Improve reading speed

Barriers to speed reading
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Subvocalizing. Repeating what you read in your head (reading with your ears).

If you hear yourself reading, read faster.

Vocalizing. If your lips move as you read you are vocalizing your text. As long as you read vocalizing, you will only be able to read as fast as you can speak.

Let the texts pass into the mind directly from the eye, skipping the mouth and ear.

Eye rests. As your eyes read across a line they stop periodically and dwell on a word. This also slows down your progress.

Try to reduce your eye rests to 3-4 per line, less as you get better. Keep the eye moving smoothly line after line.
 
Back-skipping. Your eyes jump back the previous words or sentences to make sure you have understood them. As a result, you forget what you have just read; your understanding decreases because you are reading something out of context.

Break with the back-skipping habit: use your finger or a stick; it leads you forward at a speedy pace, keeps you on focus and avoids eye rests or back-skipping.

Word for word reading. Meaning is contained not so much in individual words as in collections of words conveying broader or more specific ideas.

Break the flow of words into chunks.

Framework of the Reading Process
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1. Pre-Reading
 Skim and scan the text
 Ask yourself: What is my objective? Why am I reading this? 
 Ask questions about the text. 
 Skim the text and identify the structure. Localize the main idea.
 Scanning if your are looking for certain information.
2. Reading
 Read to answer your questions.
 Read the key section. 
 If you have vocabulary problems, guess meaning from context. If you feel stumped, circle the word and go back to it later.
3. Post-Reading
 Reformulate the information you have read with your own words.
4. Check Reading
 If necessary, read the passage again and correct or complete your summary.

Increase your reading speed
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1. Learn to read keywords
2. Use your finger or a stick
3. Don’t vocalize 
4. Divide the sentence into chunks
5. Avoid back-skipping and eye-rests
6. Use your peripheral vision

Literature
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Konstant, Tina. Speed reading: teaching yourself
Zorn, Robert L. Speed reading: practice just few minutes a day and read faster and better ... and increase your comprehension.
Zinsser, William. Writing to Learn
_, On Writing Well

Scriptoria, http://www.scriptoria.org/english/anmeldung.php