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Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

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Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/ studentsuccess
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Page 1: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Improving Reading Speed and Recall:

A Workshop with

Richard Špaček

go.unb.ca/studentsuccess

Page 2: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Tricks vs. Techniques

Math tricks:

1.Take advantage of mechanical procedures

2.Reduce memory load

Page 3: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Tricks vs. Techniques

• Mechanical tricks for multiplication

Page 4: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Multiplying by 11

3 111 x

3 + 1=4

31 X 11=341

4

Page 5: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Multiplying by 11

2 115 x

2 + 5=7

25 X 11=275

7

Page 6: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

No Tricks Zone

• There are no equivalent reading “tricks,” only “techniques”

• Practice is the key

• There ARE effective tactics for longer readings

Page 7: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Strengths & Weaknesses

• language is a neural network: each element is connected to every other element

• recognition occurs as a result of the operation of connected units

• letters that have occurred together in the past are more readily recognized

• the system is robust—even when there are errors. . . .

Page 8: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Read Me (1)

Fo_ ex_mp_e, y_u c_n r_ad _hi_ se_te_ce _it_ ev_ry _hi_dl_tt_r mi_si_g.

Page 9: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Read Me (2)

Terhe wree olny two Aerimncas sotpinpg at the heotl. Tehy did not konw any of the poelpe tehy pssead on the sirats on teihr way to and form tehir room. Tiher room was on the scoend foolr fincag the sea. It also fcaed the pibulc gdrean and the war mnenomut. Tehre wree big plams and geern bcnehs in the plbuic grdean. In the good wetaehr there was alyaws an asrtit wtih his esael. Attsris liekd the way the pmlas gerw and the bigrht coolrs of the htloes fnicag the gnadres and the sea. Ilatinas caem form a lnog way off to loko up at teh war mmnonuet.

Page 10: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Weaknesses: Arbitrariness

• language depends on a network of conceptual and phonological links

• this mixed system of arbitrary connections is especially prone to error because sound is often at odds with sense

Page 11: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Sound & Sense?

• Pulchritude L. pulcher, ‘beautiful’

turpitude

decrepitudepulverize

puling

Page 12: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Sound & Sense?

• Bucolic L. būcolicus, ‘rustic, pastoral’

colic

puke

Page 13: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Weaknesses: Size

• Adult speakers: 50,000 “words”

• 1 Million words in English

• Amalgam of 5 languages (Anglo-Saxon, Danish, Norman French, Classical Latin, Greek)

• 40 distinct sounds written 176 ways

Page 14: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Mastering English

• Knowing classical roots helps with vocabulary

• Consider: what is the etymology of the word “education”?

Page 15: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Factors in Reading Rates

Page 16: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Factors in Reading Rates

1. Familiarity with vocabulary and concepts

2. Habitual approach to reading

3. Concentration/motivation

Page 17: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Factors in Reading Rates

• Familiarity: determined partly by exposure to specific knowledge but partly by the general readiness of the linguistic system

• Approach: habit and practice• Concentration: under the conscious

control of the individual

Page 18: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

1. Familiarity/Vocabulary

• humans read far more than they need to• specialized forms literature do not convey

information from a real context:– novels, – stories, – drama

• some forms encourage language play:– jokes, especially puns– songs and poetry– slogans, epigrams

Page 19: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

outlaws

Antimetabole

If guns are outlawed

only

guns

will have

Page 20: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Read More to Read Faster

• ALL reading renews linguistic understanding

• Leisure reading complements any course of study

• Time spent reading determines vocabulary development & this determines reading speed

Page 21: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Speed and Vocabulary

• Beyond primary education, most vocabulary development comes from personal, self-directed reading

• Language study can help. . . .

Page 22: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Vocabulary Shortcut

• 60% of English words in common use based on Latin/Greek roots and affixes

• 14 roots and 20 prefixes are the keys to 14,000 common English words

• Learning these provides a set of memory keys

• Use these to build and retain new vocabulary much more readily.

Page 23: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Self-Taught

• When you have mastered a vocabulary appropriate to what you are reading, you are ready for speed—but it may not come by itself

Page 24: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

2. Habitual Approach

• Sign on an Olympic training pool:

The only way to swim fast is to swim fast.The only way to read fast is to

try to read fast

• Force your pace to increase speed

Page 25: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

How Fast?

• Speech flows at a rate optimal for short term memory:

• Speech: 250-350 words per minute

• Actual reading speed tends to lag behind this

• Largely habit: children reading to meet stated target rates learn to read faster

• Practice reading for speed!

