You must try to correct these mistakes:
- Body movement: Some readers use a finger or a pencil to signal their reading. This is an unnecessary mechanical movement that slows down their reading. This is easy to correct: hold the book with both hands while you read.
- Regressions and setbacks: You might make stops while reading, and you might go back and reread what you already read, whether it is to make sure what you read is right or because you didn’t understand something. These things hurt your reading speed, and even your comprehension. You shouldn’t do it unless it’s absolutely necessary.
How to correct it? By covering the text, as you read, with a card or a piece of paper.
- Reading aloud: It’s a waste of time to move your lips or tongue, because you read with your eyes.
How can you know if you’re making these mistakes? Put a pencil between your lips, and if it moves as you read, then you’re making that mistake. Put your tongue on the ceiling of your mouth when you read, or eat something while you read.
- Mental repetition: It consists of mentally pronouncing the words when reading. It’s as if we were reading the text to ourselves.
To see if you’re doing it, put a finger softly on your throat, and then you can see if it’s moving or not.
The best way to correct this effect is by reading so quickly that you can’t do mental repetition.