The Diminishment of Reading Skills and Speed Reading
History has shown that literacy diminishes with each passing generation unless steps are taken to actively propagate improved reading skills. Eurich (1980) and Eurich & Kraetsch (1982) determined that reading skills diminished substantially in the five decades spanning 1928 to 1978. During that period, first year university students or “freshmen” were found to be one grade below their historical counterparts in comprehension, reading speed and vocabulary. It is therefore hardly surprising that reading skills are a major problem for modern students, as documented by Hall (1989). In this age of limited vocabulary and short expression, there is little wonder at the difficulty people face when reading technical or legal material.
Against this backdrop of plummeting literacy skills, we observe much speculation at the upper limits of human performance and suggestions that attempts to advance further are futile and may inhibit comprehension. Brozo & Johns (1986) assert for example, that reading speeds above 300 to 600 words per minute are regarded by empirical research as unrealistic, and recommend eye fixations (flash or glance capacity) of no more than three words. However, Berliner & Casanova (1988) suggest that increased reading speeds may improve comprehension and oral reading. As a result they recommend activities that assist the improvement and acceleration of reading. Having observed the rapid development of flash capacities exceeding three words in a number of beta-testers, the limitations of Brozo & Johns (1986), are based on too narrow a sample of literacy training methods.
Exacerbating this problem is the amount of erroneous and sometimes downright fraudulent assertions made about reading skills, comprehension, and speed reading. There are several speed reading myths circulating at the present time that are actually detrimental to reading speed! Readers trying to set their eye fixation to a given number of words whether one word at a time or several words at a time are always going to be slowed down and distracted by the effort when in fact, if one recognises an entire phrase, one fixates on the phrase and not on the constituent words unless one forces oneself to do so.
In spite of variable public opinion, speed reading based on sight reading methods improves both comprehension and reading speed - and is key to raising literacy standards to meet the demands of the Information Age. Maximising reading speed boils down to increasing the number of word groups one recognises using a flash program like FieldCraft's Speed Reading training software, Stretch, while maintaining good dictionary discipline and allowing the eye to fixate in accordance to what one recognises when reading outside of flash exercises.
