To examine the difference in attention capacity when reading difficult or easy text, a study presented text that varied in difficulty to 22 subjects via a computer monitor. The text was presented in a self-paced manner, one word at a time. Reading times for each word were obtained by computing latencies between key presses. Whenever a flashing…

First and second graders were taught to recognize a set of written words either more accurately or more rapidly. Both before and after word training, they named pictures printed with and without these words as distractors. Of interest was whether training would enhance or diminish the interference created by these words in the picture naming task.…

The improvement of college students' reading rate and comprehension is a major educational concern. Many students arrive at college unprepared for the massive amount of required reading. This study presents several attempts to improve vocabulary, reading rate, and comprehension and addresses tangential issues related to the improvement of reading…

A study was conducted to examine the relationship of reading rate to comprehension on material read with a pacer and without a pacer. Two hundred paired scores were obtained in a college reading and study skills course in which students read both paced and nonpaced material alternately during class time and recorded their rate and comprehension…

The hypothesis of this study was that reading rate would be relatively constant (within a 15% range of the subject's mean reading rate) both within and across different difficulty levels of materials as long as the levels of difficulty remained at or below the subject's ability level. The subjects were 65 college students whose reading levels…

This study explored the effects of different sentence conditions upon reading comprehension as evidenced by reading rate and recall taken at various times. Thirty-two subjects from a California high school representing four sex-by-ability groups, read experimental material on a table-top programmer while being timed. Recall responses were recorded…

An overview of significant research studies, bibliographies, historical reviews, definitions, and commentaries on speed reading during the past 60 years is presented in this paper. The first part of the paper considers the concept and definitions of speed reading, and summarizes research from the l940s and 1950s--including discussion of eye…

A study explored an application of rauding theory to the developmental components that contribute to elementary-age children's reading comprehension. The relationships among cognitive power, auditory accuracy level, pronunciation (word recognition) level, rauding (comprehension) accuracy level, rauding rate (reading rate) level, and rauding…

Noting that the use of all-capital print on microcomputer screens eliminates the configuration clues (ascending and descending letters that create the physical shape of the word) that help a reader recognize a word and read more quickly, a study was conducted to examine the effect of all-capital print versus standard mixed print on reading speed…

A study was devised to determine whether internal reading flexibility would be manifested by individual proficient readers, operating in the "rauding" mode (typical reading manner), and observed in a natural setting reading passages from textbook materials. Reading times were examined using both number of standard words and number of…

The eye movements of two college graduates were monitored in a study of flexible reading, which is defined as the ability to adjust one's rate and approach to reading according to the purpose of reading, the difficulty of the material, and one's knowledge of the subject matter. The subjects were told to read an excerpt from a tenth grade biology…

This study examined the adaptability of reading rate to passage difficulty under different conditions of task-induced processing. Sixteen experimental passages varying in subject matter and ranging from 85 to 171 words were selected from a set of 32 texts rated for comprehensibility. The eight easiest and eight hardest texts were selected. Another…

A study was conducted to evaluate reading strategies by contrasting regression results of 10 fast versus 10 slow readers. At the word level the lag effect was evaluated. At the text level, the few-argument strategy versus the many-argument strategy and the physical and the syntactic strategies were evaluated. The absolute proportion of the lag…

The development of rapid word processing skills was investigated using a visual search task. Visual displays of varying orthographic structure (words, pseudowords, nonwords) were presented to college students and to kindergarten, second-grade, and fourth-grade children. Response latencies were measured as subjects indicated whether a previously…

First and third grade children's ability to coordinate reading and listening was studied using a "mismatch detection" task. A total of 15 first grade children and 15 third grade children of average to below average reading ability read printed texts while listening to recordings of the same texts, in which extraneous spoken words were…