I don't know much about speed reading per se, but I do know that a lot of commercially available classes are pretty questionable, and basically count "skimming" as "reading," which allows them to boast of having extremely high rates. I've also heard that these courses are most useful for very slow readers.
Checking the web, I find one or two other specifics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_reading has some information about some specifically scammy courses and some real stuff. The important quote:
Research conducted on rapid reading courses indicates that they are actually teaching skimming, which can be learned easily without the need for a course (Carver 1992). Skimming involves reading at a rapid rate for the purpose of searching rather than comprehension. As a habitual reading rate, it is insufficient for comprehending newspaper articles, textbooks, and novels.
Research on subvocalization, or auding, shows that it is a natural process which helps comprehension, and can be encouraged, especially for the purpose of reading high quality prose (Carver, 1990).
Research conducted on speed reading experts who claim to be able to read at over 1000 words per minute with full comprehension has found that their claims are false (Homa 1983). Even speed reading rates of between 1000-2000wpm have been found to result in comprehension levels at around 50% or lower.
Skepdic.com also has an entry on the topic, but they hate everything. Still, it seems like a pretty fair entry: http://www.skepdic.com/speedreading.html
As an aside, I tested myself a few times in high school, and discovered that at that point I was able to read about 840 words a minute and still understand the gist of the document. My normal rate was about 450 WPM.
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timeasmymeasure
no subject
Date: 2005-05-19 05:28 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-05-19 05:45 pm (UTC)Checking the web, I find one or two other specifics.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Speed_reading has some information about some specifically scammy courses and some real stuff. The important quote:
Research conducted on rapid reading courses indicates that they are actually teaching skimming, which can be learned easily without the need for a course (Carver 1992). Skimming involves reading at a rapid rate for the purpose of searching rather than comprehension. As a habitual reading rate, it is insufficient for comprehending newspaper articles, textbooks, and novels.
Research on subvocalization, or auding, shows that it is a natural process which helps comprehension, and can be encouraged, especially for the purpose of reading high quality prose (Carver, 1990).
Research conducted on speed reading experts who claim to be able to read at over 1000 words per minute with full comprehension has found that their claims are false (Homa 1983). Even speed reading rates of between 1000-2000wpm have been found to result in comprehension levels at around 50% or lower.
Skepdic.com also has an entry on the topic, but they hate everything. Still, it seems like a pretty fair entry: http://www.skepdic.com/speedreading.html
As an aside, I tested myself a few times in high school, and discovered that at that point I was able to read about 840 words a minute and still understand the gist of the document. My normal rate was about 450 WPM.