By ADMIN
How to Eliminate Subvocalization When Reading
Subvocalization is easily the most important bad habit to eliminate when you are learning how to speed read. If you can learn how to eliminate subvocalization when reading, even if you don’t do anything else in terms of speed reading, you should notice that your reading speed will come close to doubling.
All subvocalization is is the act of pronouncing each individual word in your head as you read along the page. You may not do it out-loud, and you may not be moving your mouth when you do it, which makes it difficult to diagnose. The dialog is usually internal, but you can often hear yourself, or a narrator reading the text inside your mind. Most readers who have not taken a speed reading course will subvocalize naturally, so it is typically best to assume you’re doing it, even if you don’t notice it.
This is a terrible thing for your reading speed because you’ll pronounce those words either at the rate of speed you can speak (around 120 WPM for most Americans), or at the rate you are comfortable processing (around 150 WPM). If you looked at the chart on the homepage, you’ll notice that that’s slower than most 3rd graders can read.
Why do we all subvocalize when we read? Well, that’s actually a very easy question to answer – we were taught to do it. When you first started learning how to read, whether it was training from your teachers or your parents, they certainly had you start by reading the words out loud. It allowed them to monitor your progress with vocabulary, and ensure that you were actually reading the books instead of just saying you were. At that time it was necessary.
But now it isn’t necessary. If you’re an adult, and you know how to read, you can safely eliminate subvocalization when reading without fear of having any kinds of penalty to your reading speed. In fact, it will increase dramatically.
For many people eliminating subvocalization is actually quite simple. Once they realize they are doing it, many people become cognizant of their behavior and simply stop. For others, it requires a little more training.
Sometimes, simply reading more material will be beneficial. Texts in the same genre or subject matter will use the same kinds of language and jargon, and sometimes it’s simply a matter of practice makes perfect. This is especially true in reading business or scientific material where you are constantly learning new words and terminology. As you become more familiar with it, you will see that you become better at flying through difficult passages.
Going hand-in-hand with that is the issue of increasing your vocabulary. If you can recognize many words on sight, you’ll not need to go through your first strategy of learning words – subvocalization. The best way to increase vocabulary may be a word-of-the-day calendar if you can stick to it, or you can consider getting a book or a manual designed to teach you a number of useful words. I found that most beginning vocabulary manuals were too basic for my needs, but I particularly enjoyed Essential Words for the GRE
Remember, speed reading isn’t something you can learn overnight – if it was, everyone would do it. You need to practice daily, and almost every time you pick up a book if you plan on ever becoming a master. We would recommend picking up a piece of speed reading software and using that to learn the skills. Once you learn it, you’ll thank me.
