A study on application of some exploratory speed reading strategies for enhancing reading comprehension for the tenth graders in asian pacific college school in gia lai province

MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE
UNIVERSITY
------------

PHAN ANH DUNG
A STUDY ON APPLICATION
OF SOME EXPLORATORY SPEED READING
STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCING READING
COMPREHENSION FOR THE TENTH GRADERS
IN ASIAN PACIFIC COLLEGE SCHOOL
IN GIA LAI PROVINCE

MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY
OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING

In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Arts,
Hue University of Foreign Languages

HUE, 2019


MINISTRY OF EDUCATION AND TRAINING
UNIVERSITY OF FOREIGN LANGUAGES, HUE UNIVERSITY
------------

PHAN ANH DUNG

A STUDY ON APPLICATION
OF SOME EXPLORATORY SPEED READING
STRATEGIES FOR ENHANCING READING

COMPREHENSION FOR THE TENTH GRADERS
IN ASIAN PACIFIC COLLEGE SCHOOL
IN GIA LAI PROVINCE

MA THESIS IN THEORY AND METHODOLOGY
OF ENGLISH LANGUAGE TEACHING
CODE: 8140111

SUPERVISOR: Assoc. Prof. Dr. TRAN VAN PHUOC


HUE, 2019
BỘ GIÁO DỤC ĐÀO TẠO
ĐẠI HỌC HUẾ
TRƯỜNG ĐẠI HỌC NGOẠI NGỮ
------------

PHAN ANH DŨNG

NGHIÊN CỨU ỨNG DỤNG MỘT SỐ KỸ THUẬT
ĐỌC HIỂU NHANH NHẰM TĂNG CƯỜNG KHẢ NĂNG
ĐỌC HIỂU CHO HỌC SINH LỚPP 10 TẠI TRƯỜNG
QUỐC TẾ CHÂU Á THÁI BÌNH DƯƠNG
TỈNH GIA LAI

LUẬN VĂN THẠC SỸ LÝ LUẬN VÀ PHƯƠNG PHÁP
DẠY HỌC BỘ MÔN TIẾNG ANH
MÃ SỐ: 8140111

NGƯỜI HƯỚNG DẪN KHOA HỌC:

PGS.TS. TRẦN VĂN PHƯỚC

HUẾ, 2019


Statement of Original Authorship

The work contained in this thesis has not previously been submitted for
a degree or diploma in any university. I certify that, to the best of my
knowledge and belief, my thesis contains no material previously published or
written by another person except where due reference is made in the thesis
itself.

Signed: ………………….

Date: ……/………/……..


Abstract
Although the National Foreign Languages 2020 Project was launched
since 2008, high school learners of English have encountered many difficulties
in mastering communication skills, especially reading comprehension skill.
The study analyzed the result of applying speed reading strategies to treat the
experimental group of 20 tenth graders at Asian Pacific College School in Gia
Lai Province who was involved in 15-week training course after having
attended reading practice tests with another group (control group). This
experimental approach also showed that the application of fast reading
strategies such as skimming and scanning did not only enhance learners’
reading speed, confidence and motivation but forced them to concentrate
better on doing comprehension questions as well. Hence, these strategies

should be considered as a strategic choice to speed up reading comprehension
skill for high school learners of English, which will surely help widen their
knowledge as the foundation for mastering other communication skills in
English.
Keywords: speed reading, strategies, reading comprehension skill, enhance…


ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
This research paper is the end of my long journey in obtaining
my M.A. There are many people who made this journey easier with
words of encouragement. I would like to express my deep gratitude
to the following people for their help, advice, and encouragement in
both direct and indirect ways during the study.
First, I wish to express my deep and sincere grateful thanks to
my advisor, Assoc. Prof. Dr. Tran Van Phuoc, for his valuable and
thorough comments, assistance, and support throughout the study. I
would like to thank Dr. Truong Bach Le, Dr. Ton Nu Nhu Huong, Dr.
Pham Hoa Hiep and Dr. Le Pham Hoai Huong for their kindness and
support for my work.
My thanks also go to Asia Pacific College Gia Lai (APC),
especially Director-Board and School-Board for support of the
research study; besides, I appreciate the whole-hearted co-operation
from APC’s English teachers team and all tenth-grade students
(school year 2018-2019).
Finally, I would like to give my appreciative thanks to my wife
and sons, my family and close friends for their kind assistance and
constant encouragement which always bring about success to my life.

i

TABLES OF CONTENTS
Statement of Original Authorship ..................................................................... iv
Abstract .............................................................................................................. v
Acknowledgment ................................................................................................ i
Tables of contents .............................................................................................. ii
List of tables....................................................................................................... v
List of figures ................................................................................................... vii
List of abbreviations .......................................................................................... 1
CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION .................................................................. 2
1.1. Rationale ..................................................................................................... 2
1.2. Aim of the study ......................................................................................... 3
1.3. Research questions ...................................................................................... 4
1.4. Hypothesis ................................................................................................... 4
1.5. Scope of the study ....................................................................................... 4
1.6. Significance of the study ............................................................................ 4
1.7. Structure of the study .................................................................................. 5
CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW ...................................................... 6
2.1. Definition of terms in the study .................................................................. 6
2.2. Theoretical Background .............................................................................. 6
2.2.1. Reading and reading comprehension skills in learning EFL ................... 6
2.2.2. Sub-reading skills of EFL learners .......................................................... 8
2.2.3. Timed reading .......................................................................................... 9
2.2.4. Paced reading ......................................................................................... 10
2.2.5. Speed reading ......................................................................................... 11
2.2.6. Speed reading strategies ......................................................................... 13
2.2.7. Cognitive and psycholinguistic influence on EFL learners’ reading
comprehension. ................................................................................................ 15
2.3. Overview of previous studies.................................................................... 18
2.3.1. Abroad .................................................................................................... 18

2.3.2. In Vietnam.............................................................................................. 21
ii


2.4. Introduction to learning EFL at Asia Pacific College .............................. 22
2.5. Summary ................................................................................................... 23
CHAPTER 3: RESEARCH METHODOLOGY ........................................ 25
3.1. Revisited research questions ..................................................................... 25
3.2. Research Approach ................................................................................... 25
3.3. Research methods: Data collection methods ............................................ 28
3.3.1. Population, sampling and participants ................................................... 28
3.3.2. Instruments for data collecting............................................................... 31
3.3.3. Training materials .................................................................................. 34
3.4. Data collection procedure ......................................................................... 36
3.4.1. Tests design ............................................................................................ 36
3.4.2. Test implementation............................................................................... 37
3.4.3. Survey .................................................................................................... 37
3.5. Data analysis methods............................................................................... 38
3.5.1. Qualitative data analysis ........................................................................ 38
3.5.2. Quantitative data analysis ...................................................................... 39
3.6. Summary ................................................................................................... 39
CHAPTER 4: FINDINGS AND DISCUSSION .......................................... 41
4.1. Differences in students’ reading comprehension before and after the speed
reading training course. ........................................................................... 41
4.1.1. Pre-test and post-test data ...................................................................... 41
4.1.2. Significant differences between levels of reading comprehension of two
groups after speed reading intervention ........................................................... 43
4.2. Students’ perceptions of speed reading strategies .................................. 48
4.2.1. The importance of learning speed reading at school ............................. 48
4.2.2. Students’ reading experience ................................................................. 49

