Fluency has been defined as "the ability to read connected text rapidly, smoothly, effortlessly, and automatically with little conscious attention to the mechanics of reading such as decoding" (Meyer and Felton, 1999).
Research has shown that repeated reading is an effective way for pupils to develop reading fluency. When reading the same passage over and over, the number of word recognition errors decreases, reading speed increases, and oral reading expression improves. (Samuels, 2002). Samuels compares the reader to athletes and musicians in training. He points out that coaches and music teachers take a complicated activity and break it into sub-skills until they can be done automatically. This is akin to the repeat reading of a passage for a reader-in-training.
Dowhower (1994) reported that the research on the positive effects of repeated reading was so strong that repeated reading should be "woven into the very fabric of daily literacy instruction." Start-to-Finish® Books provide effective classroom tools to enable teachers to do this. With Start-to-Finish, the effect of the repeated reading on struggling readers is enhanced by having the model of the narrator close at hand, reading at a good rate, articulating carefully, and with optimum phrasing and emphasis.
The pupil recording feature in the Start-to-Finish Blue Library books gives pupils the opportunity to practice repeated reading, within the context of the book they're already motivated to read. Using the "Fluency Recorder" feature available after each chapter,
pupils are presented with a passage to read and record multiple times. After each recording,
pupils can listen to their own recording and see how they are progressing in their ability to bring out the meaning of the text through proper phrasing and intonation.
Pupils can use individual word support or hear the entire passage read by the narrator to verify pronunciation, phrasing and intonation.
Part of smooth and effortless reading is the use of appropriate phrasing and intonation.
The fluency that pupils usually hear by the fourth reading leads to an increase in confidence and self-esteem. When teachers use these recordings to monitor fluency, they also gain a window into their
pupils' reading comprehension.
When pupils are having difficulty at the decoding level, they don't have enough attention available for comprehension. Samuels (2002) writes, "the problem facing the beginning reader is that at any given moment there is a limited amount of processing space or attention available for decoding and comprehension, and each task by itself occupies a considerable amount of the limited processing space available. The dual tasks of decoding and comprehension require more attentional energy than is available."
Fuchs, Fuchs and Maxwell (1988) found that pupils' fluency was more highly correlated with their scores on a
standardised reading comprehension test than were oral and written retellings, question answering, or cloze tests. Shinn et al (1992) provides additional support for the use of fluency measures to monitor progress in reading.
References:
Dowhower, S. (1994). Repeated reading revisited: research into practice. Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 10343-358, .
Fuchs, L., Fuchs, D., and Maxwell, L. (1988). The validity of informal measures of reading comprehension. Remedial and Special Education 9, 20-28.
Meyer M. & Felton, R. (1999). Repeated reading to enhance fluency: old approaches and new directions. Annals of Dyslexia. 49, 283-306.
Samuels, S. (2002). Reading fluency: Its development and assessment. In A. Farstrup & S. Samuels (Eds.) What research has to say about reading instruction (pp. 166-183). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.
Shinn, M. R., Good, R.H. Knutson, N., Tilly, W.D., and Collins, V.L. (1992). Curriculum-based measurement of oral reading fluency: A confirmatory analysis of its relation to reading. School Psychology Review 21: 459-79.
© Don Johnston Incorporated 01925 256500