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Are you wondering how to improve reading fluency? You're in the right place! This post is the first in a four-part series all about building fluency.

Do you have students who struggle with reading fluency?

Maybe they read in a stilted, word-by-word fashion.

Maybe they read accurately, but ooooh so slowly.

Or maybe you know readers who trip over words. To them, reading is awkward and painful.

I personally know a reader (right in my own house) who reads automatically and with little stumbling. But he readslikethiswithoutabreath. I have to remind him to read with expression, to pay attention to punctuation, and to read with inflection in his voice.
All of these students need to improve their reading fluency.
But what does reading fluency even mean?

Before we get started listing ways to build fluency, we need to nail down a definition.

What is reading fluency?

Most definitions of fluency include mention of accuracy, rate, and expression. But the authors of Reading Fluency take it just a step further.

"We define fluency as reasonable accurate reading, at an appropriate rate, with suitable expression, that leads to accurate and deep comprehension and motivation to read."
Jan Hasbrouck & Deb Glaser, in Reading Fluency

Did you catch that last part? Fluent reading leads to deep comprehension and motivation to read.

Sounds great!

But how do we get there?

8 Ways to build reading fluency

1 - Build phonemic awareness.

If you're wondering what on earth phonemic awareness has to do with fluency, here's the deal. Phonemic awareness (the ability to identify and manipulate individual sounds, or phonemes, in words) is essential for success in decoding words. Since fluency is all about being automatic with word recognition, we've got to teach the skills that will get us to automaticity.

(The above picture is from my Phonemic Awareness Activities pack.)

2 - Teach phonics in a systematic, explicit way.

Research has told us again and again that students benefit from direct and structured phonics instruction. When we combine phonemic awareness with phonics, we are equipping our students to tackle unfamiliar words that could interrupt their fluency.

(In fact, if a student scores below benchmark on an oral reading fluency test, the first step is to give a phonics assessment to see if a lack of phonics skills is impeding progress. You can find my free phonics assessment here.)

3 - Teach students to read irregular high frequency words.

While most words contain at least some graphemes (letter or letter combinations that represent phonemes) that are regular, some words include patterns that must be learned by heart. For example, in the word the, the final vowel sound has an unexpected spelling. In the word said, the ai has an unexpected pronunciation.

When teaching these irregular words, it's important to remember that students learn them just like they learn any other word - and not through whole word memorization. Instead of drilling these as whole words, we can call attention to the parts that are regular and those that are not. (Check out my set of 30 free high frequency word lessons and books to see how this is done.)

After introducing words in this way, it's perfectly appropriate to do flash card practice. Hasbrouck and Glaser (2019) recommend the following procedure:

Students write each word on the front of an index card (or the teacher may do this in advance).

Students trace the letters while saying them and reading the word.

On the back, students write a sentence using the word and/or draw a quick picture to help them recall the word. (The teacher may do this as well.)

The cards can then be put on a ring or a recipe box for students to use for daily practice.

When students practice the words, they can sort them according to their speed under pictures of a dog, rabbit, and turtle. The dog pile gets words that are read quickly and automatically. The rabbit pile gets words that are read with some hesitation. The turtle pile gets words that are unknown, read incorrectly, or read after several seconds. Students keep practicing until all cards get to the dog pile. (For more ways to use these flash cards, check out Reading Fluency, p. 81-82. Such a useful book!)

4 - Read aloud to your students every day.

When teachers don't make daily read alouds a routine, I think the only reason must be that they aren't aware of the countless benefits of reading aloud to our students.

I won't go off on a tangent here, but this quote from Tim Rasinski (2010) is well worth sharing:

"Clearly, read aloud builds interest in reading, but its benefits do not end there. Read aloud helps you achieve three important goals with your students: it improves comprehension and vocabulary, and builds motivation" (p. 46).

Here's one more benefit: reading aloud provides a wonderful model of fluent reading.

5 - Implement assisted reading

This simply means reading aloud alongside our students. As Rasinski (2010) puts it, "oral reading can be used as a scaffolding tool to ease the transition from modeling to independence" (p. 67).

Choral reading - groups of students (or even the whole class) read the same text aloud in unision

Paired reading - This research-based approach is not exactly the same as partner reading or buddy reading. In paired reading, a more proficient reader supports a less able reader by reading together chorally; the more proficient reader adjusts his/her volume and support as the other reader becomes more confident. The reader signals when the more proficient reader should read more loudly or bow out altogether.

Audio recorded reading - Listening to an audio recording of a text will help build fluency only if the listener is reading along. Students can make great gains in fluency if they keep listening and reading along until they can read the text independently.

6 - Provide opportunities for repeated reading

Our goal is for students to read one text several times so that they can read it fluently - with few errors, at an appropriate rate, with proper expression, and good comprehension.