4.2.3. Students’ speed reading strategies practice............................................ 50
4.2.4. Speed reading strategies to improve students’ reading speed................ 51
4.2.5. Speed reading strategies to improve students’ their reading
comprehension ................................................................................................. 52
4.2.6. Frequency of speed reading strategies use ............................................. 52
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4.2.7. Students’ speed reading practice and students’ reflection ..................... 53
4.2.8. Student’s satisfaction with speed reading strategies and speed reading
practice tests ..................................................................................................... 54
4.2.9. Student’s satisfaction with their reading tests’ results in school year
2017-2018 55
4.2.10. How do students like learning speed reading classes? ........................ 55
4.2.11. The students’ reasons for speed reading class ..................................... 56
4.2.12. Reading obstacles that students generally face .................................... 57
4.2.13. Positive influence of timed reading and paced reading on students’
reading speed improvement ............................................................................. 57
4.2.14. Positive influence of timed reading and paced reading on students’
reading comprehension improvement.............................................................. 59
4.3. Attitudes of students.................................................................................. 61
4.3.1. Development of students’ language proficiency in learning English with
timed and paced reading activities ................................................................... 61
4.3.2. Students’ suggestion for implementation of speed reading strategies in
English class .................................................................................................... 63
4.3.3. Students’ recommendation: ................................................................... 65
4.4. Conclusion .............................................................................................. 65
CHAPTER 5: CONCLUSION AND RECOMMENDATION .................. 68
5.1. Summary of the key findings .................................................................... 68
5.1.1. Key findings ........................................................................................... 68

5.1.2. Side-effects: ........................................................................................... 70
5.2. Implications and suggestions .................................................................. 71
5.2.1. Implications for school and teachers...................................................... 71
5.2.2. Implications for students ........................................................................ 72
5.2.3. Suggestions ............................................................................................ 72
5.3. Limitations of the study .......................................................................... 73
REFERENCES............................................................................................... 73
APPENDICES ................................................................................................ 80

iv


List of tables
Table 3. 1 The population of the research ....................................................... 29
Table 3. 2 Sample for pre-test and post-test .................................................... 30
Table 3. 3 Demographic Data of the Participants in Experimental group....... 30
Table 3. 4 Sample for the questionnaire .......................................................... 31

Table 4. 1 The results of groups in the pre-test and post-test .......................... 42
Table 4. 2 Result of group in pre-test .............................................................. 43
Table 4. 3 Result of group in post-test ............................................................. 44
Table 4. 4 Results of Independent Sample test on Pre-test scores .................. 45
Table 4. 5 Results of Independent Sample test on Post-test scores ................. 45
Table 4. 6 Compared mean values of post-test ................................................ 46
Table 4. 7 Students’ reading experience .......................................................... 49
Table 4. 8 Students’ Speed Reading strategies practice .................................. 50
Table 4. 9 Speed reading strategies improving students’ reading speed ......... 51
Table 4. 10 Speed reading strategies improving students’ reading
comprehension ................................................................................................. 52
Table 4. 11 Students’ speed reading practice and reflection ........................... 53

Table 4. 12 Student's satisfaction with speed reading strategies and tests ...... 54
Table 4. 13 Student's satisfaction..................................................................... 55
Table 4. 14 How students like learning Speed Reading Classes ..................... 55
Table 4. 15 The students' explanation to reasons they like speed reading class
.......................................................................................................................... 56
Table 4. 16 Studens' Reading obstacles ........................................................... 57
Table 4. 17 Positive influence of timed reading and paced reading on students'
reading speed improvement ............................................................................. 57
Table 4. 18 Students’ explanation ................................................................... 58
Table 4. 19 Positive influence of timed reading and paced reading on students'
reading comprehension improvement.............................................................. 59
Table 4. 20 Students’ explanation ................................................................... 60
Table 4. 21 Students’ language proficiency in learning English with timed and
paced reading activities .................................................................................... 61
v


Table 4. 22 Students’ explanation ................................................................... 62
Table 4. 23 Statistics of students’ suggestion .................................................. 63
Table 4. 24 Students’ suggestions ................................................................... 64
Table 4. 25 Students’ recommendations .......................................................... 65

vi


List of figures
Figure 4. 1 The differences of mean value between two groups ..................... 44
Figure 4. 2 Effect of the treatment on the experimental group........................ 47
Figure 4. 3 The importance of learning Speed Reading strategies at school .. 48
Figure 4. 4 Frequency of Speed reading strategies use ................................... 52

vii


List of abbreviations
APC:

