Background: Commercial speed-reading training programs are typically marketed with the promise to dramatically increase reading speed without impairing comprehension. From the perspective of reading psychology, it seems quite unlikely that speed-reading training can indeed have such effects. However, research on the effectiveness of modern…

Silent reading frequently entails engaging the "inner voice," a phenomenon in which individuals sub-vocally articulate words in their minds. This inner voice is understood to stem from the internalization process, wherein external verbal speech transitions into internal dialogue. However, the mechanisms through which foreign language…

Presenting techniques for using the whole mind, this book describes PhotoReading, a reading program that teaches not just how to read faster, but how to learn at speeds many times faster than before. The book notes that PhotoReading teaches readers how to "mentally photograph" the written page directly into their "other-than-conscious" mind,…

Investigates whether a freshman reading improvement training program will produce gains in reading rate (normal reading rate, not skimming). Finds positive results for the program. (SR)

Written so that the reader participates almost as if in a game, this book is aimed at achieving five goals: reading faster, understanding better, remembering longer, learning more easily, and thinking more clearly. Chapters discuss the following: (1) reading dynamics; (2) Evelyn Wood; (3) how to increase reading speed; (4) how to increase…

The essential point of this article is the value of reading comprehension as compared to the value of reading rate. (RK)

THE RESEARCH RESULTS FOR SEVEN AREAS OF THE SPEED READING CONTROVERSY ARE REPORTED. TERMINOLOGY FOR THE PROGRAM IS A PROBLEM AREA. MANY PEOPLE CONTEND THAT SPEED READING IS NOT READING IN THE TRADITIONAL SENSE. MEASUREMENT IS OFTEN LIMITED OR EMPHASIZES READING RATE ONLY. FIRMS, ESPECIALLY THOSE NOT CLOSELY CONNECTED WITH SCHOOLS, SOMETIMES MAKE…

Reports an investigation of the effectiveness of "Speedway: The Action Way to Read" in increasing the reading rate and efficiency of adult readers. (FL)

THIS PAPER PRESENTS FINDINGS BASED UPON APPROXIMATELY 50 PUBLISHED SURVEYS OF COLLEGE READING PROGRAMS SINCE 1921. PROGRAMS VARIED FROM INDIVIDUAL, INCIDENTAL HELP TO COMPREHENSIVE COURSES IN READING IMPROVEMENT. NO SET PATTERNS ARE NOTED FOR LENGTH OF TRAINING, COST, OR AMOUNT OF CREDIT GIVEN. PROGRAMS PRIOR TO 1940 STRESSED STUDY HABITS,…

An efficient reading skills course may be considered one of the most important reading courses a college student takes since it may be the last reading course taken; it may be a last chance to develop high-level reading proficiency. The instructor of such a course should keep in mind both the immediate scholastic improvement goals of the the…

This study determined the effectiveness of a rapid reading program in improving comprehension and rate of approximately 300 fifth and seventh grade students. Repeated measures analyses of variance were used to compare changes in rate and comprehension during an eight week rapid reading program with three groups of students: those instructed by a…