Research · October 2015 doi: 10. 13140/RG

Reading Speed. This test is almost the same as testing reading fluency but 
the speed in time is prominent. Hughes (2003) explained speed as follow: 
Reading speed may be expressed in words per minute. Different speed will 
be expected for careful and expeditious reading. In the case of the latter, the 
candidates is, of course, not expected to read all of the words. The expected 
speed of reading will combine with the number and difficulty of the items to 
determine the amount of time needed for the test, or part of it. 
(Hughes, 2003, p. 141) 
Speed reading is the art of silencing subvocalization (Spreeder.Com, 2010-
2012). Nordquist in About.Com said that subvocalization means saying words 
silently to oneself while reading (Nordquist, R. 2013) but subvocalization is 
unnecessary to the adult reader, except perhaps when reading poetry (Shepherd 

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Language Testing & Evaluation 
Fernandes Arung 
2013 
14 
& Mitchell, 1997). One of the best techniques in fasting reading is to less eyes 
movement. Cutler (1993) flatten the study result that slow reader may make as 
many or more visual stops per line as there are letters in the words on that line. 
Good reader may stop (fixate) only once every two or three words, taking larger 
visual “bites” as they move forward. Excellent readers seldom stop (visually 
fixate) more that twicw per line, and only once on the shorter line-lenghts.
In testing reading speed, the only thing to assess is the speed. How many 
words per minute a reader can read clearly and accurately. There are at least 
some preparartions to conduct the reading speed such as follow: 
1. Determining the level of candidates that is intended to test. 
2. Providing stop-watch in order to count minute and a recorder to record. 
3. Providing any text that depends on candidates’ level. 
4. Asking the candidates one by one to read as a tester starting to turn on 
the watch. 
5. Asking the candidate to stop reading as the time is enough for a minute. 
6. Counting how mwny words that the candidate has read during minute. 
Tests used to measure the candidates’ reading speed should be based on 
candidates’ level and provide various techniques. This website 
http://www.studygs.net/reading.htm
 
and 
http://www.readingsoft.com/
 
are 
recommended if anyone wants to test his/her reading speed by online.