Significant Characteristics of College Students with Varying Flexibility in Reading Rate

Abstract

AN EARLY stage in learning to read is recognizing simple printed words and what they mean. With practice, recognition gradually em braces more complicated words and ideas. Then when some ideas can be understood more easily than others, a further skill is very helpful matching speed to understanding, so that simple passages take less time to read than diffic ult ones. However, most people do not acquire this knack of flexibility; they maintain a con stant rate regardless of its efficiency. Espec ially in college, where reading is the chief tool for gathering information, a student stuck in low gear is handicapped. Formulas, poems, short stories, and historical documents may all have to be understood, but understanding need not come at the same rate for all. Effic