Watch a group of young children who are just beginning to read and youll notice one thing about almost all of them. Even if they have been instructed to silently read, most of the children will be mouthing the words they are reading. Their lips will move to pronounce the words, even though they are not speaking them aloud. The reason they do this is because as children begin to learn to read, they vocalize the sounds of the individual letters and then later on, the sounds of the words.
Although this process is helpful to the children as they are introduced to the concept of reading, its also significantly reducing the speed at which they read.
If youve ever watched a television show that featured speed readers or if youve ever known someone who could speed read, you might have noticed that their lips dont move. Thats not coincidence, its actually very significant.
When a person reads out loud or they mouth the words as they read, it takes them longer to read than someone who simply looks at the word and absorbs it. This is one of the important steps in speed reading learning to not vocalize the words either out loud or silently.
Its difficult...