industry. Mechanics have the
same needs in the automotive industry.
The most efficient method of spreading information is in the
written form. Only when able to quickly absorb visual
information will modern professionals be able to keep up
with the requirements of their chosen field.
One of the great tragedies of our youngest generation is its
loss of the magic of reading. Reading will always offer the
most imaginative journeys for inquisitive minds. Books are
the least expensive recreational vehicles available. Think
of all the places you can go, the things you can do by
sitting down and opening a book. Reading is recreation.
While television and busy schedules tend to receive most of
the blame for our lack of reading, the single most
believable reason is that we have not learned to read well
enough to enjoy it. Reading for comprehension becomes work,
it requires an investment of time. Until we learn to make
the most of the time we spend reading, we will avoid reading
as a waste of time.
Efficiently using our reading time is a twofold process:
one, learning to be adaptable in our reading styles so that
we read only what needs to be read; and two, learning skills
that allow us to read those selections faster. Consider the
following reading situations: reading a newspaper, reading
Tom Clancy's latest novel, looking up a word in the
dictionary, researching a question in history, studying for
an exam, reviewing a report prior to making a decision. Each
situation requires reading, but does each situation require
the same type of reading?
Before beginning to read any selection, the good reader will
consider his purpose. With his purpose in mind, he will
preview the reading material to determine how the selection
is organized and how it relates to the eventual purpose.
Skimming, scanning and studying are three different types of
reading with their own unique advantages.
We sometimes use the words skim and scan when referring to
the same technique, and often don't consider them to be real
reading. Both are legitimate techniques when employed by
the effective reader. This reader will lightly skim over a
body of material to get an overview of the ideas presented.
In many cases, the reader has no interest in proceeding
further. He has fulfilled his purpose in reading this
material. Skimming is used repeatedly in reading the daily
newspaper.
Scanning is another technique which has its legitimate place
in the efficient reader's plan. Scanning is also a quick
type of reading, but it involves looking for answers to
specific questions in a body of material. The reader may
skim over parts of the material until he finds a section of
interest, then slow down to absorb a small portion that
addresses his question. Again, the reader only invests the
time necessary to meet his purpose. It isn't necessary to
comprehend every bit of information in the essay, only that
which answers a pre-determined question.
The third technique, study reading, is what many people
consider legitimate reading. An efficient study-type reader
will survey the content, skim the selection for the main
ideas, pose some questions to be answered from the material,
read the selection thoughtfully, and finally reflect on the
content of what he read. This is the optimum situation, the
one used to absorb the total meaning of the work.
When the reader considers his purpose in reading the
material before beginning, he will employ the most efficient
type of reading to meet this unique situation. He can be
sure he is getting the most comprehension from his time. He
has become an effective reader.
After the reader has learned to apply the appropriate type
of reading to each selection, he is ready to learn ways to
speed up the reading itself. This is the area in which
skills from speed reading techniques are applied.
W. Royce Adams, Developing Reading Versatility, 5th ed.
(Orlando: Holt Rinehart and Winston, 1989).
Henry A. Bamman, "Reading," World Book Encyclopedia,
1979 ed.
Russell G. Stauffer and Jean Horton Berg, Rapid Comprehension
Through Effective Reading
(New Jersey: Learn Incorporated, 1976).