Page 97 - DENG102_COMMUNICATION_SKILLS_II

Communication Skills-II

notes 6.3 techniques for improving reading skills

Reading efficiency depends upon the reading speed and comprehension level of the individual.
In order to increase the reading efficiency, both speed and comprehension need to be improved.

Did u know? Reading is the receiving act and executives spend more than 20% of their time
on reading. When we improve our reading speed, our comprehension does not suffer.
Tests show that we retain about 70% of the material which we read at the speed of 200
words a minute.

A few techniques for increasing speed, comprehension and reading efficiency are briefly narrated
above:
1. Active reading: Reading should be done as an active process, by involving the mind along
with the body. If a person reads passively, his comprehension will be the lowest. This
passive effort to read the material will waste the time and energy of the reader, who has to
read for a longer time to comprehend the material.
2. Selection of appropriate reading type: Whether a material needs to be read carefully, normally,
skimmed or scanned – this decision should be made before reading the material. If one has to
read an office order carefully, the person will have to first scan the material, unless he wants
the effort wasted. Similarly, if a reader reads carefully a 200-page journal when skimming
would have served the purpose very well, he has ended up losing time in the process.
3. Setting realistic time schedules: Time is a valuable resource and for reading, time schedules
have to be decided well in advance. If a reader sets a conservative time schedule for reading
material, he will not be able to achieve his target. On the other hand, if the reader keeps
more than the required time, there will be wastage of time, as the reader does not require
the allotted time schedule.
4. Concentration on content and speed: If a reader fully concentrates on contents and speed,
his reading efficiency will improve. For concentration, the mind has to ignore all other
things and surroundings. Physical environment like seating place, fans, light etc., should
be conducive for better concentration.

5. Keep your eyes moving: Reading is a visual and mental process. A few observations about
movement of eyes are as follows:
(a) Eyes make a point fixation which encompasses a number of words for the duration
of about one fourth of a second.
(b) From left to right reading, the fixation is a focus just to the left of the symbols to be
read.

(c) After each fixation, the reader jumps forward to another fixation.
(d) The matter is transferred from the eyes to the brain during jumps.
(e) Reinforcing acts like regression can actually improve reading performance.
Regressions are movements in which the eyes move rapidly back from one point to
a fixation to the left of it.
(f) The wider the span of symbols in fixations, the shorter will be the duration of the
fixation’s jump and return.
(g) Unnecessary regressions and breaks are to be avoided in eye movement. If a particular
word or phrase is not clear, subsequent material will be read for clarification. Even

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