Cassie's Reading Corner: Fluency: The Third Component of Literacy

Fluency

Fluency: recognizing the words in a text rapidly and accurately AND using phrasing and emphasis in a way that makes what is read sound like spoken language.

Why is it important?

There is a close relationship between fluency and comprehension. That is, students who were low in fluency also showed difficulty comprehending what they read. A reader must recognize the printed words by decoding and construct meaning from the recognized words for comprehension. If the word recognition task is hard, all available cognitive resources may be consumed by the decoding task, leaving little or nothing for use in interpretation. Consequently, for the nonfluent reader, difficulty with word recognition slows down the process and takes up valuable resources and energy that is necessary for comprehension.

How Can You Help Students Develop Greater Fluency?

Two forms that have shown evidence of improving fluency are repeated reading and guided repeated oral reading.

1.) Repeated reading involves asking students to read and reread a passage or story. Through repeated reading, students are able to shift their emphasis from word recognition to comprehension as they become more familiar with the text.

2.) Guided repeated oral reading adds greater support for the reader to the strategy of repeated reading. This guidance/ support may take the form of additional modeling of what fluent reading sounds like, telling students unfamiliar words rather than having them sound the words out, having students read along with a taped version of the story, or helping students see how words can be grouped into meaningful phrases.

The following forms of guidance are proven to produce improved fluency:

· Telling students unfamiliar words as they encounter them so they can focus on constructing meaning and reading with fluency.

· Helping children group words in a sentence into meaningful phrases.

· Having students read along orally as a fluent adult reader reads the story aloud.

· Using repeated reading with a taped-recorded version of the story proved significant gains in reading performance. When the training was completed, the students sustained their higher reading levels; however, without further training, they did not continue to improve.

An Example of Effective Fluency Instruction

Teacher Behavior and Purpose	Example Lesson Excerpt
Explain what students will do.	T: When I’m reading something I really want to understand, I will sometimes read it over again. Because I get better with practice each time I read it, I can read it faster and understand it better. - Then, read a story on the students’ independent reading level and read it aloud, emphasizing smooth, rapid reading that includes pacing, phrasing, and emphasis that sounds like natural speech.
Provide guided practice and check skill acquisition.	Then have child(ren) whisper read it by themselves and listen to what they are reading. Collect data on fluency.
Remind students of the lesson’s purpose and provide additional independent practice.	Before moving on to the next activity, the teacher reminds students of how reading with fluency helps with comprehension, and makes an assignment to provide additional practice that focuses on building fluency. T: “Remember, we want to read quickly and smoothly because this helps us understand what we’ve read. Now, I want you to select a book from our class library and read one part of it several times until you think you can read it rapidly, with no mistakes and with good expression. Then, I want you to read it to one of your reading teammates. I also want you to take the book home and read it to someone at your house tonight.”