Fluency
styrdestiny24-
C10_PowerPointPresentationFluencyInstruction.pptChapter 10: Fluency Instruction
Teaching Reading Sourcebook 2nd edition
*
Fluency Instruction
- To develop fluency instruction one must focus on the three elements of fluent reading: accuracy, rate, and prosody.
- Instructional methods can be grouped into three categories, which in actual practice overlap.
- A fourth category focuses on the integration of the following:
- Independent silent reading
- Assisted reading
- Repeated oral reading
Instructional methods focused on connected text can be grouped into three main categories: independent silent reading, assisted reading, and repeated oral reading.
In actual practice, these categories often overlap. A fourth category focuses on integrated fluency instruction.
Assisted Reading
- Students need to hear proficient fluency models to learn how a reader’s voice can help make sense of text.
- Methods of assisted reading include
- Teacher-assisted reading
- Peer-assisted reading
- Audio-assisted reading
- All forms emphasize extensive practice to improve students’ fluency.
*
- Teacher-assisted reading: expressive reading modeled through reading aloud.
- Peer-assisted reading: paired reading with feedback from more fluent reader.
- Audio-assisted reading: expressive reading modeled by computer, CD or audio tape.
Repeated Oral Reading
- Practice is the key to fluency.
- Repeated readings involve rereading a text to build both automaticity and fluency. (i.e. choral reading, Readers Theatre, etc.)
- Repeated oral reading is flexible and can be adapted in many ways such as
- the number of readings;
- the instructional groupings;
- the purpose for reading.
*
- Number of readings: Students either read and reread a text until a level of fluency is met or they read text a set number of times (three to four benefit most).
- Instructional groupings: Include individually with adult, pairs, small groups, or a whole class.
- Purpose for reading: Students devote each reading to a different purpose ( 1st read: identify character motivation, 2nd read identify setting, etc.).
Methods of Repeated Oral Reading
- Timed repeated oral reading
- Self-timed repeated oral reading
- Partner reading
- Phrase-cued reading
- Readers Theatre
- Radio reading
- Choral reading
- Duet reading
- Echo reading
- Reading with Recordings
*
See Research-Based Methods of Repeated Oral Reading chart on page 365 for descriptions of each.
Choosing the Right Text
- Texts students read to develop fluency should be chosen carefully. Criteria include
- Text length: 50-200 words with shorter passages for beginning and struggling readers and longer passages for better readers;
- Text content: choosing the right passage can be the key to motivation; the more that words overlap between texts with common themes, the more transfer there is of fluent reading;
- Level of text difficulty: an essential requirement for repeated oral reading is that the text be at the correct level of difficulty for each student.
*
Passages should vary in genre with short stories, magazine and newspaper articles, poetry etc.
How to Determine the Level of Text Difficulty
- Administer a one minute timed reading assessment of a 100-120 word passage to calculate the CWPM.
- Calculate the percent of words read correctly or percent of accuracy. (If a student read 112 words correctly out of a 120 word passage: 112 divided by 120 = .93 or 93% accuracy.)
- Compare the student’s accuracy level with the levels of text difficulty
- 95-100% Independent level
- 90-94% Instructional level
- Less than 90% Frustration level
*
When to Teach
- Not every student needs instruction for fluency building. Assessment determines if and what kind of fluency instruction is needed (e.g. accuracy, rate, prosody).
- In grades K-2, students need daily opportunities to hear text read aloud in a fluent, prosodic manner.
- In grade 1, students need daily opportunities for guided repeated oral readings; in grades 2-5, practice reading aloud with corrective feedback.
- Although most oral reading fluency rates do not significantly increase beyond grade 6, all students need ample amounts of reading practice in a wide range of texts.
*
