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5 myths related to reading and comprehension

Reading is not just an activity; it’s a skill which is an integral part  of everyone’s educational and  professional path. The most  successful and  formidable people in the world do not just read, but they read fast and  inhale information in a matter  of seconds, saving a huge amount of time to work on  other  important matters. Since  decades students have  been told  and instructed to read each and  every  word  slowly. But the fact is it’s not about reading slowly and  carefully,   it’s about reading the  concept and visualising it for better retention in the memory. In short,  it is about understanding and comprehending the information while saving time.  What  if  a  student   can   read a complete paragraph  in  a  matter   of  seconds and understands the  concept at the  same time. With the  proliferation of the  Internet and  latest education systems in our  country, there   is so  much   to  read! Jas  Johari,  Co-Founder  & Advance  Licensed Intructor, Buzan  Centre  debunks the  5  myths  related to  reading and comprehension.

Myth 1:

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By reading slowly one  can concentrate better: The kids of our generation encounter much more information in the form of texts and  visuals than   previous generations.  Why  should one take  in only a  few words, when  the brain  can  absorb larger chunks of text? It is   a   huge  myth among  parents  and teachers that reading slowly increases concentration. The truth is while reading slowly,   the    reader   tend    to   end    up spending more time in thinking and comprehending the situation or the theory in his mind  end up losing on  the information the reader absorbed in the earlier  paragraphs of the books/theory

Myth   2:  

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Comprehension   and    understanding comes from reading slowly: While going through their text books, students often tend  to read all the words  and  sentences very slowly as they think it is the  way  to  learn, understand and   comprehend. But at the same time, when one is given a novel to read, one tends to read it at a faster pace and  still understand what  the  story  is all about. One  must always  keep in mind that  there  are  a lot of words in   sentences   and    paragraphs  that    are    not essential to the  meaning of that  paragraph. They are   supposed to  be   read for  ideas,  not  words.  Therefore, comprehension  and understanding doesn’t come from reading slowly and  carefully.

Myth 3:   

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Reading  slowly   will   enhance  the memory    &  retention:  Memory   and  reading slowly  are   not  at  all  connected.  When   one reads slowly, it is difficult to concentrate and chances are  that  the  readers will go  into day dreaming. This happens because the  human brain  is capable of grasping knowledge and information  at  a  much higher   speed and   by reading one word at a time, the brain starts day dreaming. When one  gets distracted, it takes normally 25 minutes for the brain  to return  focus to the original task.  By reading fast, the concentration doesn’t waver and  one is able to completely focus on the particular subject.

Myth 4:

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Everyone reads at a natural  reading speed: According to many,  reading is a skill that  a human  being   is   born   with.According to them,speed reading orreading slowly comes to them naturally. But scientifically,   it   is   proven  that    reading comes from  learning.  Reading skills  may differ from person to person. For example, when  two people drive a car,  they  do  it at different speeds. This is because they have learnt to drive  differently, and  not because it comes to them naturally. There is no such thing called ‘natural reading speed’

Myth 5: It is impossible to read beyond 1000  words  per  minute: Speed readers read up to 3500 words  per  minute, and  some even  beyond that.  An average person read around 200-400 per minute and  this limit can  be increased by regular speed reading exercises. It is a learnable skill and  once a person gets a hang of it, it is possible for an  average brain to  read many  words  per minute. Today  a  world speed reading champion  reads  approx.  4500 words  per minute without  losing  the  essence of comprehending what he/she is reading.

‘The author is a Buzan advanced licensed instructor and world speed reading champion. She is also the Co- Founder of the Buzan Centre Pune working with students and corporates across the country on ‘training your brain’

Harsh Vardhan

Adventurer•Blogger• Foodie• Gadget Freak• Contact on harshktr@gmail.com

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