ASIA PACIFIC COLLEGE

DOET:

Department of Education and Training

EFL:

English as a Foreign Language

MOET:

The Ministry of Education and Training

1


CHAPTER 1: INTRODUCTION
1.1. Rationale
Apart from speaking, listening and writing, reading is considered to be
one of the most important skills for accessing information and for
communication. People can hardly deny the significant role of reading brought
to human living. As Eskey (2005) points out “many students of English as a

Foreign Language (EFL), for example, rarely speak the language in their dayto-day lives but may need to read it in order to access the wealth of
information recorded exclusively in the language” (p.563). It is the fact that
reading has played a vital part not only in people’s daily life but in school life
as well.
Reading comprehension is also an essential element to develop children
learning skills and their ability to obtain an education. However,
comprehending the texts, to some extent, is not an easy matter. It is an active
process which needs a strategy to translate every symbol that included in the
text. Kamil (2000) writes in National Reading Panel: First, reading
comprehension is a complex cognitive process that cannot be understood
without a clear description of the role that vocabulary development and
vocabulary instruction play in the understanding of what has been read.
Second, comprehension is an active process that requires an intentional and
thoughtful interaction between the reader and text comprehension instruction.
Although there are many areas of English skills that students should
improve, reading as a receptive skill can be the foundation for students as a
kind of competence to further exploration of the English for themselves.
However, the tenth-grade students at Asian Pacific College (APC) in Gia Lai
province seem not to be proficient in reading skills regarding vocabulary,
reading rates and time allocation. Firstly, most of them have a lack of
vocabulary. Secondly, the students read a long text slowly. In other words, the
speed rate is limited. Finally, students usually complain about the time
allocation, which is limited to understand the text. Therefore, students may not
have an opportunity to analyze questions because they tend to read every
2


single word. Related to the efficient way of teaching reading comprehension,
speed reading technique is one of the alternative ways that can be used to help
the students read quickly. Slow reading is defined by Brown & Hirst (1983) as

a problem of independent weakness of the purpose of reading, involving the
processing of information at a slow rate that the readers are unable to grasp
enough detail in short term memory to permit decoding the overall message of
the text.
Many educational studies on different issues relating to the influence of
speed reading on reading comprehension have been conducted by different
researchers, including both foreign and Vietnamese ones. However,
difficulties in EFL English reading comprehension still leave many things to
study, especially at Asian Pacific College, in Gia Lai province. I am really
concerned and interested in studying the application of some exploratory
speed reading strategies to help students to overcome the difficulties related to
reading comprehension, which they encounter in learning EFL reading
comprehension.
For these reasons, I managed the time to do this study, namely “A study
on application of some exploratory speed reading strategies for enhancing
reading comprehension for the tenth graders in Asian Pacific College School
in Gia Lai province”, with the wish to contribute a humble part to improving
the quality of EFL learning in general and the quality of learning EFL reading
comprehension in particular.
1.2. Aim of the study
The study aims to understand whether the exploratory speed reading
strategies can influence in improving students’ reading comprehension in
English among the tenth-grade students at APC in Gia Lai province. In
addition, the possibility of applying speed reading strategies is also targeted,
and therefore suitable suggestions could be proposed to help the students
overcome their difficulties and make the learning of EFL reading
comprehension become more effective.

