The most rewarding personal activity (5) - Reading aloud practice will improve reading comprehension speed imperceptibly

By Xiaolai Li, rewritten in English by Mr. Y

Normally, we don't pay much attention to our reading speed, especially when reading for leisure; "Speed" is almost a non-considerable factor - fast or slow depends entirely on personal preference. Some people enjoy meticulous reading, while others prefer skimming - and many more are simply too lazy to read, opting instead for picture books and movies. People only care about their reading speed during exams, such as domestic exams like the CET-4 and CET-6, or international exams like TOEFL, SAT, GRE, GMAT, and LSAT - most people feel their reading speed is too slow, even running out of time. Although exams are never something people like, excellent exam results are often a passport to a person's development, so people have to work hard for them.

In the workplace, input is crucial because if a person's reading comprehension speed is not fast enough, it will significantly limit their abilities - because the speed at which they acquire, filter, and select information, as well as the amount and quality of information they acquire, will be limited to varying degrees.

To address the limitations of reading speed, people (including teachers and students) have offered a variety of solutions and suggestions, while also defined many so-called "bad habits", such as "lip reading", "finger reading", "rewinding" and "translation reading". Many students, when faced with problems, will inevitably catch at a straw, believing that methods like "lip reading" and "finger reading" are truly bad habits. In fact, no matter how absurd something seems, if someone is willing to state it definitively, many people will believe it without question. Aren't we encounter countless examples of this every day?

These "speed reading" suggestions are essentially superficial solutions, as they only address the issue of input speed, not the speed of comprehension after input. What good is fast input if comprehension can't keep up? Sometimes I wonder why so many people, while thinking about improving their "reading comprehension speed", only focus on "speed" and completely ignore the importance of "comprehension" in their actual reading. Perhaps it's due to the habit of "skimming"? They inadvertently skip over the word "comprehension" simply not paying attention… This is a perfect example of how well-intentioned but imprecise suggestions can ultimately lead to negative consequences.

Seeing only the surface without delving into the essence is the root cause of why all problems remain unsolved. The bottleneck in reading comprehension speed lies in the speed of understanding, not the speed of input.

There are at least three ways to "input":

• Skimming: Quickly browsing text with your eyes (which inevitably comes at the cost of missing some information).

• Silent reading: While browsing text with your eyes, you mentally "speak" the text without actually uttering a sound.

• Lip reading: While browsing text with your eyes, you move your lips to "speak" the text.

In real life, no one ever uses only one of the three input methods - whether reading their native language or a foreign language. Instead, people unconsciously choose their input method based on their needs. When the reading material is relatively simple (i.e., the reader's comprehension is relatively strong in this area), "skimming" is more common. When the content is more difficult, "silent reading" is used. If the content is relatively difficult, "lip reading" naturally follows - because this slows down the reading speed, allowing more time for reflection and digestion.

Therefore, "skimming", "silent reading", and "lip reading" are all just input methods, each with its own usefulness, and are by no means bad habits. If students believe that "lip reading" and "silent reading" are bad habits, they are essentially "a three-legged cat with two legs cut off", in other words, "adding insult to injury".

The same applies to everyone: the difficulty of reading content is inversely proportional to reading comprehension speed; that is, the more difficult the content being read, the slower the reader's comprehension speed. The input methods we use ("skimming", "silent reading", and "lip reading") must be matched with the speed of comprehension. Therefore, once a reader starts using lip reading, it indicates that the content has reached a certain level of difficulty. At this level of difficulty, the reader's comprehension speed is less than or equal to their lip-reading speed. If the comprehension speed is even lower, the reader may need to reread the content several times or even return to a previous point (the previous sentence, previous paragraph, or even the previous page) to find a clue that helps them find their way back.

Written text itself has a sound, simply because most people are neither deaf nor mute. Therefore, it's impossible to avoid sound when understanding written text. If you examine your own so-called "skimming" process, you'll find that the voice in your head is always present. Essentially, the reason that voice sometimes sounds "intermittent" during "skimming" is simply because you've "skipped" over some content that you could correctly infer even without reading it all; the voice only "reads" the content that "must be read to avoid affecting comprehension" - this could be sentences or just a few words. Furthermore, any normal person can at most deliberately avoid "lip reading", but they cannot avoid "silent reading".

Most English beginners find that their "comprehension speed" can't even keep up with their "reading speed" when reading texts of a certain difficulty. In fact, for language proficiency tests like the TOEFL, test takers only need to make their "comprehension speed" comparable to their "reading speed", and then they will have plenty of time in the exam room. However, the SAT, GRE, and GMAT require much higher comprehension speed. Since reading aloud can improve text comprehension, it is the most effective training method for improving reading comprehension speed—although it may not be immediately apparent.

Copyright & Republication

Original Chinese text by Xiaolai Li (copyright released). English translation ©2025 Mr. Y.

Republication of this translation is permitted, provided that both the original author (Xiaolai Li) and the translator (Mr. Y) are credited, and a link to the original translation on blossomsblog.com is included.

For other matters concerning this translation, please contact: info@blossomsblog.com