What is Fluency?

1. What is Fluency? Unless stated otherwise the content of this section is based on Chapter 8 – Gunning, T.G. (2010) Assessing and Correcting Reading and Writing Difficulties. Boston, MA.: Pearson, Education, Inc. Benedictine University

2. Definition of Fluency • The National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) defines fluencyas the ease or “naturalness” of reading • Key Elements of fluency are: • Grouping or phrasing of words • Adherence to author’s syntax • Smoothness and expressiveness of oral reading Benedictine University

3. Fluency Problems • Students who do not read fluently sound choppy and awkward • Typically, students who experience fluency problems: • Do not process groups of words as meaningful phrases • May make decoding errors in reading, which slows them down and prevents them from grasping the meaning of the sentence • May not understand and/or remember meanings of text or the larger meaning of chapters and books Benedictine University

4. Fluency Problems • Areas of focus to help students who have fluency problems: • Improve decoding ability • Correct various fluency problems such as: • Reading rate • Accuracy • Expression • Phrasing Benedictine University

5. What Strategies Build Fluency? Unless stated otherwise the content of this section is based on information in Shanker J.L., Ekwall E. (2003) Locating and Correcting Reading Difficulties Boston, MA. Prentice Hall. Benedictine University

6. The Neurological-Impress Method • The neurological-impress method is an approach to teaching reading in which teacher and student read together while tracking the words • This approach is a powerful strategy for developing fluent readers • The process for implementing this approach is: • Student is seated slightly in front of teacher • Begin at instructional or independent level • Teacher reads the material to the student, while he or she follows along as teacher points to the words • Begin to increase your rate as the student improves • Time: 5-15 minutes, two to four times per day • After 4 hours of instruction, if the student is not making progress, discontinue Benedictine University

7. Dyad Reading • An adapted neurological-impress method to be used in pairs by students in the classroom • Pairs: “lead reader” and “assisted reader” • Students share one book • Lead reader sets the pace and tracks words while reading aloud • Interest level of reading material is more important than difficulty level Benedictine University

8. Echo Reading • Echo reading is an activity where a skilled reader reads a text, a sentence at a time, while the less skilled learner carefully follows along by tracking the text that is read • The less skilled learner then echoes or imitatesthe skilled reader • Teacher can participate in echo reading by reading first and having students repeat what is read • Recorded texts can also be used for echo reading • Tracking with finger or a tracking tool is encouraged Benedictine University

9. Repeated Reading • Repeated reading means that students read the same passages or text repeatedly until a desired level of reading fluency is achieved • In repeated reading,students: • Are given a 50 to 200 word passage. • Practice reading the selection • Are then timed • Reading rate and errors are then charted to measure progress • Caution: Encourage students to first work on reading accurately and then focus on improving speed • Watch a short video demonstrating the repeated reading approach presented by “Reading Resource.net” by clicking on the following link and scrolling down the page: • http://www.readingresource.net/readingfluency.html Benedictine University • Web Source: http://www.readingresource.net/readingfluency.html

10. Paired Repeated Reading • Paired reading is most effective with children who have moved beyond the earliest levels of reading and are now working on reading smoothly with good comprehension • Pairs work together with a self-chosen 50-word passage • Each student takes turns reading the passage orally three times • Teacher demonstrates and facilitates the activity Web Source: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_gmNGpJWJpQ Benedictine University

11. Reader’s Theatre • Reader’s Theatre: • Involves children in oral reading by having them reading parts in scripts • Emphasis is mainly on oral expression of the part • Involves children in understanding their world • Gives children a purpose for writing, for reading, and for sharing their learning by bringing others into the joyful "imagination space" they create • Is a simple, effective and risk-free way to get children to enjoy reading • Gives students a safe and enjoyable way to read aloud and perform for a group • As children write, read, perform and interpret their roles they acquire a better understanding of the literature • Students are given ample time to practice their parts before performing • Benefits of Reader’s Theatre are: • Students read the material (no memorizing required) • Avenue to discuss characterization and expression in reading Benedictine University

12. Choral Reading • Choral reading: • Is reading aloud in unison with a whole class or group of students • Helps build students' fluency, self-confidence, and motivation • Creates a built-in support for students who may ordinarily feel self-conscious or nervous about reading aloud Benedictine University

13. Modeling: Choral Reading • Joyful Noise, written by Paul Fleischman, is perfect for choral reading because it is designed to be read aloud by two readers • One reader takes the ‘left hand’ part • The other reader takes the ‘right hand’ part • The poem should be read from top to bottom • When both readers have lines on the samehorizontal level, those lines are meant to be read simultaneously Benedictine University

14. Modeling: Choral Reading • Let’s take a quick look at Grasshopper, a poem in Paul Fleisheman’s Joyful Noise Benedictine University Web Source: http://browseinside.harpercollinschildrens.com/index.aspx?isbn13=9780064460934

15. Language-Experience Approach • In the LEA approach, student dictates a story to the teacher, starting with the title and then continuing sentence by sentence • After writing each sentence, teacher tracks with finger under each sentence while reading it aloud • The student then tracks with his/her finger while reading aloud • Teacher types story when completed and… • Asks the student to read the story in their next session together • If the student reads it without errors, start writing another story Benedictine University

16. Language-Experience Approach • When students have developed considerable sight vocabulary and basic word–attack skills, build toward reading basal readers or general books • The LEA approach should be used along with skill lessons • Reading material is generated by the student’s ideas: • Interesting material to students • At appropriate reading level and content level • The LEA approach can be used with a single student or with a group of students Benedictine University

17. Shared Book Experience – Shared Reading • Intended to modify the “lap method” used by parents with young children • Teacher can use “big books” and charts to model a variety of aspects of reading for students: • Print concepts • Return sweep at the end of each line Benedictine University

18. Modeling • A good example of a Shared Book Experience is: • The Important Bookby Margaret Wise Brown • Brown’s poems repeat several important characteristics about the object (a spoon, a daisy, etc.) • However, the most important characteristic is listed at the beginningand then repeatedat the endof the poem Individual Activity: • After completing our discussion of the format of the writing, students are to write their own Important Book poem about fluency Benedictine University

19. Want More Information About Fluency Instruction? • Check out these additional texts: • The Fluent Reader: Oral Reading Strategies for Building Word Recognition, Fluency, and Comprehension • Written by: Timothy Rasinski • Fluency: Strategies and Assessments • Written by: Jerry Johns & Roberta Berglund Benedictine University