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Acquiring Reading Fluency: The Elementary Years

Not long ago, the National Assessment of Educational Progress conducted a study of elementary-school reading skills. The study showed that 44% of fourth graders in the United States have low reading scores. In 2000, a report by The National Reading Panel stated that oral reading fluency is a critical part of effective reading instruction. Parents and teachers can help improve reading scores by building reading fluency skills in their children.

What is Fluency?

Fluency is the ability to accurately and quickly read text. People who read with fluency immediately understand words they read and comprehend sentence structures. If a person has not developed reading fluency, words are difficult to understand and pronounce. They read at a slow pace, and have to sound out many words. To develop fluency, a reader must practice reading and receive instruction. Gradually, reading fluency develops as the reader is exposed to varied text and word familiarity is developed.

Assessing Fluency in Reading

Fluency should be assessed to ensure that students are progressing. At home, parents can test fluency by asking the child to read aloud from an age appropriate book for one minute. The child's school reader will work fine. As he/she reads, make a checkmark on a piece of paper for each missed word, substitution, reversal, omission, or words on which the child needed help. Count the number of words read correctly in one minute (WPM = words per minute). Do not count words the child did not have time to read. The WPM should go up as the child progresses. Listen to see if the child reads smoothly, with pauses and inflections, emotion, and expression. Does he or she react appropriately to punctuation cues? Or, does the child spend extra time trying to "sound out" words?

Fluency Instruction

There are numerous approaches to reading fluency instruction. One of the most effective is Repeated Reading, during which the student reads text aloud several times while being monitored by a parent, teacher, or tutor. After reading, the student is given feedback and guidance. Other approaches include: silent, independent reading, reading in phrases, listening to fluent reading models, and performance feedback.

Repeated Reading

Oral repeated reading consists of the student being monitored while he reads, then rereads, text. Practitioners of Repeated Reading have found that students who read a passage four times, and are given assistance with decoding words, word meanings, etc., will increase their fluency significantly. At home, the student should read orally, with help from a parent or tutor, for one-half to one hour per day.

Silent, Independent Reading

Teachers who maximize the time spent on reading skills instruction in the classroom will see the most rapid comprehension and fluency growth in students. While solitary reading can be productive for students, it should be kept to a minimum to free class time for skills instruction. Students should be encouraged to read more at home to replace independent reading in school. For parents, this means that you should have your child read independently for another one-half to one hour.

Reading in Phrases

When students read, they are exposed to phrases in sentences. Reading fluency improves when the reader reads the text in phrases. When teaching reading in phrases, the adult acts as a role model and reads a selection of text to the child, which has been divided into phrases by slash marks. Then the student is asked to read the same text aloud, three to four times.

Listening to Fluent Reading Models

Role modeling fluency in reading should be performed on a daily basis at school and at home. The student should read one-on-one with an adult who provides a model of fluent reading. The adult should point to the words being read. Then, the student reads the same text several times with assistance. When students hear exemplary role models of reading fluency, they observe and imitate correct pronunciation, emotion, enunciation, pauses, and reactions to punctuation.

In choral reading, students read as a group with an adult. They follow along while the adult reads from a big book, or read from their own copy of the book. Then the students reread the book in unison several times.

In tape-assisted reading, students read along and point to each word as they hear a fluent reader read a book on audiotape. The students read aloud along with the tape until they are able to read the book independently.

In partner reading, more fluent readers are paired with less fluent readers. The more fluent reader provides a model of fluent reading. Then, the less fluent reader reads the book aloud several times. The more fluent student helps with word recognition, showing emotion, and reacting to punctuation.

Performance Feedback

Research indicates that performance feedback, with incentives, improves reading fluency. Students who are told, specifically, how they have done on tests of fluency, improve more than students who are not informed of their progress. Incentives, such as certificates of improvement motivate students to improve reading fluency.

Conclusion

Using proven skills-building techniques, parents and tutors can help children improve reading fluency. If parents have concerns about their child's progress, they should speak with the child's teacher and then assist the child at home.

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