Fluency
What is it and how does it work?
Fluency is the student's ability to read accurately, quickly, effortlessly and with appropriate expression. This is the most difficult component of reading to master because it takes mastery of word-level reading, vocabulary and comprehension for true fluency to occur.
Research Based Intervention Strategies
Peer Assistance
Using peers to provide immediate feedback and modeling in repeated readings has been found to be highly effective in increasing fluency and comprehension abilities in students with RD. Peers reading together, assessing each other, and instructing each other has proven to be successful because it keeps students engaged a large percentage of the time. Also, by utilizing this strategy practice time is doubled or tripled over that of teacher-led instruction. In addition to working on fluency, these peer partners can work on comprehension skills such as summarizing, predicting, making inferences and pointing out main idea and details.
Fluency Bookmarks/Rubrics
Bookmarks and rubrics help students see the direct correlation between their performance and the teacher’s expectations or the reading skills being taught. Researchers insist that explicit instruction with clear expectations and specific cues in feedback has a positive effect on student achievement. Bookmark strategies can include: use index finger, watch your pace, check prefix/suffix, read with expression, and pause at punctuation.
Repeated Readings
Repeated readings are when a student is asked to read with fluency, based on the above mentioned criteria, a certain passage until the predetermined rate has been mastered. This strategy can be employed in many fun and enriching ways to ensure student engagement.
Semantics Training
Put simply, semantics training is punctuation training. This is critical for students who struggle with fluency because punctuation is the complicated code of how to perform fluently. Teaching the semantics of fluency is critical because it explains to the reader how to pause at punctuation and to read by using the author's intent.
Self-Monitoring (Recording)
Having students record themselves via technology in the classroom allows them to hear their own fluency and make adjustments based on their own assessments. Many strategies, but especially fluency, call for teacher modeling and then student practice with immediate feedback. This can be accomplished through peer assistance, but also on an individual basis if technology (tape recorder, voice recorder on a computer, or camcorder) is available.
Using peers to provide immediate feedback and modeling in repeated readings has been found to be highly effective in increasing fluency and comprehension abilities in students with RD. Peers reading together, assessing each other, and instructing each other has proven to be successful because it keeps students engaged a large percentage of the time. Also, by utilizing this strategy practice time is doubled or tripled over that of teacher-led instruction. In addition to working on fluency, these peer partners can work on comprehension skills such as summarizing, predicting, making inferences and pointing out main idea and details.
Fluency Bookmarks/Rubrics
Bookmarks and rubrics help students see the direct correlation between their performance and the teacher’s expectations or the reading skills being taught. Researchers insist that explicit instruction with clear expectations and specific cues in feedback has a positive effect on student achievement. Bookmark strategies can include: use index finger, watch your pace, check prefix/suffix, read with expression, and pause at punctuation.
Repeated Readings
Repeated readings are when a student is asked to read with fluency, based on the above mentioned criteria, a certain passage until the predetermined rate has been mastered. This strategy can be employed in many fun and enriching ways to ensure student engagement.
Semantics Training
Put simply, semantics training is punctuation training. This is critical for students who struggle with fluency because punctuation is the complicated code of how to perform fluently. Teaching the semantics of fluency is critical because it explains to the reader how to pause at punctuation and to read by using the author's intent.
Self-Monitoring (Recording)
Having students record themselves via technology in the classroom allows them to hear their own fluency and make adjustments based on their own assessments. Many strategies, but especially fluency, call for teacher modeling and then student practice with immediate feedback. This can be accomplished through peer assistance, but also on an individual basis if technology (tape recorder, voice recorder on a computer, or camcorder) is available.
Links for Teachers and Parents
Self-Monitoring is an article with usable suggestions that can be applied in any classroom.
Self-Monitoring Flow Chart can be used to help you navigate your students through self-monitoring reading instruction.
Scholastic provides five surefire strategies for developing reading fluency.
Reading Rockets: Developing Fluent Readers is an article that helps practitioners use fluency-based assessments and select best instructional practices.
Reading Rockets: Understanding and Assessing Fluency explains what reading fluency is, why it is critical to make sure that students have sufficient fluency, how we should assess fluency, and how to best provide practice and support for all students.
Reading Rockets: Screening, Diagnosing, and Progress Monitoring for Fluency is a site that helps teachers ensure that all students become fluent readers. It provides examples of words-correct per-minute (WCPM) procedures that can work for all three aspects of screening, diagnosing and monitoring. This resource helps teachers make well-informed and timely decisions about the instructional needs of their students.
Reading Rockets: Reader's Theater is a strategy that blends students' desire to perform with their need for oral reading practice. Reader's Theater offers an entertaining and engaging means of improving fluency and enhancing comprehension.
Repeated Reading on Youtube is an excellent demonstration of the repeated reading method used to increase oral reading fluency.
Words Per Minute Graph is a printable download of the graph used in the repeated reading video above.
Self-Monitoring Flow Chart can be used to help you navigate your students through self-monitoring reading instruction.
Scholastic provides five surefire strategies for developing reading fluency.
Reading Rockets: Developing Fluent Readers is an article that helps practitioners use fluency-based assessments and select best instructional practices.
Reading Rockets: Understanding and Assessing Fluency explains what reading fluency is, why it is critical to make sure that students have sufficient fluency, how we should assess fluency, and how to best provide practice and support for all students.
Reading Rockets: Screening, Diagnosing, and Progress Monitoring for Fluency is a site that helps teachers ensure that all students become fluent readers. It provides examples of words-correct per-minute (WCPM) procedures that can work for all three aspects of screening, diagnosing and monitoring. This resource helps teachers make well-informed and timely decisions about the instructional needs of their students.
Reading Rockets: Reader's Theater is a strategy that blends students' desire to perform with their need for oral reading practice. Reader's Theater offers an entertaining and engaging means of improving fluency and enhancing comprehension.
Repeated Reading on Youtube is an excellent demonstration of the repeated reading method used to increase oral reading fluency.
Words Per Minute Graph is a printable download of the graph used in the repeated reading video above.
