What if you could read? Two words in the Same time?
… or 3 words, or 4 words, or even 7 words? Do you think that would save you time? Sure, but that’s crazy, right? No, not really, there is nothing crazier than reading 7 letters at the same time … The word ‘letters’ has 7 letters, and probably read them all at once … without thinking about each letter. “Okay, but how is it possible,” you might ask, “read various words together? “
Well, you already do! For example, compound words, such as “everything” and “anyone” were originally written and thought of as separate words: “everything” and “anyone”. Over the years these were combined into individual words and now we think of them as unique ideas.
This same principle can be applied to any small group of words, as long as the words form a complete and meaningful thought. You can read any unit of thought as a complete idea at a glance. But reading units of thought is more than a speed reading technique. It is also an incredibly more effective and efficient way of understanding text.
The power of thought units
Reading units of thought can improve: reading velocity, reading understanding, reading concentration, reading retention, in addition to learning English as a second language (ESL)and help with developmental reading disabilities (DRD).
1. Read speed
Reading in groups of words is not new. All ‘speed readers’ pick up entire groups of words with every glance. This has been known for over a century and is the basis for all other speed reading techniques taught in all reading courses. Either to “widen the eyes” or “eye movement exercises”, or to use the hand as a pacemaker; All speed reading techniques are based on reading faster by learning to assimilate several words at once.
2. Reading comprehension
Thought units are also more significant than individual words. You improve comprehension when you read meaningful groups of words as a complete unit of thought. By reading whole thoughts, you are actively paying attention to ideas rather than just hearing the words. Instead of concentrating on phonetics, you are paying more attention to understanding thoughts and ideas.
3. Reading concentration
Focusing on thoughts instead of words is a skill that takes practice. Getting more information in less time means you have to make an effort to focus more on what you are reading. This ability of focus It improves with practice, and if you are a student learning to focus on schoolwork or a senior interested in maintaining mental sharpness, reading units of thought is a great way to increase your power of concentration. At the same time, you are learning to widen your eye focus, you will learn to Sharpen the focus of your attention.
4. Read hold
When you increase understanding and concentration, retention will naturally improve, because the more you understand and the more you pay attention, the more firmly ideas will be implanted in your mind. Reading retention increases because meaningful ideas are more “sticky” ideas.
5. English as a Second Language (ESL)
Units of thought can also be helpful in improving fluency in English. Readers who are learning to read English as a second language (ESL reading) will find it easier to understand text accurately if they take one thought unit at a time rather than trying to decipher longer sentences. Of course, this is how we learn our native languages as children; We do not start pontificating with long sentences. We begin by communicating in short, meaningful sentences, and only later do we connect them in longer sentences. The same applies to learning English as a second language. Reading units of thought can be a very useful ESL activity that can help make reading in English easier to learn.
6. Developmental Reading Disabilities (DRD)
There are also many who must work to develop fluency in reading their own native language. Some developmental reading disability (DRD) courses teach students to stop and think about each sentence. Many have had success with techniques like the ‘punctuated picture’ that teach DRD students to pause when they reach each punctuation mark and visualize what the previous sentence meant. There are many types of reading disabilities, but we could all improve our reading skills by learning to read thoughts instead of words.
Learn to read units of thought
Although it has long been understood that the best readers are those who read in groups of words, it has not always been so clear that these groups of words should be selected to make sense on their own. It is important to read units of thought rather than trying to see more words at once. Obviously you can’t say two words at a time, but you can think one thought at a time, and that means that each group of words must form a complete thought.
Learning to read units of thought takes practice, and although some books and courses have referred to the reading of ‘units of thought’, or ‘phrases’ or ‘units of meaning’, until now, there was no easy way to obtain the needed information. practice. At most, a book could provide you with a few pages of text that had been carefully separated into meaningful sentences. But this is an insufficient amount of practice material.