The Relationship between Online Reading Rates and Performance on Proficiency Tests

_______________ This article examines the relationship between online reading speed rates and performance on proficiency tests, given the proliferating use of the Internet. The study involved twenty-five post-graduate students enrolled in an ESL Course at the Private Center for Teaching English as a Foreign Language in Kuwait and who are also involved in postgraduate studies. Twelve were familiar with the computer while others were not. Tools used included a background questionnaire to tap into readers’ online accessing of reading materials and their computer familiarity, the Online Speed Reading Test, and a simulated TOEFL Reading Subtest . The main finding of this study is that high rates of reading speeds are positively correlated with good performance on the CBT TOEFL subtest of Reading Comprehension. A correlation co-efficient assessed between the statistics of high-speed readers and high performance rates of subjects of the study reached 0.92. The results of this study suggest that designers of online information should consider that reading online is slower than on paper, which may affect performance on proficiency assessments. __________________