Introduction of Reading for Speed and Fluency

Reading for Speed and Fluency-Introduction

Why is it good to read fast?
Most learners of English read very slowly, often less than 100 words per minute. They can easily read much faster if they read passages at the right level, and if they have some practice in reading faster. These books will help you do this.

Why is it good to read faster? When you can read faster, you will find it easier to understand. You do not spend your time spelling out words, and so you can give more time to understanding. When you read faster, you can read more. Reading can be fun. It is more fun when you can do it easily at a good speed.

There are many kinds of reading: reading for study, reading for fun, reading to learn about the world (such as reading newspapers), and reading for follow instructions. When you become faster at one kind of reading, you will also be faster at these other kinds of reading.

You may also be able to listen a bit faster because you are used to working with English at a fast speed.

This part of your English course is different from other parts. In the other parts of your English course, you meet new words and new pieces of grammar and learn them but by bit. This part of your English course, however, tries to have almost no new things to learn. It tries to make you use what you already know and use it as well as you possibly can. This is called “becoming fluent.” When you are fluent in a language, you can use what you know well.

The goal of this book is to help you become a fluent reader at all levels of your learning.

The passages in these books
The passages in these reading books are written to help you read faster. Most learners of English read slowly, but with a little practice, they can read as fast as many native speakers.

Most learners read slowly because they meet many unknown words in their reading. The passages in these books have been prepared so that there will be very few unknown words in them. First, the passages are written in familiar useful vocabulary. Second, the passages are about familiar things. Third, the passages are grouped into themes so that the five passages on the same theme will become easier as you read
your way through them. The earlier passages will make the later ones more familiar. Fourth, difficult vocabulary is reviewed before you read the passages. All of these things are done so that you can read the passages quickly without meeting unknown words. The purpose of these books is to help you read faster.

Using the books
You should follow these steps when you read the books. Your teacher can help you with this.

Step 1: Do the exercises and learn the vocabulary at the beginning of each set of passages. Make sure you know these words well before you begin reading the passages.

Step 2: Before reading each passages look at the time. If you are reading in class, the teacher will tell you when to begin.

Step 3: Read the passages as quickly as you can while trying to understand the passage.

Step 4: As soon as you finish reading, write down how many minutes and seconds it took you to read the passage.

Step 5: Turn the page and answer the questions. When you answer the questions, do not look back at the passage.

Step 6: Check your answers to the questions using the answer keys in the back of the book.

Step7: Write your speed and question score in one of the graphs at the back of the book. Every passage in the book has almost exactly the same number of words, so your reading time can tell you your reading speed.

Step8: Look at your reading speed. You should try to read at around 250 words per minute. You may have to read many passages before you can get to this speed, but this should be your goal. When you read the next passage, try to go faster.

Some things to think about
These books are written to help you read faster. Your goal is not to be the fastest reader in the world, but you should learn to read at a normal, comfortable reading speed. For most people this is around 250 words per minute, but some read faster.

Reading faster is only good if you also understand what you read. That is why there are questions after each story. If you get an answer wrong, that is not a problem. Your main goal is to read faster. However, the questions are easy so that you can read faster and get all or most of them correct.

You check your own questions and measure your own speed. It is easy to cheat if you want to. However, if you cheat, your teacher cannot give you the help yoou need to read faster. If you cheat, you know that your speed and question sore is not really your score. Use these books honestly and properly and you will see your reading get better.

If you like the idea of reading faster, you can help yourself by doing other easy reading. It is not possible to read faster if you are always meeting unknown words. You can add to the learning from these books by reading other, longer easy books as quickly as you can.