Many L1 researchers focus a lot of attention on word
recognition abilities. They explore these aspects of
reading not because they believe that word recognition
is reading comprehension, but because reading
comprehension cannot be carried out for an extended
period of time without good word recognition skills.
It should be noted that these skills are difficult to
develop without exposure to print (through many hours
of reading practice), but even worse, in L2 reading
contexts, much less discussion is devoted to this
topic. This avoidance is partly due to a limited
understanding of the role of rapid and automatic word
recognition processes in reading. ---- However, word
recognition abilities should not be ignored in L2
contexts if our goal is to help students become fluent L2
readers.

Which of the following completes the paragraph
coherently?