Literacy Main Page

Differentiating Literacy Instruction for Culturally, Linguistically and Ability Diverse Students

Case Study

References

Fluency

Fluency and reading comprehension are closely related. Learning to read accurately and fluently helps children to comprehend text. Furthermore, research indicates that students who score low on assessments of fluency also tend to score low on measures of reading comprehension (Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn, 2001).

• Fluency is not the same as automaticity. While automaticity refers to a reader's ability to recognize words automatically, accurately and rapidly, fluency involves reading connected passages effortlessly and with expression. Automatic word recognition is an important, but insufficient, skill for the development of fluency.
• Fluent readers are able to read grade-level text with 90 percent accuracy, at a rate of about 90 words per minute. They read effortlessly and with expression, and are able to demonstrate comprehension of text they have read aloud.
• Beginning readers tend to read slowly, sounding out individual letters as they learn to "break the code." They also tend to lack expression, and may read narrative passages aloud as though they were lists of words rather than connected text. Sometimes they group words at odd intervals, indicating they are focusing on the individual words rather than the meaning of the text.
• Explicit instruction should be provided for those students who have not attained fluency. Those students who make errors in more than 10 percent of the words in an appropriately leveled oral reading, who tend to read aloud in a monotone, and who cannot show that they understand what they have read will need such instruction.
• Individual students may demonstrate different rates of fluency depending on the difficulty level of the text. Students who can read a storybook expressively and without apparent effort may stumble when confronted with text dealing with unfamiliar subjects or densely packed with unfamiliar words.
• To develop fluency, students need extensive practice and exposure to reading.
• Research (Armbruster et al., 2001) indicates that repeated oral reading is particularly effective for both beginning and struggling readers. This practice can help improve accuracy, word recognition, speed and fluency, and may also lead to increased reading comprehension.
• Students benefit from reading the same story aloud several times until they are fluent enough to read the passage independently. This usually takes three or four times (not necessarily on the same day), but the number of repetitions needed may vary depending on the student.
• Practicing by reading aloud sight words from lists or flash cards is not sufficient for improving fluency. This is because the student may develop the ability to recognize a sight word in isolation but still be unable to read it accurately in connected text.
• Fluency should be assessed periodically, both formally and informally, throughout the year. A graph may be kept to monitor students' progress. The best formal measure of fluency is to calculate the number of correct words per minute during oral reading of a short (50 - 200 word), grade-level passage.

  Teaching Strategies for Helping Students Develop Fluency:

  • Model fluent reading by reading aloud to students from big books, having the students follow along in the text as they read. The teacher may stop occasionally to point out how she knew to read with excitement ("See the exclamation point at the end?"); cues that told her to pause (commas, line breaks); and when to group words.
  • Students may practice oral repeated readings in a number of ways:
    • choral reading as a small group, after the teacher has modeled once;
    • one-on-one with the teacher. Teacher models, then the student practices reading aloud while teacher guides him;
    • in pairs with a more fluent student and a less fluent student. The more fluent student reads first, then the less fluent student practices with help from her partner;
    • in pairs of readers with similar levels of fluency, after hearing the teacher model;
    • with audiotapes of the text. Select tapes that are devoid of background music or sound effects. On the first reading, the student should listen while pointing to each word. Then have the student echo each passage, repeating the reading until he can read independently of the tape;
    • readers' theatre. Using books with plenty of dialogue, assign students roles and have them rehearse and act out the story. Readers' theatre is motivating for students because it provides them a reason to read repeatedly and an opportunity for learning cooperatively.
  • For fluency practice, select materials that students can read easily and contain mostly known vocabulary words. If materials are too difficult, students will focus on decoding individual words rather than practicing for fluency. Passages should be short; should represent a variety of genres including poetry, fiction and non-fiction; and should be fun, interesting and meaningful. Poems are particularly helpful for focusing on rhymes and rhythm.
  • Encourage students to read independently at home, or during independent time at school. They may be given appropriately leveled books to take home to practice reading aloud to an adult family member (Armbruster et al., 2001).
    

Back to Top

Continue to Next Page (Reading Comprehension)