1. The Art of Effective Reading
Chapter: 16
The Art of Effective Reading

2. Learning Objectives
Understand the importance of reading in achieving success both in academic and professional life .
Acquire the various types of reading skills that one may employ while reading different
Kinds of texts .
Learn the four basic steps in the process of reading .
Get to know the basic hurdles in efficient reading and the tips to overcome them .
Know the relation between speedy reading and success and also learn the ways to .
Increase your speed of reading .

3. Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready man, and writing an exact man . - Francis Bacon

4. Introduction
It is true that of all the four skills - listening, speaking, reading, and writing - reading is probably the most crucial skill .
Effective reading skills are vital for achieving success in academic as well as professional life.
Usually, good readers are good communicators .

5. Need for Developing Efficient Reading Skills
There is difference between reading and Skilfull reading.
Skillful reading is for specific information.
Skilfull reading can be learnt through a systematic approach and formal training.
Example
When we read a Novel, a Newspaper or a Textbook there is different intention behind it so it affects the way we read it.

6. Benefits of Effective Reading
Effective reading can provide you with a
‘comprehensible input’ from the book or document that you read.
It can enhance your general ability to use other language skills such as listening, speaking, and writing.
It can enhance your vocabulary, that is, you can always learn new words, phrases, and expressions.
Effective reading also helps you keep your mind focused on the material and prevents it from unnecessary distractions.
Moreover, this enables you to extract useful information much more efficiently within a limited time.
It can help you consolidate both previously learned language and knowledge contd….

7. Benefits of Effective Reading
It helps in building confidence as you start reading longer, and later, voluminous texts.
It gives you pleasure and relaxation as books are the best and most reliable friends.
It facilitates development of various other skills, such as predictions, comparing and contrasting facts, creating samples, hypothesizing, reorganizing the message as transmitted by the text, improving your critical thinking, and hence developing a sharp acumen with passage of time.

8. Speed of Reading
Average reading speed of a college students is words per minute.
GOOD reading speed is around words.
Exceptional cases can extend up to 1000 words per minute.
However speed of reading varies with the purpose of reading.

9. Variation in Speed of Reading with Change in Purpose of Reading
No. of Words (words per minute/wpm)
Reading for memorization
Fewer than 100
Reading for learning
Reading for comprehension
Skimming

10. Speed in Reading Process
There exist a close relation between speed of reading and understanding.
Proper reading enhances your comprehensive ability.
Plodding , that is, reading word by word or merely rapid reading without any improvement results in lowered comprehension.
Example
If one focuses too much on words then it can lead to wrong interpretation of meaning as the person is after individual words and looses focus over the sentence as a whole.

11. Factors Involved in Improved Reading
The desire to improve
Conscious efforts in using newly acquired techniques
A motivation to practice

12. Differences Between Efficient and Inefficient Readers
An Efficient Reader
An Inefficient Reader
Always reads for ideas or information
Tries to read words
Reads group of words/multi-phrases
Reads word by word
Quickly adjusts his/her speed of reading to the nature of the text
Reads the text from the beginning till the end
Sets the purpose of reading right in the beginning
Reads everything and deliberately goes slow while reading
Reads smoothly
Reads the information again and again to figure out a clear understanding of the text

13. Differences Between Efficient and Inefficient Readers
An Efficient Reader
An Inefficient Reader
Visualizes ideas
Vocalizes or sub-vocalizes words while reading
Has a good vocabulary in that subject
Has limited vocabulary which hampers his/her speed and understanding
Continuously keeps improving his/her pace of reading
Rarely attempts speed reading
Properly tries to sort out the material as critical, interesting, analytical, etc
Reads everything indiscriminately

14. Four Basic Steps to Effective Reading
Use your background knowledge of the topic to interpret contents.
Example
A shareholder who is reading the annual report of a company will be most interested in revenue and profits made by the company rather than what technology
company is using currently.
Enables you to focus on particular elements of information, reducing amount of information to be held in short-term memory.
1.Figure out the purpose for reading a particular text
2.Spot the parts of the text relevant to the identified purpose and ignore the rest

15. Four Basic Steps to Effective Reading
3.Choose the appropriate reading strategy that suits your purpose
Select the strategy that is suited to the reading task in that particular context .
Example:
While reading a Newspaper we generally applies scanning method of reading, that is , we just very quickly scan the page and then reads the piece of news that makes sense to us.
Monitoring comprehension helps you make out the inconsistencies and discrepancies in total comprehension of the text.
4.Test or assess your comprehension during reading and also when the reading task is completed

16. Common Obstacles in Effective Reading
Lack of concentration
Eye fixation
Regression
Reading aloud or turning the head from side to side
Indiscriminate use of the dictionary

17. Lack of Concentration Poor reading habits leads to poor concentration.
Reading often appears to be an unpleasant task when we are forced to do it and our mind begin to drift.
Like in the adjacent picture.
the boy is not actually reading ,
his mind is occupied with planning
the upcoming camping trip.

