Chapter 10: Fluency Instruction Teaching Reading Sourcebook 2 nd 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

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.

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.

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

Choosing the Right Text Texts students read to develop fluency should be chosen carefully. Criteria include Text length: 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.

How to Determine the Level of Text Difficulty Administer a one minute timed reading assessment of a 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 % 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.