Page 26: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

3. Reading & Concentration

• PURPOSE of reading affects intensity & focus (Linderholm et al., 2008)

• Greater sense of purpose usually means greater concentration and thus faster rate and higher retention

Page 27: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

What About Speed Reading Courses?

• Gains have been noted, but these come mainly from focus (elimination of multitasking), motivation, and quantity of reading

• Claims for specific techniques (e.g., using unfocused gaze, eliminating “subvocalization,” reducing fixations) are mostly false

Page 28: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Real Factors . . .

Factors in Reading Speed :

• Familiarity with vocabulary and concepts

• Habitual approach to reading

• Concentration and motivation

Page 29: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Strategies for Better Recall

Page 30: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Factors in Better Recall

• Reading strategies may not substantially change speed

• They do affect comprehension & retention

Page 31: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Reading Strategies

1. Learn structure of text

• Goal is to increase understanding by gaining an overview of the organization of the text

• This will improve comprehension thus retention

Page 32: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Internal Organizers

• preface

• introduction

• table of contents/headings

• glossary

• index

• end of chapter summaries

• review questions

Page 33: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Chapter-Level Organizers

Page 34: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Reading Strategies

• Skim-read text quickly

• Note key features: tables, graphs, illustrations, specially-marked text

Page 35: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Reading Strategies

2. Maintain understanding by selective re-reading

• look-backs to pertinent regions of the text:– topic sentences conveying main ideas– topic headings signaling content

structure– Medium reading rate, but highest recall

Page 36: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Remarks

• Simple linear reading is not effective (though it can be fast)

• Good reading involves re-reading

• Build a conceptual framework by examining advance

• Building motivation by looking for answers is powerful

Page 37: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Self-Explanation

• Tactics such as self-explanation (during which you phrase new ideas in your own words and reason WHY you know them) improve learning

• “The participant recalls information from the current text or his/her own background knowledge to self-explain the current sentence” (p. 341).

Page 38: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Why Henrietta Lacks?

• “Studies show that readers engage in higher-order thinking skills when required to evaluate multiple sources. . . . Thus, introducing students to multiple science texts with a common theme to encourage integration may be one way to improve thinking and comprehension about science concepts”

Page 39: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Synthesizing Ideas

• Synthesizing ideas across multiple sources engage “higher-order thinking skills” (Linderholm et al., 2014)’

• The challenge of linking narrative and expository modes

Page 40: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

ACTIVE Reading Strategies

3. Use an active reading system1. Review the text’s internal

organizers2. Skim rapidly over chapter3. Read closely, circling, marking,

annotating4. Develop questions 5. Test yourself

Page 41: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Mark/Lookup/Test

• sharpen focus by marking the text

• Dr. Robert Bjork (UCLA) dismisses the highlighter!

• Develop the habit of looking up new words & testing yourself on them

• Test yourself on all new material

• Use creative, high-challenge questions with limited prompts

Page 42: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Super-Secret Password

A new security technique combines cryptography with neuroscience to create passwords that are stored in users' brains but cannot be recalled or otherwise extracted by coercion. The system is based on the process of implicit learning, in which the brain learns a pattern without consciously recognizing it. At Stanford University, researchers Bojinov, Sanchez, Reber, and Lincoln had test subjects play a computer game in which they had to catch falling objects on the screen by pressing one of six keys (S, D, F, & J, K, L), with each key corresponding to a position on the screen.

Page 43: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Overprompting

• The process by which the brain learns a pattern without consciously recognizing it is _________ learning. implicit

Page 44: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Higher Challenge

• Name and describe the process by which passwords are learned unconsciously: Implicit learning

Page 45: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Super-Secret Password

The positions of the falling objects in the game appeared to be random, but they were not. Buried in the game was a sequence of positions that “taught” users a 30-character sequence of the 6 letters.

Page 46: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Overprompting

• The password users learned contained _________ characters. 30

Page 47: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Higher Challenge

• How many different passwords could be created by this system?

nr ,

n = 6; r = 30

630

(quite a few)

Page 48: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Self-Testing

• Using the information makes it memorable

• “Flashcard” approach has merit—but it is very limited

• Short-term memory effect makes people overestimate their knowledge

• Use testing with delayed feedback

Page 49: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Sketching

• graphics are integral elements—sketch graphics for better recall

Page 50: Improving Reading Speed and Recall: A Workshop with Richard Špaček go.unb.ca/studentsuccess.

Speed/Learning

• Speed reading is for material that is highly predictable & redundant

• Your reading material is denser and unfamiliar

• Expect greater effort and lower speed

. . . For more:

www.unbwritingcentre.ca/Workshops


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