One of the first steps in becoming

One of the first steps in becoming a more efficient and flexible reader is learning to vary your reading rate. As discussed in the previous lessons, many adults read everything in the same way: at the same rate with the same level of comprehension. This lesson will discuss several methods for increasing and varying your reading rate.Eye-Movement Patterns Reading is primarily a thinking process. There are, however, physical aspects of reading: your eyes recognize words and transmit them in the form of signals to the brain. While the physical aspects of reading are far less important than the cognitive processes, it is worthwhile to consider briefly what occurs physically as you read. The following brief overview of the physical aspects of reading will familiarize you with eye movement patterns and will help you recognize habits that interfere with rate and comprehension. What Happens When You Read Your eyes are highly specialized and complicated instruments. They have the capacity to recognize words rapidly and to transmit them in the form of signals to the brain. Mental processes become involved as your brain attaches meaning to the signals it receives. As these two processes occur, you comprehend what you are reading. To explain what occurs as your eyes move across a line of print, let us look at some physical features of the eye-movement process. Left-to-Right Progression Your eyes are already well trained to move in a left-to-right pattern across the page. The speed of this progression, however, is variable and can be significantly increased with practice and training. Fixation As your eyes move across a line of print, they move and stop, move and stop. When your eyes are in motion, they do not see anything. When your eyes stop, or focus, this is called a fixation. As your eyes move across a line of print, then, they make a number of stops, or fixations, and the number of fixations you make per line is directly related to your reading efficiency. Eye span As your eyes stop, or fixate, while progressing from left to right across the line, they see a certain number of words or letters. The amount you see during each fixation is called your eye span: some readers see only a part of a word in each fixation; others are able to see a whole word in one fixation. Still others may see several words in each fixation.