Here I take on Common Misconception #3 that many people have about reading. That misconception is regarding the belief of many people that by reading every word in the text will help and aid your comprehension. When the opposite is true - & this is in part connected to Bad Reading Habit #2 of subvocalizing. What you need to learn is to group words together and see every word - instead of subvocalizing them - because that will help you increase your reading speed and comprehension.

Common misconception #3: Reading every word helps comprehension

In this short video series, I will go into three of the seven very common misconceptions I hear from my students regarding their reading habits. These are misconceptions that might be holding you back – and you need to find out if this applies to you. If any of the three misconceptions I mention here apply to you – that is alright – do not worry about it - because that only means that you are on the exactly right page for you. Because in order for you to take the next step – you need to know what misunderstandings or fallacies you have today in order to fix them – and take the right step in going forward.

Another very common misconception is that many believe that reading every word helps their comprehension. My biggest hurdle is getting them to believe that this is not so – that their mind is capable of so much more.

If you think about it – in your head sits the greatest computer that man has in his possession – capable of much more processing power than any man-made computer. Do you really think that your brain needs to read every single word in the text to understand its meaning? Or could it be, that you have built a habit – and for years that habit has been set firmly in place – so that now even if you wanted to read without reading every word – your old and outdated habit holds you back.

Every habit has its time – when it is time to cast the habit aside and set a new habit in place – we need to be firm. It is easy to understand that a child that is learning to read – needs to read word for word. They do not have the vocabulary yet to be able to know the words – instinctively when they see them. You can!

Do you really think that a habit that you set in place at the age of six or seven – can still be of use to you at your age? I ask my college and university students to really think about this. Do they really believe that a habit that they set in place at the age of six or seven – can be of use reading the books that their college or university requires of them? Of course not! They are allowing their old habits to hold them back – and it is high time to break that habit.

I ask my students if they held on to more habits from when they were six or seven – like if they used the same time management skills as a six and seven-year-old – would that be of help to them in their College or University or at their place of work? Of course not! We have been routinely asked to evolve our time management skills as we grew older - to be punctual, to hand in reports on time, to start our work on reports and assignments on time and so on.

There never came a time at school for most of us that we were asked to evolve our reading skills. Even if we were reading more difficult material, that demanded more of us, and slowly growing our non-native language skills when we grow older and start reading books of various other languages. We were never taught that we needed to – take the next step – to allow our reading skills to evolve.

Today you have the vocabulary – when you see a word – you know it – you know its meaning at a fraction of a second. It is not even necessary for your brain to have the words correctly typed or in the right order (See example below) for you to instinctively know what the author is trying to tell you.

EXAMPLE:

It is hgih tmie for you to csat of yuor tainnirg wehel in yuor radenig. You msut aollw yuor rieadng siklls to eovlve fthurer for you to be albe to bomece the gerat rdeaer you wree ditnesed to be.

Just like I tell my students in my courses and books when I ask my ten to ten to twelve-year-old students if they still use their training wheels when they are out riding their bikes. They all answer with a firm no. Kids know instinctively when they should lose their training wheels. Some of them need only a day, some need a week, others a month. But when they look at their older friends in the neighborhood, their siblings or cousins, riding their bike without training wheels – they are going much faster – they are having more fun.

Kids know that if they hold on to their training wheels for too long – that will hold them back. They will not be going as fast or having as much fun. I ask them to do the same with their habit of subvocalizing every single word in their text – to cast away their training wheels – and allow them more speed and more fun in their reading.

This is what you need to do today. Subvocalizing has its use – I myself use it today – but not in every single word. To subvocalize every fifth or seventh word in the text is normal – that would be the unfamiliar words that you encounter in the book. The words that are not in your vocabulary. It might be the longer words or difficult statistics or Latin words that you encounter in your text.

Your vocabulary is extensive – specifically if you are a voracious reader – then you would have amassed a great vocabulary. Allow that vocabulary to help you further your reading skills. You can easily do this. It is not unusual that 95 to 98 percent of the words that you encounter in your book – are known to you – you have read them before – they are in your vocabulary. Use them more efficiently in your reading.

When you were taught to read – you were taught to read letters – group those letters – and create words. Now you will do exactly the same thing to cast off those training wheels and allow your reading skills to evolve. You will use your extensive vocabulary and when you are reading – instead of grouping letters to create words – group words and allow yourself to increase your reading speed, focus, and comprehension.

In conclusion

Reading every word does not help with comprehension, it is a habit that you have allowed to hold you back for far too long. It is a habit that you set in place when you were learning to read, and you need to understand that habits that you set in place at that age will not be of service to you in your reading material today. You need to cast off your training wheels and allow yourself to take the next step – evolve your reading skills further and gain more speed, focus and comprehension.