The franchise to set up training centers for a program that aims to increase average reading and comprehension rates by at least a factor of three is up for grabs in Taiwan.
"This is a program that is suitable for anyone -- students, businesspeople, those who read for pleasure," Stan Rodgers, developer of the Advanced Reading and Study Skills program, said yesterday.
Rodgers was in town to talk to potential licensees. He said there is a great need in Taiwan, a world-class technology hub, to be able to read and comprehend large amounts of material in English.
Speed-reading programs such as the Evelyn Wood Reading Dynamics have been around for 50 years, but mention speed reading to Rodgers and he instantly bristles.
"This is not a speed-reading course," he said. "This is an advanced reading-skills course that allows people to increase their reading speed and comprehension levels."
Octogenarian Rodgers has been developing the program for 30 years. Franchises are up and running in 23 countries.
By learning to group, or "chunk," words and phrases, readers can make dramatic improvements in how much they read, and how much they understand, leading to an increase in what Rodgers calls the "effective reading rate."
Wolfgang Schmitz holds the franchise to the program in Germany.
"I was skeptical at first ... but I tried the course and was convinced. It has a logical and systematic approach. You get rid of the bad habits you learned as a child, and everyone improves," he said.
A course Schmitz launched at the Free University showed an improvement in reading skills by a factor of 3.4 on average, an academic study showed.
Likit Khemapanon set up the Improved Reading Center in Bangkok three years ago.
"I compare it to swimming skills," he said. "Most people know how to dog-paddle, but don't know how to swim like [they do in] the Olympics. Dr. Stan Rodgers' advanced reading skills course is like swimming for the Olympics."
The course may find eager students in Taipei once training centers open up.
"I read a lot of material in English and would certainly be interested in a course that improves my reading skills," said Dennis Peng (
Peng is considering a local alternative to Rodgers' course, the Digital Learning System (數位學習教育), developed by actor-turned-businessman Chen Chun-sheng (陳俊生).
But the advanced reading-skills course may also find it hard to break into the lucrative student market.
Universities and schools place reading skills under a broader study-skills umbrella, which is covered by existing programs.
"If a student came to us looking for an advanced reading-skills program, we would recommend the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) program," said Tim Conway, head of the British Council's Education Center in Taipei. "Part of IELTS is academic reading, including skimming and scanning and a particular approach to reading."
Joan Wang (
WASHINGTON’S INCENTIVES: The CHIPS Act set aside US$39 billion in direct grants to persuade the world’s top semiconductor companies to make chips on US soil The US plans to award more than US$6 billion to Samsung Electronics Co, helping the chipmaker expand beyond a project in Texas it has already announced, people familiar with the matter said. The money from the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act would be one of several major awards that the US Department of Commerce is expected to announce in the coming weeks, including a grant of more than US$5 billion to Samsung’s rival, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), people familiar with the plans said. The people spoke on condition of anonymity in advance of the official announcements. The federal funding for
HIGH DEMAND: The firm has strong capabilities of providing key components including liquid cooling technology needed for AI servers, chairman Young Liu said Hon Hai Precision Industry Co (鴻海精密) yesterday revised its revenue outlook for this year to “significant” growth from a “neutral” view forecast five months ago, due to strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) servers from cloud service providers. Hon Hai, a major assembler of iPhones that is also known as Foxconn, expects AI server revenues to soar more than 40 percent annually this year, chairman Young Liu (劉揚偉) told investors. The robust growth would uplift revenue contribution from AI servers to 40 percent of the company’s overall server revenue this year, from 30 percent last year, Liu said. In the three-year period
LONG HAUL: Largan Energy Materials’ TNO-based lithium-ion batteries are expected to charge in five minutes and last about 20 years, far surpassing conventional technology Largan Precision Co (大立光) has formed a joint venture with the Industrial Technology Research Institute (ITRI, 工研院) to produce fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries for electric vehicles, mobile electronics and electric storage units, the camera lens supplier for Apple Inc’s iPhones said yesterday. Largan Energy Materials Co (萬溢能源材料), established in January, is developing high-energy, fast-charging, long-life lithium-ion batteries using titanium niobium oxide (TNO) anodes, it said. TNO-based batteries can be fully charged in five minutes and have a lifespan of 20 years, a major advantage over the two to four hours of charging time needed for conventional graphite-anode-based batteries, Largan said in a
Taiwan is one of the first countries to benefit from the artificial intelligence (AI) boom, but because that is largely down to a single company it also represents a risk, former Google Taiwan managing director Chien Lee-feng (簡立峰) said at an AI forum in Taipei yesterday. Speaking at the forum on how generative AI can generate possibilities for all walks of life, Chien said Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電) — currently among the world’s 10 most-valuable companies due to continued optimism about AI — ensures Taiwan is one of the economies to benefit most from AI. “This is because AI is