No idea what is "normal," just wanted to chime in with personal experience in case that helps.
I read over 500 wpm (tested by hubby for fun) and I say the words in my head when I read them. He argues that is not possible, but I say them in my head much faster than real time speech would be. In fact, I say them at the speed I wish everyone would talk at as I am the kind of person who cannot stand slow speech/pauses in speech. I talk way too fast for most people and I read aloud so fast people can't understand me and have to ask me to slow down.
So I can say that for me saying each word in my head as I read it does not lead to slow reading.
DH OTOH reads around 250 wpm and insists that he can't read faster because he properly says everything in his head and constantly accuses me of "just skimming." Upon reading the same random passage from a book I had better comprehension and could quote from it despite reading it twice as fast as he did.
In actuality I read through a book in about a quarter of the time it takes him, so I'm guessing he reads even slower when we aren't doing a speed test. Or I read even faster when I'm really into a story. Either way, we have both been successful educationally and both got very similar SAT verbal scores. DS seems to take after his dad on reading speed.
Basically, other than saving time I doubt reading faster does you a lot of good. It is possible to say the words in your head and still read quickly and maybe this could be practiced? I do think that reading quickly enhances reading enjoyment as most of the slow readers I know don't do a lot of reading for pleasure (or they tend to read magazines rather than novels). I do a lot of reading. Has practice made me a faster reader or do I enjoy reading so much because I am naturally faster at it? Who knows