3

1.3. Research questions
The study is conducted to answer the following research questions:
1. What is the effectiveness of speed reading strategies instruction on
tenth grade students’ comprehension?
2. What is students' perception of speed reading strategies?
3. What do students think about integrating speed reading strategies into
EFL class to improve their reading comprehension?
1.4. Hypothesis
Assumptions: It is assumed that the students in both experimental and
control group are in a similar interest in reading English materials in school
textbooks. Also, in the process of the treatment and observations during the
experiment, it is assumed that the students are not engaged in any external
tutorial in speed reading of English, which may influence the post-test scores.
Hypothesis: The application of exploratory speed reading strategies can
generate positive differences that enhance reading comprehension skills for
the 10th-grade students in APC in Gia Lai.
1.5. Scope of the study
This study will be conducted at APC during the second semester of the
academic year 2018-2019 with 40 10th-grade students. The research mainly
focuses on speed reading strategies and on discovering the difference between
the reading comprehension levels after implementing a practice of some
strategies of speed reading; the research also surveys on students’ perception
of what they did during the speed reading texts and their reflection of using
speed reading strategies to improve reading comprehension. Therefore, the
researcher and teachers at APC determine some suitable reading strategies to
facilitate and improve students’ reading comprehension skills.
1.6. Significance of the study
Developing students’ reading skills for communication at present can be
affected by many factors. Among them, using speed reading strategies should

be taken into consideration. Therefore, the study highlights the perceptions of
students of the use of speed reading techniques in general. More importantly,
4


it offers recommendations for handling speed reading strategies in reading
comprehension

classes

to

facilitate

10th-grade

students’

reading

comprehension skills.
1.7. Structure of the study
The study is organized into five chapters:
- Chapter 1 INTRODUCTION declares the rationale, aim of the study,
research questions, scope, hypothesis, significance, and structure of the
research.
- Chapter 2 LITERATURE REVIEW presents definitions of terms,
reviews the theories this research will be based on, and reports previous
researches.
- Chapter 3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY describes the research

approach, data collection method and data analysis method.
- Chapter 4 FINDINGS & DISCUSSION describes results of findings
and discusses all results in details

- Chapter 5 CONCLUSION & RECOMMENDATION presents the
summary, implications, suggestions, and limitations for further future
research.

5


CHAPTER 2: LITERATURE REVIEW
This chapter presents some issues related to teaching and learning
reading comprehension for English language learners. It also provides
definitions or concepts and key terms used in the research. Also, the chapter
introduces an overview of previous studies related to the research to point out
the gap in the literature, and it continues to put forward a discussion on how
useful it is to apply, and adapt the speed reading strategies and techniques in
teaching and learning the English language in secondary school.
2.1. Definition of terms in the study
To avoid misunderstanding the title of the research, some terms used in
the research paper are defined as below:
- “speed reading”: reading rapidly at the rate which a person reads
written the text in a specific unit of time;
- “speed reading strategies”: strategies and techniques for speed
reading;
- “reading activity”: activity of word recognition, phonemic decoding,
and text comprehension;
- “timed reading”, “paced reading”: types of comprehensive tool that
enables students to improve reading rate and reading accuracy through

increasing reading speed in controlled reading time.
2.2. Theoretical Background
2.2.1. Reading and reading comprehension skills in learning EFL
What is Reading
Reading is defined in the New 8th Edition Oxford Advanced Learner's
Dictionary as "the activity of somebody who reads" while "to read" is
explained as "to go through written or printed words or symbols or to look at
and understand the meaning of written or printed words or symbols" (ibid.).
By the first definition mentioned above, “reading” might be viewed as the
activities of pronouncing the words or symbols in strings, but it is not
necessary to understand them while the second one, definition of "to read",
means not only "looking at" what appears in front of the readers' eyes but also
6


understanding their meanings. The definition of reading is just traced correctly
basing on what one intends to do or really can do in dealing with words or
discourse. Reading intention might depend on various readers and on different
things they read (Nuttall, 1982). Hence, reading for meaning is the central goal
of the reading process (Nuttall, ibid). That is the reason why the definition of
"reading" in close relation with "understanding" would be mainly discussed in
the following section of this chapter.
To EFL students, reading and reading comprehension offers them
language input and improve their English proficiency. Good readers as EFL
students become more autonomous and able to read not only in the classroom
but also after leaving school to stay in touch with English.
Many previous studies have shown that EFL students who read a lot
seem to acquire English better than those who do not. With reading
comprehension activities, EFL students do not only improve in their reading
abilities but also improve in using and increasing their English abilities and

