Better Reading Speed

Know your reading speed

Reading speed is an important factor in academic success.   There is so much a student needs to read;  if one's reading speed is too slow, there can be a problem.   

Remember that we can use different reading speeds depending on what we are reading for and depending on the type of text we are reading.   For most academic study however,  you should be aiming for an average reading speed of 200 words per minute (wpm).   This is a challenge for most English as a second language students.   They can be satisfied with a speed 150 wpm.    This speed is with an average comprehension of 70%.   You don't need 100% comprehension.   There are many resources that can help you improve your reading speed, but first you must know what it is.  

Here is a good website to calculate your reading speed.

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Plan your reading

After you find a book or other piece of writing that you want to read,  you should determine the word count.   

For famous texts,  an easy way to do this is to do a Google search.  For example:

“word count  title of book”   (ex.  word count dracula –>  look here for results)  (approximately 160,000 words)

Now, you must know your average reading speed and you can calculate how long it will take to read the book.   For example, if you read at 150 wpm, then in one hour you can read 9000 words (150 wpm  x 60 minutes).   Dracula would then take approximately 18 hours to read.   You could reasonably do this is two weeks by reading 1 hour per day plus a bit.   Not bad, but maybe a bit too long.   Frankenstein is only 75,000 words

Another method is to figure out the number of words per page of the text, then multiply this by the total number of pages.

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Improve your reading speed

 

Tips to improve reading speed:

1. Read in chunks.   Possibly use your hand to guide you.
2. Be focussed.   No distraction or wandering mind.   Don’t backtrack.  Have a good environment.    Read at the best time of day for you.
3. Read at appropriate vocabulary level.
4. Practice reading for pleasure.   Read often.
5. Don’t move your lips.
6. Skim first for main ideas and organization of the text.
7. Use a flexible reading speed.
8. Time yourself.   Plan your reading based on your reading speed.  Have a purpose in reading.
9. Read material you are familiar with (have context).
10.   Find one more strategy.

 

Some handy websites:

Quick exercises to improve your reading speed  (Choose #1 - #5)

70 tips to read faster

Reading Exercises (try the speed reading bits)

Improving your vocabulary

To use a plant metaphor,  one can think of knowledge and ideas as being the roots of communication.   Strong roots make for better communication.     Arising from the roots is the base which is vocabulary.    Communication itself is the flowers or fruit that blossoms.

So how does one strengthen the foundation that is vocabulary?

First,  some key questions.

• How strong (or weak) is your vocabulary knowledge and ability?   Receptive?   Productive?   Written?   Oral?

• What do you do when you meet a new word?

• How can you learn new words?

• Is your vocabulary learning effective?   Are you pro-active or re-active?

The typical 20-year-old university student in Canada will have a vocabulary of about 20,000 words.   The typical 5-year-old will have a vocabulary of about 5,000 words.

The first 2000 words are the most important as they are the most frequent.  They will account for approximately 82% of the words in academic texts.

If you want to engage in academic study in English, it has been estimated that you will need mastery of the first 7-8000 words.    Mastery of the first 5000 is a minimum.  Otherwise in reading and listening there will be far too many words that you don’t know, which will seriously impede your comprehension.

The tests you will take will indicate your vocabulary mastery of the different levels of vocabulary.

Mastery can be considered above 80% in the vocabulary levels tests.    This would mean a score above 31 on level 1 and above 14 in the other levels.    How is your vocabulary?

 Go to   http://www.lextutor.ca/tests/levels/recognition/1k/test_1.html and take the test.   Record your score when you are done.   Don't click reset.

Then go to    http://www.lextutor.ca/tests/levels/recognition/2_10k/ and take the tests for Level 2000, Level 3000 and Level 5000 and University Word List.   Record your score after each test.  

The next step is to plan your vocabulary study?   Are you effectively building your vocabulary?

