Whether reading or writing is faster is a question that many students, professionals, and academics ponder. The answer depends on several factors, including the individual’s skills, the complexity of the material, and the purpose of the reading or writing. This article examines the evidence on reading versus writing speed and efficiency to help determine which cognitive process is faster overall.
The Basics of Reading and Writing
Reading and writing are complex cognitive processes that we learn through years of instruction and practice. Reading involves decoding words on a page and comprehending their meaning within sentences, paragraphs, and passages. Proficient reading requires knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, and language structure. It also requires cognitive skills like attention, memory, and inference making. Reading speed depends on multiple factors, including the difficulty of the text, the reader’s skills, and the purpose of the reading task.
Writing is the process of encoding ideas and information in written language. It involves multiple complex cognitive skills like generating ideas, organizing thoughts, choosing vocabulary, structuring sentences, and reviewing and revising text. Proficient writing requires knowledge of vocabulary, grammar, genre conventions, and audience. Like reading, writing speed depends on the complexity of the content, the writer’s skills, and the purpose of the writing task.
Reading Speed Statistics
Many factors affect reading speed. Readers tend to read different types of materials at different speeds. Here are some key statistics on average adult reading rates:
- Fiction books: 200-400 words per minute
- Newspapers: 200-300 words per minute
- Magazines: 200-300 words per minute
- Nonfiction books: 180-240 words per minute
- Technical papers: 120-200 words per minute
In one study at MIT, the average reading rates for different levels of difficulty were:
- Easy technical material: 272 words per minute
- Medium material: 238 words per minute
- Difficult material: 188 words per minute
Reading speed also varies based on the purpose of reading. Skimming can reach rates over 1000 words per minute but with less comprehension. Careful scholarly reading may be closer to 50-100 words per minute.
Factors That Impact Reading Speed
Many factors influence reading speed and efficiency, including:
- Reader skills and experiences – Skilled, experienced readers read faster by chunking words and recognizing patterns.
- Text difficulty – More complex texts with difficult vocabulary and concepts slow reading speed.
- Content familiarity – Familiar topics and types of texts can be read faster.
- Purpose – Skimming for key ideas is faster than reading for comprehension.
- Interest – High interest increases attention and reading speed.
- Environment – Noisy or distracting environments slow reading.
Writing Speed Statistics
Like reading, many factors influence writing speed. Here are some statistics on average writing rates:
- Copy typing: 30-60 words per minute
- Composition typing: 20-40 words per minute
- Handwriting: 15-25 words per minute
- Copywriting: 3-5 pages per hour
- Academic writing: 500-1000 words per hour
- Fiction writing: 500 words per hour
Typing rates tend to be faster than handwriting. However, composition writing is slower than copying pre-written text. Rates vary widely based on the writer’s skills, the complexity of the content, and the type of writing involved.
Factors That Impact Writing Speed
The key factors that influence writing speed include:
- Writer skills and experience – Strong writing skills increase speed through practice and automaticity.
- Content complexity – Writing is slower when ideas are more complex.
- Type of writing – Creative writing is typically slower than technical writing.
- Method – Handwriting is slower for most than typing.
- Planning – Outlining saves time during writing.
- Purpose – Writing for quick social media posts is faster than crafting a research paper.
Reading vs. Writing Speed
When examining average reading versus writing speeds, reading generally has the advantage in words per minute. However, the speeds are not directly comparable, as reading and writing serve different functions. Reading is taking in information, while writing is generating new content. Reading material also tends to have more uniform vocabulary and style, while writing can vary immensely in complexity of ideas, structure, vocabulary, and genre.
Some key comparisons between reading and writing speed:
- The average reading speed for novels and magazines is 200-300 wpm, while composition writing by hand averages 15-25 wpm.
- Skimming reading at 1000 wpm is significantly faster than writing a social media post at perhaps 80-100 wpm.
- Careful scholarly reading around 100 wpm is similar in speed to academic paper composition rates of 500-1000 words per hour.
Overall, most research shows skilled readers can decode written words faster than a writer can generate new text. However, reading with full comprehension and retention slows closer to writing speed. Writing also involves much more cognitive effort in planning, organizing, revising, and editing text.
Advantages of Reading Speed
Fluent reading abilities confer many advantages when it comes to speed and efficiency of information input:
- Volume – Readers can process high volumes of text quickly to extract key ideas.
- Pattern recognition – Skilled readers chunk letters, words, and phrases to increase speed.
- Automaticity – Reading skills like decoding become automatic, reducing cognitive load.
- Pre-organized text – Written texts have defined structure and vocabulary to aid speed.
- Comprehension monitoring – Readers continuously monitor their understanding as they read.
Overall, practiced reading skills allow fast, high-volume consumption and comprehension of ideas. Reading speed supports efficient research and learning.
Disadvantages of Reading Speed
There are some disadvantages to reading at high speeds:
- Less comprehension and retention of details
- Potential to miss key ideas
- Less time for deep critical thinking
- Surface-level processing
- Less enjoyment or engagement with text
Very high reading rates over 300-400 wpm often result in less vocabulary acquisition and weaker comprehension and application of concepts.
Advantages of Writing Speed
Faster writing speed has several advantages:
- Productivity – Writers can produce more content in less time.
- Automaticity – Common writing tasks like typing become automatic.
- Fluency – Faster writing can aid flow of ideas and coherence.
- Clarity – Writing concisely saves time and improves clarity.
- Organization – Structured pre-planning streamlines writing.
For occupational writers like journalists, faster writing speed can increase income and productivity. Clear, concise writing also communicates ideas more efficiently.
Disadvantages of Writing Speed
There are some potential disadvantages of very high writing speed:
- Less time to think through complex ideas
- Poorer quality control and fact checking
- Formulaic, repetitive style
- Jumbled organization
- More grammar and spelling errors
Careless high-speed writing can result in lower quality output. Efficient writing involves finding an optimal pace for the complexity of the ideas and the writer’s skills.
Improving Reading and Writing Speed
Both reading and writing speeds can improve with deliberate practice. Some tips for increasing speed include:
Reading Speed
- Read challenging material outside your comfort zone
- Preview texts to develop schema before reading
- Skim key sections like introductions first
- Train with timed reading exercises
- Use a pointer or tracker when reading
- Reduce subvocalization by reading faster than you speak
Writing Speed
- Use keyboarding practice software to increase typing speed
- Develop quick touch typing skills
- Plan content structure ahead of time
- Master grammar, punctuation, style conventions
- Collect go-to phrases and sentence templates
- Study models of clear, concise writing
With regular practice, both reading and writing speeds can improve steadily over time.
Conclusion
In conclusion, reading speeds tend to have an overall advantage over writing speeds in words per minute. However, comprehension suffers at very high reading rates. Writing involves more cognition in generating new ideas but benefits from planning and automaticity in typing and composition.
Both reading and writing speeds depend significantly on skill level, purpose, content complexity, and other factors. Developing strong reading and writing skills, using strategies like skimming and planning, and matching pace to purpose can optimize speed and efficiency for different reading and writing tasks.
Practice, experience, and metacognitive monitoring of comprehension are key to increasing proficiency and speed in both reading and writing. Finding an optimal pace suited to the task and the individual yields the best outcome, balancing speed and quality.