Scarborough's Reading Rope emphasizes that word recognition and language comprehension are?

• A. Interdependent
• B. Independent
• C. One can replace the other
• D. Unrelated

Answer: (A)

Scarborough's Reading Rope shows reading proficiency as two interwoven strands: word recognition (how fluently a reader can decode and recognize words) and language comprehension (vocabulary, syntax, background knowledge, and overall linguistic understanding). They are interdependent because skilled reading requires both: decoding smoothly frees cognitive resources to get meaning, while strong language understanding helps interpret and extract meaning from what is read. If decoding is strong but comprehension is weak, the text may be read aloud but not understood; if comprehension is strong but decoding is weak, access to the text is limited. The idea is that neither can stand alone for true reading mastery—the strands reinforce each other, making interdependent the best description.