By Serenson Pty Ltd
Introduction
The purpose of this article is to provide a guide or framework for evaluating speed reading software. Our aim is to develop a framework that is as fair, factual, and comprehensive as is reasonably possible.
Our proposed framework is by no means perfect, nor is it necessarily the best framework. Ideally, speed reading software should be tested against actual results in the field, such as demonstrable improvements in people’s reading speeds and comprehension levels.
These results should be based on a sufficient number of the software’s users and on scholarly, scientific methodology. However, this kind of wide-scale study of speed reading software would require time, money, expertise, and resources that a website like ours simply does not possess.
Nevertheless, as long as we outline upfront the process that we have gone through in establishing our framework for evaluating speed reading software, then we feel we can reasonably leave it to you to assess our framework’s worth and judge for yourself the various speed reading software titles available.
Methodology
Our first task has been to search, find, collect, and read as much material as possible on speed reading. For example, we have collected and read many of the works cited in this bibliography on speed reading.
We have been surprised at how old speed reading is. There are studies from the late 1800s on speed reading, or “rapid reading”, as it was more commonly known before Evelyn Wood coined the term “speed reading” in the 1960s.
From this literature review, we have gleaned that there are four main ways in which you can improve your reading speed. To increase your reading speed, you should:
-
stop saying words to yourself as you read them, whether aloud or in your head (this phenomenon is variously called subvocalization or inner speech or silent speech);
- take-in more words in one go rather than read one word at a time (this is called expanding your fixation or field of vision or peripheral vision);
- read the chunks of words more smoothly or quickly (this is called decreasing the time you spend on each fixation or decreasing fixation duration); and
- stop re-reading what you have already read (the habit of re-reading is called regression).
Before computers, various speed reading techniques were used to assist a reader in each of these four areas. For example, to reduce subvocalization, people were encouraged to bite on a pencil as they read, or to hum, or to count a series of numbers; to reduce the number of regressions, people would be asked to cover the text that they have just read; and so on.
Some speed reading techniques focus on improving the mechanics of your mind and body. For example, certain eye exercises might strengthen your eye muscles and make your mind and eyes more nimble, thus reducing the amount of time spent on each fixation.
In our reviews of speed reading software, these physical aspects of speed reading will be regarded more as means rather than as one of the four ends of speed reading software, outlined above.
Having found for ourselves the four main ways in which we think you can improve your reading speed, our next task has been to see how speed reading software works on each of these four areas. Our methodology has then been to:
- read the claims on the software vendors' websites;
- download the full-version of the software;
- spend time trying and testing the software for ourselves;
- compare the claims of the software’s makers with our personal experience of that software;
- compare each software against the criteria we have established in this article, below; and
- write and publish the results in separate articles on this website.
For each piece of speed reading software we review, we will be looking closely at the theory behind each software title, and we will study how each piece of software attempts to address the four main ways of improving reading speed.
We will also explain our personal experiences with the software — for example, whether we have found that a particular exercise achieved a marked improvement in the user’s reading speed, or at least a perceived improvement in reading speed.
Definitions
So that we can compare each piece of speed reading software fairly, we must clarify upfront an important term: what actually is “speed reading”?
One thing we have learned from the literature on speed reading is that “speed reading” means different things to different people. “Reading” itself is ambiguous.
For example, reading and speed reading may involve:
- scanning; by scanning, we mean searching for a particular word or phrase in a text, such as you might do when looking for someone’s name in a phone book, or when looking-up a word in the dictionary;
- skimming; by skim reading, we mean getting the gist of the text, as you might do by reading just the headings and topic sentences of an essay or book; and
- true reading; by true reading, we mean truly comprehending at least most of the author’s message, by actually seeing and reading all or most of the words on the page.
Of these types of reading, the third type is the most important to us. This kind of reading is the reading we do most often and it is the kind of reading that is most time-consuming. Thus, the core test we are setting for the various speed reading software applications is:
- The extent to which the speed reading software can help the user to comprehend more text, more quickly.
Other Criteria For Evaluating Speed Reading Software
As well as the main question of effectiveness — that is, does the software actually increase your reading speed? — as educational software, speed reading software must also be assessed against other criteria. Thus, the criteria against which the speed reading software will be assessed include:
| Criteria | Examples
|
| 1. Effectiveness | addresses subvocalization; fixations; fixation durations; regressions |
| 2. Usability | consistency; GUI; appropriate colours; plain language |
| 3. Teaching approach/engagement | visual; audio; kinaesthetic/interactive; expanding complexity |
| 4. Performance and reliability | response times; screen freezes; errors |
| 5. Tailorability | customizable settings; skip-forward; adjustable difficulty |
| 6. Cost and pricing price | currencies; postage and handling; recurring or one-time payment; costs for upgrades/add-ons |
|
7. Support | online help; FAQs; context-sensitive help; understandable error messages; guaranteed response time
|
| 8. Availability of trial or guarantee | try before you buy; money-back guarantee; length of trial |
|
9. Availability | instant download; snail mail; operating systems |
| 10. Other | special strengths and weaknesses
|
How To Ensure Objectivity
One problem we have is that this website — that is, the website you are now viewing — earns money from sales commissions. These include commissions from some speed reading software, such as 7-Speed Reading. These commissions arrangements are called affiliate programs.
The income derived from these affiliate programs is only a small amount. But still the problem arises: how do we ensure our objectivity in reviewing a piece of software if we get commissions from sales of that software?
To address this problem of objectivity, we have established the following guidelines for participating in speed reading software affiliate programs.
We will participate in a speed reading software affiliate program only if we:
- have tried and tested the software for ourselves;
- have set-out the criteria for evaluating the speed reading software, as we have done in this article;
- assess the speed reading software against those
criteria, based as much as is reasonably possible on facts and
experiences rather than opinions;
- ensure we are happy to
recommend the speed reading software (in other words, if we do not think
the software is worthwhile, then we will not participate in any
affiliate program that promotes that software);
- encourage readers of our reviews, including the software vendors themselves, to contact us with comments and corrections;
- disclose whether the speed reading software vendor has an affiliate program; and
- disclose whether we have decided to participate in any such affiliate program.
To reassure readers of our objectivity, you may wish to read our reviews of editing software. There, you will see that we have given positive reviews to products with which we have no affiliation (such as Editor). You will also notice that we have given a somewhat negative review of Whitesmoke and have, as a result, declined participation in Whitesmoke's affiliate program.
Application
The first speed reading software that we have reviewed on the basis of this framework is 7-Speed Reading. Read the review of 7-Speed Reading here. If you are a software vendor and you would like us to assess your speed reading product, please contact us.