Comprehension: Efficient Reading

What is efficient reading? Basically, it involves the ability to read through a passage fairly quickly and the ability to understand what has been read. It is a mark of intellectual immaturity to hold on to a passage for hours without being able to make meaning out of it. Also, it is a mark of bad reading not to be able to recall and discuss what has been read.

                   The foregoing has however put the issue rather too simply. The ability to read through a passage at a good rate can be attained only after a mastery of the grammatical structures of the language.

                   Without a sound mastery of words and how they function under various situations and an understanding of how sentences are generated one cannot read even the simplest passage efficiently. Rather, failure would ever dog one’s footsteps.

                   Considering the issue from another perspective, merely mastering the vocabulary and structure of the language is not enough. The reader’s frame of mind is equally important. Think of a man who is disturbed by the death of a dear one. Such a man would not be able to concentrate on the reading task. If the death of the dear one is still fresh, he might read through a passage several times without understanding it. On the other hand, if the reader is too excited he might not be able to concentrate. Take the case of a man who has just read in the newspaper that he has won a handsome sum of money. If he has to read a passage, he might not be able to concentrate.

                   Furthermore, the physical state of the body affects one’s ability to read efficiently. So also does the presence or absence of distractions. This is why it is best to read when the body is still fresh and in a place far from noise and other distractions.

(Source: WASSCE June, 1996)