Reading Fluency
The term reading fluency refers to the reader’s rate, or speed at which they read, as well as their phrasing and intonation displayed while reading.
A reader who doesn’t read with fluency often reads word-by-word, finger points, and doesn’t monitor (See Link on Comprehension) their reading.
Reading fluency is important because:
What I will be doing in the classroom to support your child:
What you can do at home to support comprehension and fluency:
Fluency
The ability to decode words at a reasonable speed, to read in phrases, while understanding the meaning of the text. Slow fluency impedes the readers’ ability to comprehend.
A reader who doesn’t read with fluency often reads word-by-word, finger points, and doesn’t monitor (See Link on Comprehension) their reading.
Reading fluency is important because:
- without it, the reader expends a lot of energy on the recognition of the words, which then supercedes comprehension. Simply put, the reader can only attend, largely, to one process at a time. If that process is fluency then their comprehension will generally fail.
- readers with fluency issues simply read less than those who do read fluently. The number of words read by a student directly correlates to overall levels of achievement (Anderson, Wilson and Field, 1988).
- phonics instruction did not have a significant impact on the child
- decoding is difficult or they lack the transfer of that knowledge to context
- they do not have enough of an experience reading in appropriate leveled text
- they have inadvertently been taught to rely on an external monitor (teacher, parent)
What I will be doing in the classroom to support your child:
- using several research based techniques that are targeted at improving rate or phrasing and intonation
- possibly assigning specific reading homework
- arranging reading partners in the classroom so your child has multiple opportunities to practice these research based techniques. These pairs are/will be trained in the techniques.
What you can do at home to support comprehension and fluency:
- don't expect or ask your child to read aloud everything they read. That just keeps them frustrated. Their independent reading should be done silently.
- If homework is assigned, this is the only text to practice reading aloud. It will be a short text or poem that is to be read aloud multiple times.
- Make sure your child is reading in appropriate level material
- Allow and encourage your child to spend time rereading material previously read
- Encourage reading a book in a series – this supports comprehension
Fluency
The ability to decode words at a reasonable speed, to read in phrases, while understanding the meaning of the text. Slow fluency impedes the readers’ ability to comprehend.
- Students that are doing repeated readings as an assignment, please make sure they are reading the short passage several times a night, both silently and orally. You can also read it to them to model what it should sound like. Retests will be done with me once a week.
- Students will receive poems (you may also Google search children’s poems). Reread together, silently or orally, several times.
- Some students will have books from school. These books are short and are readable in one sitting. These books focus on phrasing and fluency. Students need to reread these frequently. The more the better – to the point of memorization - is great.