According to Paul Nation,   there are 9 aspects to knowing a word:

Tips:

1.    Know yourself.    What are your vocabulary strengths and weaknesses.  Keep track of your progress.
2.    Be pro-active.    Consciously plan your vocabulary learning.   Spend a little time each day building      your vocabulary.    Try to interact with the word at least 7 times to anchor it in long-term memory.
3.   Try to only learn words that are useful to you.   These are either high frequency words or specific to     your    domain of study or work.    This website will help you decide the utility of a new word:   wordcount.org       Make a solid vocabulary foundation by focusing on the most frequent 3000-5000  words and the academic word list.   You can study the Oxford 3000 here.  Oxford Advanced American Dictionary online will tell you if a word you enter is on the academic word list.   You can also study the academic word list here and here.
4.    Attend to both reading and writing words,  plus speaking and listening as appropriate.
5.    Notice words you encounter repeatedly.   They are probably important.   Pay attention to how they     are used.
6.     Try to guess words from context.
7.     Use a dictionary sparingly and effectively.
8.     Learn a words collocates (the words typically associated with it).  You can find out more about         collocations here.
9.    Learn word roots (esp. Latin and Greek) and parts (affixes such as prefixes and suffixes)  as this       will help you to better guess word meanings and expand your  vocabulary.
10.     Make it interesting and fun.   Otherwise you won't do it.
11.    Don't always learn alone.    
12.    Use technology,  especially mobile devices.
13.    Don't just use a list of words in two columns, with the English word in one and its translation in the       other.    This is a boring and ineffective way to learn.
14.    Read often and on varied topics.    Do this for pleasure, not for intensive study.

Core Strategies:

1.   Create vocabulary flashcards

This is what you should do.   Use the two sides of the card.

Side 1:   First language translation of the word/a picture/an English definition:  Choose just one type of information about the target word. This goes in the middle of the card.

Side 2:   The target word in English.   This goes in the middle of the card.
On side 2 there are five spots to put additional information to help expand your knowledge ofthis word.   The four corners and the centre.

Possible types of vocabulary information include:*   pronunciation and syllable information (the centre is a good spot for this)*   part of speech such as verb or noun (this could also go in the centre)*   word forms*   synonyms*   antonyms*   sentence example/s*   collocations*   common phrases using the word

I recommend studying between 30 and 50 words.   As you learn the words, you remove these from the study pile and add new words.     As your ‘known word’ pile grows,  you need to review it occasionally.

If you forget the word, you return it to the ‘study’ pile.     If you spend 5-10 minutes a day studying vocabulary this way,  you can really learn 30-100 words per month.    It is important to choose words that are useful for you.

This website is designed for just that:   Anki

2.  Keep aVocabulary Notebook

Here you can do much the same as with flashcards, but reviewing is not so simple.    You may want to keep a vocabulary notebook in addition to flashcards.  

You can organize a notebook in ways you are comfortable with.    For example,  one page might list verbs. Or food-related words.    You might organize by frequency levels.

Useful web resources:

The Language Coach   (explore the vocabulary boards on this page)

Learning with Les Vocabulary Page    (some additional vocabulary links)

All About the Academic Word List

Vocabulary Power

Vocabulary.com

Grammar Issues

Grammar can be a problem for two main reasons:

1. It impedes communication of the ideas.   I cannot understand what you mean because of the grammar errors.
2. While not creating a barrier to understanding,  it makes the paper look sloppy and the writer uneducated and unprofessional.

Most writers have issues with grammar at one point or another.     Native speakers will occasionally observe that something they have written "doesn't sound right".     English as a second language writers and speakers have different issues.    Often their  English grammar is influenced strongly by their first language,  and this can be dangerous as other languages can have quite radically different grammars.    Translation often makes for bad written or spoken communication.

English as a second language learners have different problems at different times of their English development. There are likely to be far fewer errors at higher levels of proficiency; however,  as a student progresses in his or her proficiency,  they communicate much more complex ideas which creates new grammar challenges.

The most troublesome grammar errors ESL writers include:

• verb tenses (esp. the perfect tenses)
• prepositions
• articles
• sentence structure
• word form and word choice (appropriate to the sentence)
• punctuation

Minimizing these errors requires focused and strategic efforts.     The following tips can help.

• Try not to translate (especially if your own first language's grammar is very different from English grammar).
• Notice your common mistakes,  and work to understand the grammar issue surrounding them,  then practice writing that includes that issue,  then getting feedback.
• Spend a little bit of time every week with online grammar practice.
• Remember that sentences are based on clauses (which are based on a single idea).   A sentence ought to represent a single coherent (albeit perhaps complex) idea.
• The longer your sentences,   the more likely they are to contain grammar problems.

The heart of every sentence is the clause.   Most important, though,  is to know your clauses,  as they are at the heart of every sentence.  You can read more about clauses here and here.

You may also find the following online resources useful:

Daily Grammar Online

English Grammar Blog

Verb Tense Practice

The Road to Grammar (provides more opportunity to practice and explore)

Grammar Quizzes (lots here)

Articles and Determiners

Prepositions Overview and Practice