Does reading more books increase reading speed?

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Bibliophile97
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Re: Does reading more books increase reading speed?

Post by Bibliophile97 »

To a certain extant I would say yes. The more you read the more information your brain has to allow it to better recognize the letters and words that make up that sentence so it is then able to more easily process the information and allow you to read at a faster rate. But no one has the same physiology and so one person my be a naturally faster reader then another because their brain is able to quickly and more easily process the words as well as adapt to the written language. Another person may be unable to develop a faster reading speed because of certain genes or defects in the brain, though mankind is able adapt to most anything, so it would probably be more of a steep incline then a plateau.
I think it would improve comprehension because of a similar reasoning to the above statement.
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Post by zuli »

Yes, definitely. Reading is a skill and like most skills, you improve with practice. Reading more books not only increases your reading speed but also increases your vocabulary or word power.
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Post by jechamer »

Yes, the more you read, the faster you get. It generally also increases vocabulary and spelling ability - although my mom is the exception to this. She reads alot and still can't spell.
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Post by dhomespot »

I would have to say it depends on the type of book. There are some books that are so good that you just fly through them. The problem usually comes from being able to comprehend what you just read. Books that have a lot of unfamiliar words, I had a book that I had to use the dictionary, are naturally going to slow you down if you really want to know what a word means.
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Post by SoftCoyote »

A few years ago I would say yes, but that's because I was reading books too fast. My comprehension of the books wasn't necessarily matured enough for me to get everything I needed out of them.
But now, I say no as I've learned to comprehend them better instead of just racing through the books.
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Post by yalonde »

I am not sure, but I have always read a little slower than others. I can read fast, but it takes me longer to read a book because I like to actually vision what is going on. I often stop to think about things that are occurring in the book.
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Post by Wolfsbane Creations »

Definitely
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Post by jmalone1994 »

I would think so, I mean your reading speed depends on your level of reading comprehension and like all skills this is a skill that can be improved with practice. So I'd say that yes, reading speed can improve with the amount of books you read.
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Post by ttuso22 »

I would say reading more books within a time frame would increase the speed but that is because you are probably trying to finish them for school ha-ha. Otherwise I find that reading more doesn't increase my reading speed. It is usually the type of book that increases/decreases my reading speed. If it is a classic I usually slow down, but if it is suspense or YA I usually pick up in my reading speed.
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Post by readinginreview4 »

I think practice makes perfect! It's like when your little. The more you read the better you are with word and forming them.
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Post by amansmith »

Maybe. I have always been a fast reader, but maybe it has helped me a little bit. I am not as concerned about how fast I read the book as I am with how good the book is. I think if the book is really good that I will read it faster than a book that doesn't interest me as much.
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Post by JessiAnne26 »

Ah! it'd be so interesting to conduct a study of this. I'd be so interested to know. I was told, against standardized testing anyway, that i excelled at reading comprehension back in grade school but now that i read for pleasure I find the stories i've read so hard to recall let alone analyze. I wonder if someone already has done studies regarding this, i'd love to be a part of it i think.
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Post by SidnayC »

I think reading a lot trains your mind to digest information more quickly on a page... so yes. It's the same way with typing.
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Post by DlVERGENT »

I don't think so.. I mean sure, sometimes you read more and faster but I highly doubt it's because you read a lot, it's probably because you like the book or you just feel like reading?
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Post by mwitt21w »

I believe it does just so long you actually read and comprehend. Schools test how fast a child reads based on a series of words and difficulty of words per minute. I would have loved to do this to see what my Lexil and Dibel score was.
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