Acknowledgements Series Editors' note Abbreviations 1 Introduction 2 Literature review 3 Methodology 4 Preliminary studies: phase 1 5 Preliminary studies: phase 2 6 The main study: background data 7 Results and discussion 1: measured variables accounting for reading performance 8 Results and discussion 2: latent variables accounting for reading performance 9 General discussion and conclusion Appendices Appendix 1 Test of passage reading comprehension: Classical item analysis (dichotomous scoring) Appendix 2 Rasch analyses of the test of passage reading comprehension (data from preliminary study D and the main study combined): Persons-to-items map, model fit, and item difficulty estimates Appendix 3 Test of passage reading comprehension: Classical item analysis (COPS) Appendix 4 Test of computer-based sentence reading: Classical item analysis Appendix 5 Test of syntactic knowledge: Classical item analysis (dichotomous scoring) Appendix 6 Rasch analyses of the test of syntactic knowledge (data from preliminary study D and the main study combined): Persons-to-items map, model fit, and item difficulty estimates Appendix 7 Test of syntactic knowledge: Classical item analysis (COPS) Appendix 8 Test of vocabulary breadth: Classical item analysis Appendix 9 Rasch analyses of the test of vocabulary breadth (data from preliminary study D and the main study combined): Persons-to-items map, model fit, and item difficulty estimates Appendix 10 Measures of recognition latency: Classical item analysis Appendix 11 Measure of language-independent metacognitive knowledge: Classical item analysis Appendix 12 Rasch analyses of the measure of language- independent metacognitive knowledge about the text and reading: Persons-to-items map, model fit, and item difficulty estimates Appendix 13 Summary of the significant predictors of reading comprehension performance across separate analyses when syntax raw score was used in place of COPS score Appendix 14 SEM fit statistics and diagram for the model with the syntax raw score in place of the syntax COPS score Appendix 15 Results of a post-hoc SEM analysis that explored the separability of lexical-semantic processing efficiency from computer-based visual processing/key-pressing efficiency References Author index Subject index