Improving Reading Speed - Activities for the classroom

Summary

The purpose of the article “Improving Reading Speed” written by Neil J Anderson (1999) is to present of activities that can be helpful in the classroom to increase reading speed. Some studies conducted with native English speakers indicated that through rapid reading, learners can achieve skills for rapid reading and develop better comprehension at the same time. Coady and Anderson (1993) states that it is important to include a rapid-reading component in reading programs, and that it is also useful to increase reading-rate of students in a L2 classroom without decreasing comprehension. Nutall (1996:127) says that by increasing the reading-rates, students can get into what he calls the “virtuous cycle of a good reader”. This is supported by Stanovich (1986) who claims that the increase in students’ reading abilities is directly proportional to the amount of reading they do.

Four reading-rate activities can be used in the second language reading class to increase students’ reading rates.

The first one is Rate-Buildup Reading. Students read as much material as they can within a period of time, and the drill is repeated three or four times, to reread the “old” material quickly and then easily move to the “new”.

The second one is Repeated Reading. Here, students read a passage many times until they reach criterion levels of reading speed and comprehension. This is, because students understand more when they quickly read a passage several times than when reading it slowly only one time.

The third one is Class-Paced Reading. This one, allows students to set a goal for a minimal reading rate. This activity helps to foster group work abilities in learners as they work together to improve their reading rates.

The last activity is Self-Paced Reading. This activity allows students to determine their own reading-rate goals, and the amount of material they need to read within 60 seconds to meet their reading goals. Here, students can assess whether they are keeping up with their individual goals or not.

In addition to these four activities, students can do a variety of reading passages and multiple-choice comprehension questions like those in rate-building texts.

References

1.     Anderson, N. (1999). Improving reading speed. In English Teaching Forum(Vol. 37, No. 2).

2.     Coady, J., & Anderson, N. (1993). The relationship between comprehension and reading rate. meetin of Teachers of English to Speakers of Othe Languages, Atlanta, GA.

3.     Nuttall, C. (1996). Teaching reading skills in a foreign language. Heinemann, 361 Hanover Street, Portsmouth, NH 03801-3912.

4.      

5.       Stanovich, K. E. (1986). Matthew effects in reading: Some consequences of individual differences in the acquisition of literacy. Reading research quarterly, 360-407.