in elementary school, back in the beginning of the second half of the last century (god, i sound old!) i participated in a program, 'controlled reading'.
we were broken up into groups of about 20, (2 row of 5 pairs allong an center aisle) in the center aisle, a 'film strip' type projector, that displayed a few words at a time, (from a single row of text,) then, moved back to the left, and slid again across a slot, and showed again one to three words of a row at a time, and moved right, all at a controlled speed..
so a line of type// was displayed as// a group of words//
sometimes two or// three words, sometimes//more. with the//
double slashes// simulating the size of // the slot.
we started 'controlled reading' in about 3rd grade, and began by just learning, at a slow speed to move our eyes, and 'go with the flow' as we went up in grade, the speed and complexity of the reading matter increased, and we were tested on comprehension. by the time i finished eight grade, i was reading with 90% comprehension, at over 1000 words per minute. i still read incredible fast. i don't know much about the controlled reading program -- our school, a parocial one, used to make money by testing out new books and programs (most of the test books of my childhood were soft cover, not hard!) we had "new math" years before the rest of the nation.. i suspect controlled reading was one of these programs (i have never met anyone who has ever heard of it!- and my ex, and most of his friends were all teachers!)
i'll go and look to see it there is anything on controlled reading, but when i read, i still am very methodical about moving only my eyes, and i move,stop,move stop, just as the projector did, across the line and whip through text.
i have no doubt, that most people read as as Emil Javal found them to, but i know i have learned to do differently!
