An Overview
This 5-week course is inspired by the trainer’s reading improvement journey and her experience with training teachers in the UAE. Ramona Saraoru is a seasoned educator whose journey led her to the University of Sussex, where she is completing her PhD. Her experience spans teaching, teacher training and programme and project management. Ramona shares her expertise in improving reading speed and comprehension with the RAK teachers in the course “Speed Reading: how to read faster, understand more and remember for longer”. Throughout the training sessions, she guides the participants through different techniques they can use to teach their students to increase their reading speed and comprehension. The teachers are also engaged in a series of lectures, discussions, readings, and reflections on their own practices.
Photo: the summary of session 1 learning
What research says about Speed reading
Speed reading has been widely recognised as an effective way to improve reading pace and comprehension. Practising speed reading regularly has a significant impact on reading skills. For instance, a study of 108 university students who practice speed reading found significant differences between the study participants and the control group (Scagnelli et al. 2001). The results of another study revealed higher reading speed in the students’ speed-reading and metacognitive skills Klimovich et al, 2023).
How to use the practice
Ramona currently uses the Speed-reading technique in her own study and consulting work. She trained Abu Dhabi University students to use these techniques when she delivered IELTS training courses and general English courses.
She advises that teachers should first try these techniques themselves. This experience will allow them to understand the students’ challenges better and be more prepared to support them. Then the teachers should build the students’ new reading skills in a systematic way. Once the students become competent users, the teacher should plan activities that ensure the students practice these skills regularly.
References
Klimovich, M., Tiffin-Richards, S. P., and Richter, T. (2023) Does speed-reading training work, and if so, why? Effects of speed-reading training and metacognitive training on reading speed, comprehension and eye movements. Journal of Research in Reading,
https://doi-org.ezproxy.sussex.ac.uk/10.1111/1467-9817.12417.
Scagnelli, M., Della Beffa, F. & Santulli, F. (2021) Reading and Comprehension in Adulthood: a Training Programme. Journal of Cognitive Enhancement 5, 25–34. https://doi.org/10.1007/s41465-020-00182-4
Find more details in the discussion forum https://raktn.org/groups/speed-reading/members/all-members/
