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The Habit Of Inner Speech

"Inner Speech" is one of the main causes of slow reading. The most obvious example of inner speech is when someone actually moves their lips as they whisper or silently articulate the words they are reading (Lester and Wheeler, 55).

A less obvious form of inner speech is a sounding of the word in your mind. In this form of inner speech, the reader mentally sounds each word in order to comprehend the word's meaning.

You can easily see how inner speech slows reading. When you speak the words that you are reading, you need to coordinate your eyes, ears, voice, and brain. On the other hand, silent reading needs only eye and mind coordination:

"Because oral reading is neurologically more complex, it may be more tiring, a slower process, and less satisfactory in terms of comprehension. The habit of verbalizing restricts the speed of silent reading to oral reading rate" (Lester and Wheeler, 55).

The Habit Of Inner Audition

The habit of "inner audition" closely relates to the habit of inner speech. Whereas inner speech refers to speaking the words you read, inner audition refers to mentally hearing the words you read. A common symptom of inner audition is undue concern about pronunciation:

"An example is the reader who feels compelled to hear or pronounce a new word, a difficult name, or a foreign phrase even though the meaning is unimportant or made perfectly clear by the context" (Lester and Wheeler, 55).

A fast reader relies mainly on what they see, rather than what they hear.

Exercises To Improve Reading Speed

To get out of the bad habits of inner speech and inner hearing, try these exercises.

1. Timed Reading Exercises

Choose some easy reading material, such as a popular magazine or even a children's book. Read the material as quickly as you can. Emphasize the speed of your reading rather than comprehension:

"Poor comprehension is expected during the initial process of breaking down old rate habits and building new ones. Gradually as the 'feel' for rapid reading develops, comprehension requirements may be increased. Slow readers usually protest being forced to read uncomfortably fast, complaining of comprehension loss, annoyance, and fatigue; however, patience and consistent practice result in improving rate of comprehension" (Lester and Wheeler, 56).

2. Translation Exercises

Again, choose materials that are easy to read. As you read a sentence or passage from the material, substitute your own words and ideas for the author's words and ideas. For example, imagine you are reading this passage:

"Speed reading drills are vital to increasing your reading speed. They can also be enjoyable."

You might read this passage orally by substituting your own synonymous words and ideas:

"Speed reading exercises are important for faster reading, and they can be fun".

Through these translation exercises, you will gradually replace the slow "see-say-hear-think" habit with the faster "see-think" habit of the fast reader.

3. Say "13, 14, 15, 16, 13, 14, 15, 16", etc

This exercise comes from research done by Rudolf Pintner. Once again, select easy-reading materials. As you read the material silently to yourself, count aloud "13, 14, 15, 16, 13, 14, 15, 16, etc". Count this series enough times to make the counting process mechanical. You might find this exercise hard at first, but you will soon get used to it. After enough exercises,  you will hopefully have now reduced the habit of inner speech when it comes time to read for real.

References

R Lester and Viola D Wheeler, "Improving Rate of Comprehension" (1955) 39(1) High School Journal 53

John O'Brien, Silent Reading, With Special Reference to Methods for Developing Speed (1922)

Rudolph Pinter, "Inner Speech During Silent Reading" (1915) 20 Psychological Review 123