knowledge. Without getting much exposure to reading materials in class, EFL
students are unlikely to make much progress (Nation, 2009). Recognizing the
importance of reading for EFL students, it is then very crucial for EFL
students to have good reading proficiency.
Reading Comprehension Skills
Grellet (1981) defines that “understanding a written text means
extracting the required information from it as effectively as possible” (p.3).
This statement aims to develop the “comprehending” of a text as a process in
which the reader has to apply reading skills to “extract” and understand the
meaning of the text. To be successful in this process, the reader is expected to
find out what is “the required information” of the text, which means that he
can reject irrelevant information and focuses on essential one of a text to have
an effective reading.
Reading comprehension is defined with the initial focus of
“understanding” while reading is first defined with the focus of “looking at”
and then along with “understanding.” In other words, understanding or
7


comprehension is the evident nature of “reading comprehension,” while those
might be one of the goals of “reading.” As discussed above, even the purpose
of reading is to get information or to read for pleasure; it is tough for the
readers to continue reading without understanding what they are reading. Also,
the subjects of this research are high school students whose intention in
dealing with reading is to read to learn. Consequently, either stated by the term
“reading” or “reading comprehension,” the reading in this research all means
to “read for meaning.”
In addition, reading comprehension is the process of conducting meaning
by coordinating several complex processes that include word reading, word,
and world knowledge, and fluency reading comprehension has three

procedures (Klingner, Vaughn, & Boardman, 2015). There are mentioning,
practicing, and assessing. Mentioning is the ability to mention the skill that
they want to use. Practicing means the ability to practice the skill through
workbooks or skill-sheets. Then, assessing means, the ability to assess the use
of skills that have been successful or not.
With the definitions of reading and reading comprehension in the close
relationship between “meaning” and the “required information” of the text,
how to find out and understand the “meaning and required information” is
essential for the learners or readers. To make this matter clarified, the next part
is assigned to discussing sub-reading comprehension skills.
2.2.2. Sub-reading skills of EFL learners
There are several sub-skills in reading comprehension, which help
students to associate and recognize the printed script. In this case, students
should understand how to conduct these sub-skills in their reading
comprehension as follows:
2.2.2.1. Finding the topic of the text: The first step in reading is to find
the topic, which is general information that should be found in the text when
reading. The first, or topic sentence of every paragraph is essential, and it
warrants the content of whole section (Beale & Mullan, 2008). Every sentence
in a paragraph is a way to discuss or explain this topic.
8


2.2.2.2. Finding the main idea: The main idea is generally found in the
first sentence of the paragraph (Beale & Mullan, 2008). The main idea is a
broad sense of paragraphs and an important point in reading. The main idea is
defined as the content of messages, information and can be found in the first
sentence or the last sentence in a paragraph; or it can be found implicitly.
2.2.2.3. Finding supporting details: Supporting details are those facts and
ideas that prove or explain the main idea or a paragraph. While all the details

