Reading

33% of high school graduates never read another book the rest of their lives and 42% of college grads never read another book after college.

Reading is an academic subject considered crucial to modern elementary education. It is one of the 3 R's (reading, 'riting, and 'rithmetic).

Everyone can benefit from improving their reading skills. Even superb readers can learn to read faster, with practice. For example, there is a World Championship Speed Reading Competition, in which a six-time world champion, has been clocked at reading at 4,200 words per minute with good, but far from perfect, comprehension.

• Do we read whole words in an instant, or by sounds? The path to fluency is through mastering the connection between letter combinations and the sounds they represent. The fact is that our letters stand for sounds, not ideas. While some still debate "whole language" versus "phonics" instruction, the phonics approach has won that debate.

Reading comprehension

See also: Reading comprehension

Reading comprehension is the knowledge gained by reading. It is affected by brain capacity, general knowledge including vocabulary, and to some extent by reading skills. Reading skills stress maintaining interest in the material being read, such as by stopping to wonder what was just read or even taking notes. Taking notes in a notebook is more instructive than highlighting text and prevents damage to the publication.

Increasing reading comprehension

To increase reading comprehension, you can: build vocabulary, actively engage with the text by asking questions and making connections, summarize key points, identify the main idea, use context clues to understand unfamiliar words, prioritize background knowledge on the topic, and practice visualizing what you read; consider reading challenging texts at a slower pace and re-reading sections that are confusing.

Source: How do you increase readng comprehension

See also

• Phonics vs. Whole language debate (Long recommended by conservatives, phonics is widely accepted today as being the superior way to learn to read.)
  • Mystery:Why is Phonics Taught in the UK but not the US?
  • Phonics
  • Whole language