Reading for IELTS
Reading for IELTS is a vital skill for IELTS reading test and in daily life. If reading speed is low, reading can become a frustrating experience, which reduces reading interest and slows reading progress.
“I am reading English books but I cannot finish them because my reading speed is too slow,” said one of my students recently.
Reading Speed
High reading speed helps us to enjoy reading more and can mean the difference between passing and failing an exam. It allows you to read more material in less time so we can fit it in with other activities such as work or study.
Factors of Reading Speed
There are several factors that affect our reading speeds:
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Genes:
some people have faster eye movements than others and this affects their reading speed;
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Age:
from reading research it appears that reading speed slows down as we age, although reading techniques can compensate for slowing reading speeds;
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How much reading you do:
reading more means our reading speeds will improve;
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Type of text:
some types of texts are easier to read than others and this makes them quicker to read;
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Interest in the material:
if you are interested in reading material, it tends to be read at a faster rate.
Seven Tips for Reading Speed
I’ve outlined seven tips below which I hope may help to increase your reading speed and make reading an enjoyable experience.
1. Practice Eye Exercises
Eye exercises can help us control our eye movements to improve reading speeds. Some good exercises include moving your eyes in circles or along lines. While reading, you can do some of these exercises during a break or just before reading.
2. Reduce Sub vocalization
Sub vocalization is reading with your voice and happens automatically without our attention. It slows down reading because we need to say each word as we read it – perhaps at around 200 words per minute – which is slower than reading without subvocalizing (around 400 words per minute). One quick way to reduce subvocalizing is to try the “breathing” exercise: breathe in normally for 3 seconds; hold for 2 seconds; exhale slowly over 4 seconds; pause for 2 seconds; repeat three times, then read silently. You will find that reading fluently and quickly becomes easier.
3.Increase reading speed by absorbing more words at a time
Each reading fixation – or each time we look at a word – is called a “fixation”. To increase reading speed, we need to reduce the number of fixations needed to read and absorb information whilst reading. This means increasing our reading span: the number of words we can effectively take in before needing to make another eye movement. The best way to do this is through reading as much as possible from authentic material such as newspapers, magazines and non-fiction books. We build up our reading spans gradually as that number increases over time because it’s an automatic process involving many different skills including vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension strategies.
4. Practice reading online for free
Readingpractice.com provides reading tests, reading articles and reading passages which are all free of charge to access at your convenience. This website is quick and easy to use with the reading passages being divided into several levels according to difficulty. There are four reading modes:
– Listening mode: we listen to audio and read at the same time;
– Reading mode: we read silently and choose whether or not we want audio;
– Multiple choice mode: we pick one answer only from a list of five options provided for each question; and
– Cloze test mode: we select an answer for every blank in a reading passage so it makes sense when completed selecting the correct words from a list.
5. Improve reading comprehension by following reading strategies
Reading strategies are things that we do during reading to help us understand the text better and increase reading speed at the same time. An example is “making inferences”: reading between the lines to use our knowledge of a topic to make educated guesses about what we’re reading
Here are some examples:
- predicting what will happen next in a story;
- forming mental images based on descriptions of events, characters or objects;
- comparing content across different texts that have similar themes or topics
- scanning the reading text for specific information needed for an assignment by quickly looking over heading, subheadings and bold print. For example, if you need to find out where a story takes place, look for the word location. These reading strategies will help you enjoy your reading and improve your reading speed at the same time.
6. Seek Feedback from a Tutor
Seek tutoring if poor reading skills are affecting academic progress. If reading comprehension is slow because there are gaps in basic reading skills such as sight word recognition or phonics, it’s advisable to see an experienced reading tutor who can find out where those gaps lie and how they can be filled. A free initial consultation with our educational experts might be enough to give you that extra boost you need to improve reading fluency and increase reading speed. You could begin enjoying reading soon after that!
7. Find Out How Your Reading Skills Measure Up
You’re reading and comprehension skills in English will be assessed through reading passages and questions about them on the IELTS test. You can sit a free IELTS reading test with your local British Council office to better understand your reading speed and fluency. It’s advisable to take an online reading assessment such as this one so you can see which areas need more practice, then allocate more time towards these areas when practicing reading for pleasure or doing self-study.
Reading quickly is a skill that can be learned and improved with practice.
-There are three main techniques that can help you improve your reading speed: skimming, scanning, and chunking.
-Each of these techniques has its own specific purpose and can be used together to create an overall strategy for improving your reading speed.
-By using these techniques, you can not only improve your IELTS score but also become a more proficient reader in general.
IELTS in Lucknow
Lucknow is known as the capital of Uttar Pradesh. The manners, the beautiful gardens, the poetry and music, and the beautiful cuisine, sponsored by the city’s Shia Persian-speaking Nawabs, are popular among Hindus and students of South Asian culture and history.
If you are looking for IELTS coaching then, I suggest you IELTS coaching in Lucknow. Coaching in Lucknow are well established and affordable also. Tutors are highly educated. They also solve their queries regarding IELTS reading test. Faculty in Lucknow focuses on all the parts of IELTS. Like, reading, speaking, listening and writing. So, go and find the best IELTS coaching classes in Lucknow. For any further query, just go through overseas education consultants anytime.
With IELTS Reading Task, you can also read IELTS Writing Task