in a paragraph support the main idea, not all the details are equally important.
The key details directly explain the main idea. Other details may provide
additional information, offers an example, or further explain one of the key
details.
2.2.2.4. Finding the author’s idea: In every written language, the writer
always shows his or her thought in the text. In finding the ideas of the writer,
there are two elements that should be known. The first is taking knowledge
level into account. The last is paying attention to the structure. A good way to
detect the author for presenting the ideas is to turn quickly through the text,
paying particular attention to headings.
2.2.3. Timed reading
Anderson (1999) cited in Browning (2003), argues that through the
training in timed reading, students will increase their reading speed. Timed
reading involves having students read under time pressure, the purpose of
which is to improve reading speed to an optimal rate that supports
comprehension rather than developing speedy readers. In addition, “time
limitations may enhance reading comprehension by promoting mindfulness in
students, a construct which involves the exertions of more effort and
motivation” (Walczyk, Kelly, Meche, & Braud, 1999, p.156). The favored
approach, at least in EFL, seems to be timed reading (Atkins, 2010; Taferner
& Murray, 2013), and some evidence suggests that for intermediate-level EFL
learners, timed reading leads to more significant gains in reading speed. The
standard approach to timed reading instruction is described by Nation (2009).
Students read texts as quickly as possible while maintaining accuracy and
9


comprehension, with comprehension measured by a series of questions
(usually 5 to 10) answered immediately following text completion. Texts used
for timed reading should be of equal length and lexical complexity, and

students read a number of these over a set period of weeks or months. Students
record the time taken to read the passages and keep a record of this, along with
the comprehension scores, usually in the form of a graph showing their
progress throughout the timed reading practice.
Some studies point out that there are many reasons for implementing
timed reading into reading lessons in the school curriculum to help students do
their reading tasks better. Klaeser (1977) declares four positive points in this
regard. Firstly, faster readers can save their time of reading. With an increase
in reading speed, students will be able to cover more materials than at a slower
speed. Secondly, readers can concentrate better, which leads to greater
comprehension. Of course, this area is under debate because there have been
studies of students that lost comprehension when they were striving to
increase their reading speed. This is usually the cause of "rushed reading" or
even “fast looking” and contains little more technique than scanning.
However, it is believed that through an "effective" timed reading program,
students can attain an increased reading rate and comprehension. Thirdly, with
the increase in potential speed and comprehension, academic grades tend to
rise as well. This is all due to the control of extra time, which allows for
greater understanding. Lastly and most importantly, students will enjoy the act
of reading more, which promotes higher extensive reading, an added area for
increased reading speed and comprehension. With increased reading rate and
motivation for extended reading, students will encounter frequent and repeated
vocabulary, which will transcend into other areas of language skills
development.
2.2.4. Paced reading
Together with timed reading, other approaches to increasing fluency
through increasing reading speed include paced reading, where the instructor
controls the reading time (and is usually slightly faster than the students'
10

current reading speeds), and speed or timed reading where the reader records
the reading time upon completion of the text.
A few studies have looked explicitly at increasing reading rates through
timed reading, and the next section will outline findings from this research.
Paced reading is referred to one of the ways to increase students’ reading
speed, which accelerate reading (Anderson, 1999 and Cushing-Weigle &
Jensen, 1996 cited in Chang, 2010), and it has students read the texts under
some degree of time pressure. Meyer (1999) states that timed reading and
paced reading activities contributed to developing learners’ reading fluency
with the ability to read text rapidly, smoothly, effortlessly, and automatically
with little attention to the mechanics of reading such as decoding (Meyer,
1999). To support the approach from previous studies, Magno (2010) states
that fluency in reading is a mark of reading proficiency.
2.2.5. Speed reading
Flesch (1955) defined reading as the process of getting the meaning from
a certain structure to letters in the context while Goodman (1970) and Nuttal
(1982) agreed that reading is an interaction operation that the reader forms
expectations about the content she or he is reading then to choose the most
practical signs that help to get the meaning.
For the learners of English, fluent reading is utmost important, and one
way to improve reading fluency is to do a speed reading course (Chung &
Nation, 2006). Speed reading plays a vital role in reading comprehension. The
value of reading connects closely to comprehension, not basing on how fast a
reader can perform. In other word, speed reading without comprehension is
considered as speed looking (Beale & Mullan, 2008). Therefore, to learn to
speed read, the readers need to separate the reading comprehension from fast
reading development, then improve the two processes with suitable strategies.
The speed reading process comes about when the readers focus on important
parts while ignoring less valuable or important parts of the text. Today, due to

