Are Speed Reading Courses Harmful To The Psyche? - Blogs, Self-development

In high school, our "computer" children do not have time to master the literature program. The teacher says that there are techniques for speedy conceptual reading. I wonder if such courses can help you read more books in a short time. And the most important question - isn't it harmful for the psyche of children and adolescents?

Yaroslava, 37 years old

What is speed reading?

This is a combination of several techniques that contribute to the rapid perception of information. This definition can be found in speed-reading friendly texts. Attention: Promises fast perception of information. It is also promised that there is no loss of quality in the assimilation of information, despite the fact that reading is spent several times less time.

Speed reading techniques

1. Suppression of internal pronunciation.
2. Suppression of regressions (that is, eye movements returning to the part of a phrase just read).
3. Surface Reading - View Mode.
4. Ability to highlight keywords.
5. Expansion of the field of vision - holistic perception of pieces of text. Trained by working with the "middle line".

Is it harmful or not?

The question is posed in an interesting way: "Are speed reading courses harmful?" I think the courses are not harmful. As far as I was able to study the information, the courses offer exercises:

• to train attention;
• to expand peripheral vision, the field of perception;
• on the development of visual memory;
• to develop skills in working with texts.

These are all very useful skills that can be applied in different areas of life. In the courses, these skills are applied to a specific process - increasing the reading speed.

There are many accolades and impressive videos on the web. There are also reviews of a different kind. For example, it is reported that in the process of mastering speed reading, a person has lost the ability to read to himself and can now only read aloud. I never mastered speed reading. Other reviews suggest that speed reading has been mastered, but in processes that require slow analysis and attention (contract proofreading), it gets in the way.

I think that based on the idea of different channels of perception of the world, people have different possibilities for mastering speed reading. Visuals (people for whom the main channel is the visual) have great abilities for this. While for the audience, an attempt to "remove" the internal pronunciation of the read can play a cruel joke. The information will not be digested.

Probably, the mechanism of ordinary reading, which includes both the systems of vision and inner hearing, is not accidental. And this is not to mention the kinesthetics, who perceive the world through the sensations of the body, for which it is already difficult.

Speed reading: why?

In one article, which is friendly to speed reading, I came across the following phrase: “How do we read books on teaching fast reading? If we are seriously engaged in mastering speed reading, then we will read the textbook on this topic at the slowest pace, since our main goal will not be speed, but understanding of the material read."

And in this phrase for me - exposure. If we need a deep understanding of the material, speed reading will not work

It works well on lyrics themselves superficial, abounding, entertaining. For example, speed reading would be ideal for reading this text.

Would you like to be treated by a doctor who has read the medical Talmuds with the help of speed reading, superficially, highlighting the main words? And so that the house in which you live was designed by such an architect? Probably, speed reading would be useful for reading philosophy, which is taught in all universities in the first year. But for the study of specialized subjects - hardly.

Speed reading and literature

What is the teacher's pursuit of giving such a recommendation to parents and children? So that the children formally swallow the books of the school curriculum, formally write essays and run on? Not literature for man, but man for literature. In this case, speed reading is like a brush for painting the grass before the arrival of the general.

The recommendation does not account for student differences. Visuals may master speed reading, but audials and kinesthetics will lose more than they gain

And here's another: how fast reading is suitable for a full-fledged reading of a literary work? My opinion is not at all. Slow reading fills the text with emotions, living with the heroes of something of their own. When speed reading, the text is cold, emotionally empty, dead. What is the teacher's idea of stuffing the heads of students with dead texts? All in the name of the totem deity - Programs? Sad, gentlemen.

One of the linguistic teachers I respect, Asya Stein, leads a group on one of the social networks called "Slow Reading with Asya Stein." This idea is to my liking.

So…

Speed reading, and especially the exercises that are used to teach him, are hardly harmful, and even useful.

Speed reading is just a tool; it is not suitable for all texts. It is ideal for high-water content in the media or for non-core subjects. But it is difficult to recommend it for fiction, reading legal and other documentation, professional literature.

Speed reading is not for everyone. There are people for whom it is potentially not useful. Sometimes difficulties are encountered when trying to turn on the "normal" reading mode.

If speed reading was a panacea, humanity would have already learned it in full force. But for almost 70 years it has remained an experimental method. Whether to take part in the experiment is up to everyone.