18. Eye Fixation
While reading, when one is unable to progress well beyond a thought, expression, or word, it is regarded as eye fixation .
It happens either due to poor reading habits or poor comprehension.
To overcome this, divide the sentence into different thought units and don’t fixate onto one.

19. Regression
When we are unable to understand an idea, we habitually go back to the part where it occurs in a passage or simply reading the test again and again to understand the idea.
It clearly suggests incompetence in reading and comprehension skills .
To over come this problem, make your eye move over at least 2–3 words in one go and let it glide over the text in a rhythm .

20. Reading Aloud or Turning the Head from Side to Side
Bad habits also affects reading ..like speaking aloud or swaying head…
Moving the head from time to time, moving the lips while reading, or gliding a pen, pencil, or scale through the text are also not worth imbibing .
Such added habits tend to affect our understanding.
Ideally, our eyes should see and our mind should read the text before us.

21. Indiscriminate Use of the Dictionary
Lack of guidance about proper utilization of dictionary also leads to damage to our reading habits.
Example
Some misled students picking up words daily and cramming them religiously. This can be farcical. Remember dictionary is not for cramming words.
Another misuse of the dictionary is the tendency to refer to it the moment one comes across a word one finds difficult to understand.
Frequently referring dictionary to find the meanings makes us to loose the spontaneity in our reading process.
While reading ,observing carefully the use of words and the context in which they are used helps to enrich vocabulary and makes our reading more effective.

22. Few More Obstacles in Reading
Reading becomes a cumbersome activity when you skip the major part of the text and are in a hurry to finish it.
When you do not read a longer text at stretch for at least an hour to allow yourself to develop interest in it, you cannot enjoy reading.
When your mind is preoccupied with other thoughts rather than the message that you are reading, the time spent is just wasted.
Sometimes students have the tendency to read aloud, which is called vocalization. They do so because they feel they should not get distracted while reading. However, this kind of reading not only mars their speed of reading but also their comprehension of the text.

23. Few More Obstacles in Reading
Reading becomes an uphill task when you have an unfriendly approach towards it.
Reading becomes boring when you do not select a book or text for reading according to your linguistic and cognitive level.
One cannot read faster in an effort to remember everything rather than to remember selectively

24. Skimming
Scanning
Intensive
Extensive
Types of Reading

25. Skimming
Used to quickly gather the most important information or ‘gist’ from the document or novel that you read .
It is not essential to understand each word when you employ skimming while reading.
Example
While reading the news items we quickly go through them as to get an idea what’s their content is…

26. Scanning Used to find a particular piece of information .
You make our eyes to run over the text, looking for the specific piece of information you need.
Example
While reading a magazine or book, you scan the table of contents or indexes and turn directly to interesting articles to arrive at the specific information.

27. Extensive Reading
Used to obtain a general understanding of a subject .
Includes reading of longer texts for pleasure, and business reports to know about the general trends .
Understanding the meaning of individual words is not at all necessary.
Example
While reading novel we generally do not focus on individual words, rather we try to understand the message that is conveyed.

28. Intensive Reading
Used on shorter texts in order to extract detailed information .
It includes very close and accurate reading for details.
In this case, it is important for you to understand each word, information, or fact .
Example
When you read your text book for understanding the concepts or various theories, you have to read intensively.
While signing any contract or insurance policy, we read and understand the points mentioned in the contract.

29. We can summarize the types as
Purpose
Skimming
Skimming Used to understand the gist or main idea
Scanning
Used to find a particular piece of information
Extensive reading
Used for pleasure and general understanding
Intensive reading
Accurate reading for comprehensive understanding

30. Methods of Reading Sub-vocalized Reading
Combines sight reading with internal sounding of the words as if spoken.
Can slow down the reading speed and comprehension.
However helpful while reading complex texts.
Speed Reading
Method to increasing reading speed with reduction in comprehension and retention.
Photoreading
An additional technique of photoreading to increase your reading speed, comprehension, and retention.

31. Methods of Reading Proofreading
Reading for detecting typographical errors in a printed text .
Comprehension is of no value in most of the cases.
Structure–Proposition–Evaluation (SPE)
Mortimer Adler states this method in his book how to read a book, mainly for non-fiction treatise, one reads a writing in three phases .
(1) for the structure of the work,
(2) for the logical propositions or progression made, and
(3) for evaluation of the merits of the arguments and conclusions.

