Reading rate, readability, and variations in task-induced processing.

Tested the hypothesis that task variables account for previous findings that reading rate is unaffected by readability. In a study with 68 high school students, variations in a reading task were used to induce different processes during reading. When the S had to inspect a text to remember enough for a subsequent word match, easy texts were read faster than difficult texts. When word matching was attempted as the S read, easy texts were read no faster than difficult texts. Findings suggest that when appropriate reading tasks are chosen, reading rate can be used to infer underlying processes in reading. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)