Learning Methods and Academic Skills – B2 English Listening Exercise

9 assignments 10 inner voice 11 primary school 12 speaking speed

13 chewing gum 14 ruler 15 key words

16 blocks 17 timer 18 confidence

Mr. Harrison: Hello everyone. As your study skills tutor, I want to talk to you today about reading. When transitioning to higher education, you might think exams are the biggest challenge you’ll face. But actually, the sheer volume of reading assignments is what overwhelms most students. You are suddenly expected to process hundreds of pages a week, and to do that effectively, you need to read faster.

Today, I want to address a specific reading habit that slows us down. When we read, some of us physically move our lips. However, a much more common habit is listening to that inner voice saying every single word in our head. This is a process known as sub-vocalisation. It’s entirely natural, but if you want to accelerate your text processing, you need to put a stop to it.

So, where does this habit come from? Well, we developed this habit back in primary school, rather than later on in high school. Think back to how you learned to read: you were likely asked to read aloud to your teacher, sounding out each syllable. Eventually, you were told to read silently, but instead of turning off the sound, you just took that voice inside your head.

The primary issue here is a physical limitation. The problem is that this restricts your reading rate to your speaking speed, which is much slower than what your brain can actually process. Most people speak at about 150 to 250 words per minute. But your eyes and brain can actually absorb visual information much faster than that—potentially up to 400 or 500 words per minute if you aren’t tied down to the sound of the words.

Breaking this deeply ingrained habit isn’t easy, but there are a few practical strategies. To distract the brain from forming words, some people recommend listening to instrumental music while they study. Personally, I suggest chewing gum instead. The physical action of moving your jaw keeps your vocal cords and speech muscles occupied, making it much harder for your brain to sub-vocalise.

Another highly effective technique is to use a visual pacer. This forces your eyes to move faster than your internal voice can speak. I used to just use my finger to trace the lines, but I quickly found that a ruler works best. It helps you smoothly drag your eyes down the page, line by line, without skipping around or losing your place.

As you speed up, you’ll realise that you don’t actually need to read every single word. English sentences are full of grammatical filler. If you ignore those and focus strictly on the key words—mostly the nouns and main verbs—you can still grasp the complete meaning of the sentence. Your brain is fantastic at filling in the blanks.

Once you manage to quiet that internal narrator, a wonderful thing happens. Your eyes will naturally start taking in text in blocks, rather than bouncing from one individual word to the next. You’ll process chunks of three or four words at a single glance, which dramatically increases your overall reading rate.

If you want to try these techniques, it’s vital to track your progress. You could just look at the clock on the wall before and after you read a chapter, but setting a timer on your phone is much more effective. Give yourself exactly five minutes, read as fast as you can without sub-vocalising, and then count how many pages you managed to get through. Keep a log of your progress over a few weeks.

Ultimately, reading faster doesn’t just save you precious time. Being able to efficiently extract information significantly boosts your confidence when tackling complex academic texts. You’ll stop feeling intimidated by long chapters and start engaging with the material more critically. Give it a try this week, and I promise you’ll notice a difference.

9 library 10 focus 11 margins 12 rhythm

13 plastic pen 14 regressions 15 confidence

16 academic journals 17 muscle memory 18 daily practice

Thomas: Hi everyone, my name is Thomas, and today I’m going to talk to you about a reading technique I learned. As university students, we have a massive amount of literature to get through, so I took a speed-reading workshop. I initially tried practising the exercises in my bedroom, but there were too many distractions. A local café was too noisy, so instead, the library turned out to be the ideal environment to train my eyes.

The core of the workshop was about using a visual pacer, like a pen, to guide your eyes across the text. At first, I assumed this strategy was a trick to increase my reading rate. However, my tutor explained that its primary function is actually to maintain your focus on the material. Because your eyes naturally want to wander, the moving pen forces them to stay locked onto the words.

Our tutor taught us exactly how to move the pacer. I used to think I had to look at everything, but the instructor warned us against scanning the margins of the page. Our peripheral vision is wide enough to catch the words at the beginning and the end of the line, so you only need to pace the middle section.

The movement of your hand needs to be smooth. You might be tempted to move in a jerky pattern, stopping at difficult words, but you have to resist that urge. Sweeping the pen continuously underneath the text establishes a reliable rhythm which compels your eyes to glide forward.

Now, what should you use as your guiding tool? Many people use their index finger, which is okay, but it can obscure the text. A wooden pencil is alright, but the lead can mark the book. I’ve found that a standard plastic pen is definitely the best tool for the job. It’s light and glides easily over the paper.

One of the biggest obstacles to reading efficiently is our habit of re-reading phrases we’ve just looked at. The tutor called these backward glances ‘skips’, but the technical term we focused on was regressions. By dragging the pen constantly forward, you physically prevent your eyes from jumping back, saving an enormous amount of time.

It felt quite unnatural initially, and I needed a lot of patience. But after a week of sticking with the technique, I suddenly realised I was flying through chapters. This breakthrough gave me a massive sense of confidence when faced with heavy textbooks. I no longer felt overwhelmed.

I’ve tried applying this pacing method to different types of material. When I read fiction, like sci-fi novels, I prefer to slow down and enjoy the language, so I don’t use the pen. However, I rely heavily on the pacer for academic journals. It’s absolutely brilliant for extracting key data efficiently for my degree.

You might wonder if your arm gets tired. At first, you do experience a bit of arm fatigue, and sometimes eye strain. But quite quickly, the sweeping motion is taken over by muscle memory. Your hand does it automatically without you having to consciously think about the physical effort.

If you want to master this, don’t expect instant miracles. Attending a weekly reading group or taking an occasional test won’t cement the skill. The instructor emphasised that committing to daily practice is the only way to genuinely upgrade your reading speed. Just ten minutes every evening will make a world of difference.