the common and public reading documents such as World Wide Web and
ready availability of other sources of documents, readers and learners need an
11


appropriate fashion of learning to cope with when there is too much text to
read within a limited allocation of time. To read effectively, readers have to
identify and concentrate on the most important parts of the text with proper
reading skills.
A number of studies have been carried out to explore the effectiveness of
timed reading or speed reading in order to improve reading fluency in various
learning contexts (Utsu, 2004; Utsu, 2005; Chung & Nation, 2006; Crawford,
2008; Atkins, 2010). However, as a component of timed reading activities,
whether time affects the improvement in speed and comprehension level has
still been debatable.
Feldman (2013) defines “Speed reading as a collection of reading
techniques that will allow them to at least double their reading speed, on
average, compared to their reading speed before they took my course. These
techniques must also maintain or even improve their reading comprehension”
(p.1).
From the statement, speed reading can be increased by following some steps. Spargo
and Williston (1980, p.10) describe the steps of speed reading: 1. Previewing the main
idea. Good readers preview the selection first. This helps to make them good and fast
readers. 2. Read for meaning. Good readers see beyond the words, they read for
meaning. This makes them faster reader 3. Grasp paragraph sense. The paragraph is
the basic unit of the meaning. Good readers know how to find the main ideas of
paragraph quickly. 4. Organize facts. Understanding how the facts all fit together to
deliver the author’s message is, after all, the reason for reading. Good readers organize
facts as they read in order to achieve the steps above, As Chung and Nation in
Macalister (2010, p.105) recommend, “Speed reading course should be included in the

very reading class.
Speed reading is one of the techniques that can be used to improve the reading habits
of the students to read quickly. By applying this technique, the students can get many
advantages. Klaser in Browning (2003, p.1) presents four positive points in learning
read faster. The first one is the amount of time you will save when you're able to
double your speed. The second advantage is that readers are able to concentrate better,
which leads to greater comprehension. Thirdly, with the increase in potential speed
and comprehension, academic grades tend to rise as well. And lastly and most
importantly, students will enjoy the act of reading more, which promotes greater

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extensive reading, an added area for increasing reading speed and comprehension.
Therefore, by using this technique, it can help the readers, not only save their time but
also the reader can improve their comprehension and can get much knowledge.

2.2.6. Speed reading strategies
Many studies have shown that increasing the reading rate will improve
reading comprehension. As Samuel (1976) claim, it can be presumed that
when a text is read fast, comprehension may become lower because attention
is not involved in the reading process. That means despite the importance of
automaticity in the process of fluent reading, attention should be paid on the
meaning to comprehend the text. According to Carver (1982), the average
reading rate for a college student is about 300 wpm for reading, 200 words per
minute (wpm) for learning, and 138 wpm for memorizing. However, reading
at a rate between 250 wpm and 350 wpm allows readers to comprehend a text
most efficiently (Carver, ibid). Carver (1990) made a distinction between five
types of reading: scanning, skimming, rauding (just to understand the
message), learning (to acquire the information), and memorizing (to be able to

recall the facts) and stated that each type is associated with different reading
rates. The main aim of teaching reading is to enable students to comprehend
reading from different contents easily. Farstrup (2002) stated that teachers
should be aware and knowledgeable of many instructional methods and
strategies available to promote students’ reading comprehension and motivate
students towards reading, promote their interest and encouragement in reading
comprehension, develop their reading comprehension skills, and aid them in
accomplishing reading comprehension tasks.
Speed Reading strategies are reading techniques that help readers read
faster than normal, especially by acquired techniques of skimming and
controlled eye movements. For language learners as well as native speakers,
the two most valuable reading strategies and techniques are skimming and
scanning (Brown, 1994). Skimming and scanning, in some ways, make readers
more flexible while reading. They read on the purposes of getting information
which they need quickly without wasting time. These readers do not need

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