Page 143 - DENG401_Advance Communication Skills

Advanced Communication Skills

Notes

Notes Types of Reading on the Basis of Speed
Types of Reading Nature of Reading Reading Speed
Careful reading Complex reading 50 to 350 words a minute
Rapid reading Simple reading 300 to 600 words a minute
Skimming Main idea reading Up to 1500 words a minute
Scanning Search for specific facts reading Up to 3000 words a minute

7.3.1 Comprehension

It is the understanding of the read material. There is more or less an inverse relationship
between reading speed and understanding of material. If the reading speed is slower,
comprehension rate will be higher. However, this may not be true always. A reader may
improve his reading speed, without compromising his ability to understand and comprehend.
It is also often observed that good and speedy readers have good comprehension ability and
poor readers have poor comprehension ability. Comprehension of a person can be tested in two
ways, i.e., immediate recall and immediate inference.

7.3.2 Reading Efficiency

It combines reading speed and reading comprehension. Jacobs suggested the following formula
to calculate reading efficiency score (Res):
Res = Reading speed × Comprehension

Example: If the reader with the reading speed of 80 words per minute understands and
comprehends 80% of the material read, reading efficiency score will be 64. For another reader,
having the reading speed of 480 words per minute, if the comprehension rate is 60 percent, the
reading efficiency score will be 288.

7.3.3 Retention

It refers to the ability to recall the read material after a lapse of time. It can also be termed as
memory power. It is one of the essential skills, which needs to be improved by a reader. Some
people are good readers but their retention power is poor, that is, they are unable to learn and
recall the read material.

Task The Lady with the Emerald Ring
Read the given story check your reading speed.
A man's wife became deathly ill the night before Christmas in 1798, he called for the
doctor but by the time the doctor had arrived his wife had died, or so it seemed. Her
husband was so grief stricken that he shut himself up on his own and didn't attend the
funeral the following day. The servants of the house carried the rich woman's body to the
Vicar who in a drunken stupor held the ceremony quickly. The veil was drawn across her
face, the stone lid lowered and the iron grille locked.
Contd...

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