Perfetti and Lesgold proposed which theory stating that mere word recognition is not sufficient for fluent reading, and that word coding skills must be highly efficient to free attention for meaning?

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Verbal Efficiency Theory says that fluent reading isn’t just about recognizing words quickly; it hinges on how efficiently word coding (recognizing, retrieving phonology and meaning for words) is done so that attention can be devoted to understanding overall meaning. When decoding is automatic and effortless, you free up cognitive resources to process syntax, integrate ideas, and infer meaning. If word recognition requires a lot of mental effort, those resources get tied up in sounding out words, leaving less capacity for comprehension. That’s why mere word recognition isn’t enough for fluent reading—the brain needs efficient word processing to allocate attention to meaning.

This idea is the best fit because it directly links the speed and automaticity of word-level processing to the ability to grasp meaning during reading. The other options describe related ideas but don’t capture the specific link between efficient word coding and freeing attention for meaning: Whole Language emphasizes understanding through context and meaning rather than the mechanics of decoding efficiency; Word Calling describes rapid, perhaps shallow, reading without necessarily meaning; Sight Word focuses on recognizing familiar words by sight, not on the broader issue of how decoding efficiency supports comprehension.