This report proposes that speed of reading should be analyzed as four separate components. A measure of the first of these, speed of reading known vocabulary, is described and its characteristics investigated on a mixed sample of 84 boys including a high proportion of retarded readers but covering the full achievement span. In this sample the measure is independent of a cluster of standardized reading tests and has a high reliability estimated from scores on separately timed halves. An investigation of relationships between the experimental test and a series of measures of cognitive abilities suggests that this aspect of speed of reading is most closely related to perceptual speed.
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