32. Methods of Reading Survey–Question–Read–Recite–Review (SQ3R )
Immaculate reading is required.
Assimilate the information in such a way that it can be applied at other places.
Absorption of information takes place for future uses.
Multiple Intelligences-based Method
Draws upon the reader’s diverse ways of thinking and knowing to enrich his/her appreciation of the text.
Most readers use several intelligences, such as auditory, visual, and logical intelligence, while reading .
Doing so in a more disciplined manner results in more vivid and memorable experience.

33. Different Types of Passages for Reading Comprehension
Science passages
Social science passages
Business passages
Entertainment passages
Literary Passages/Poems

34. Science Passages
Deal with hard facts of science, and the topics are related to different branches of science such as biology, chemistry, medicine, etc .
Objective and neutral in tone .
Terminology in such write-ups is a little complex, but the theme is quite tangible.
science passages are mostly factual and straightforward
Not many inference questions are drawn from science passage but factual questions.
Approach these types of passages by doing an initial speed reading/skimming of the text i.e. to analyze the structure of passage.

35. Social Science Passages
Deal with topics such as history, politics, psychology, geography, philosophy, literature, language, art, music, social theories, etc.
Questions deal more with inferences and less with explicit information given in the passage .
Not just read what is explicitly stated but also figure out what is implicitly suggested .

36. Business Passages
Present questions that require you to infer information and at times even determine the authors’ moods, views, and opinions .
Need to be read slowly and carefully.
Answer questions based on the content in the passage (not other things you have read)

37. Entertainment Passages
Usually discusses a topic related to entertainment, sports, or leisure.
Passage could be on a topic such as the lifestyle of the rich and famous, the reason for the success of a Hollywood or Bollywood movie, or current dilemmas in sports, or some trends in adventure sports.

38. Literary Passages/Poems
While reading one such piece of writing you need to understand and appreciate the imaginative and creative use of language .
Sensitivity to the author’s attitude or the poet’s vision is required.
Along with understanding the themes and sub themes of such passage ,you need to identify various elements like humour, pathos, satire, irony, etc.

39. Approaches to Efficient Reading
Forced acceleration may destroy confidence in one’s ability to read.
The total improvement of the whole reading process can be done by:
Decreasing your speed when you experience certain difficulties .
Accelerating your pace when you come across certain difficulties .

40. Different suggested approaches to reading (by decreasing the speed)
Type of Difficulty
Suggested Approach
Unfamiliar terminology
Try to understand it in the context at that point; otherwise, read on and return to it later
Difficult sentence and paragraph structure
Slow down enough to enable you to untangle them and get the accurate context for the passage.
Unfamiliar or abstract concepts
Look for applications or examples of your own
Detailed, technical material
This includes complicated directions, statements of difficult principles, and materials on which you have scant background. Be patient and approach the text critically.
Material on which you want detailed retention
Since you want to remember them for a longer duration, read such a material with intensity, observation, and painstaking effort.

41. Different suggested approaches to reading (by accelerating your pace)
Type of Difficulty
Suggested Approach
Simple material with few ideas which are new to you
Move rapidly over the familiar ones; spend most of your time on the unfamiliar ideas.
Unnecessary examples and illustrations
Since these are included to clarify ideas, move over them rapidly when they are not needed.
Detailed explanation and idea elaboration which you do not need
Since you do not need them, you can move rapidly over them.
Broad, generalized ideas, and ideas which are restatements of previous ones
These can be readily grasped, even with scan techniques.

42. Tips for Effective Reading
Get your eyes checked. Often, very slow reading is related to uncorrected eye defects. Before embarking on speed reading, make sure that any correctable eye defects you may not have are taken care of.
Get rid of the habit of pronouncing words—if you have—as you read. If you sound out words in your throat or whisper them, your reading rate is slowed considerably. You should be able to read most material at least two or three times faster when reading silently than orally.
Find out what you want to know, and for that you need to cut through and assess what is to be skipped from reading.
Your reading rate should vary according to your reading purpose. To understand the information, for example, skim or scan at a rapid rate.
It is always important to stress on qualitative not quantitative reading.

43. Tips for Effective Reading
Cultivate a positive attitude towards reading. The more you read the more love you develop towards reading.
Even if you find reading to be tedious, try to give your task an extended stretch of an hour or so. Don’t give up reading in the first 10–15 minutes itself.
Learn to underline the key parts/words/concepts for further references.
While reading, new ideas and concepts will flash in the mind and the same may be added in the margin.
By using different coloured pencils, the importance level of the contents can be realized for further reading.
Try to convert the written information into pictorial format while reading for effective comprehension of contents.
Fix some amount of time daily, exclusively for reading, and over a period of time it will become a practice.