I'm surprised when I see people question the value of repeated reading in large Facebook groups devoted to the science of reading. The truth is that we've had decades of research that show its value.

Research has, in fact, found that rereading a familiar passage not only leads to improvement on that particular passage, but fluency gains also transfer to the reading other passages.

You may be familiar with the concept of timed repeated reading - in which students read a passage multiple times until they achieve a desired rate. This is a powerful intervention that is best suited for students who fit this criteria:

Words Correct Per Minute scores are more than ten words below the 50th percentile on the Hasbrouck & Tindal ORF (Oral Reading Fluency) norms when they read grade-level or instructional-level text.

Reading is slow but accurate.

Decoding of individual words is also slow but accurate.

Phonemic awareness is well developed.

Comprehension is adequate or good.

(Source: Reading Fluency, by Hasbrouck & Glaser)

When doing timed repeated readings, always make it a point to also talk about the text. Reading fluently is not all about speed!

7 - Do whole class fluency lessons.

Later in this series I'll walk you through the Fluency Development Lesson, in which teachers support students as they learn to read a short passage or poem with fluency. The FDL only takes about 15 minutes a day.

If you have more time, and you want to help all children achieve fluency with grade-level text, consider FORI (Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction).

Here's a general overview of FORI:

Monday - The teacher introduces the text and reads it while the class follows along; the teacher leads a discussion that focuses on comprehending the text.

Tuesday - The teacher and students echo read the story; comprehension instruction is infused throughout; students take the text home and read it to a friend or family member

Wednesday - Teacher and students choral-read the text; students who need extra practice read it again at home.

Thursday - Students partner-read the text; students who need extra practice read it again at home.

Friday - Students complete extension activities to broaden comprehension.

I'll be honest - I think I'd be ready to chuck that text out the window after all this time with it, so I'm more a fan of WIDE FORI, which introduces new texts on Thursday and Friday.

(Source: Developing Fluent Readers, by Kuhn & Levy)

8 - Provide opportunities for performance reading

Timed repeated reading can be a great motivator for struggling readers who watch their performance improve during their sessions.

But repeated reading, while beneficial to all students, can be less than motivating if we go about it the wrong way. Thankfully, we can make repeated reading interesting and engaging for all students when we make it authentic.

When repeated reading is done for the purpose of rehearsal for a performance, we can get everyone on board.

Students can reread texts multiple times as they prepare to perform in any of these ways:

Reader's Theater or partner plays (pictured above)

Book talks

Reading aloud to younger students

Recording books for younger students

Reading poetry aloud

Whew - that was a lot! And it was just the first post in our series!

Stay tuned for more in the coming weeks:
References
Hasbrouck, J. & Glaser, D. (2019). Reading fluency. Benchmark Education Company.

Kuhn, M. & Levy, L. (2015). Developing fluent readers. The Guilford Press

Rasinski, T. (2010). The fluent reader. Scholastic.

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This post contains affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. Are you wondering how to improve reading fluency? You're in the right place! This post is the first in a four-part series all about building fluency. Do you have students who struggle with reading fluency?

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Reading fluency is an important focus of literacy teaching, and can be thought of in two different but complementary ways:

Reading fluency has a qualitative definition, referring to the quality of students' reading. This includes the use of rhythm, phrasing, intonation, naturalness, and use of voice (for different characters/moods);

Reading fluency also has a quantitative definition, referring to the accuracy (number of errors, compared to number of correct words read) and the rate (number of words read per minute).

Quality and efficiency together are indicators of fluent reading, and are necessary for reading achievement, but not sufficient.

The case for fluency

It is an important goal for children to become accurate, efficient, and therefore fluent readers. Facilitating repeated practice of reading aloud is key to developing fluency. The goal for all children is for decoding to become easy and automatic, so they can free up their attention to focus on the meaning of the text.

While easy and automatic reading allows readers to attend to the meaning of texts, fluency alone does not indicate good comprehension. As noted by Afflerbach, Pearson and Paris (2008), 'fluent reading begins with strategies that integrate intentions, actions, and goals, and fluency increases with repeated practice' (p.369).

Theory to practice

Early readers spend much of their attention and effort on decoding words, which will inevitably affect their speed and efficiency. As students become more familiar with basic graphemes, and build up a bank of automatically recognisable words, their reading rate increases.

Fluency is dependent upon the ability to decode the text (including phonemic awareness, phonics and vocabulary abilities), and fluent readers work with meaningful units such as phrases and clauses as they read. Readers become more fluent when they can quickly and accurately decode the text with ease. Once reading fluency is developed to an automatic/proficient level, readers can focus much less on decoding and more on the comprehension of text.

What other areas of literacy relate to fluency?

Fluency is related to other decoding focuses, including phonological awareness and phonics. This is because accurate and timely decoding of unfamiliar words helps to improve the fluency of reading.

Another area which supports fluent reading is vocabulary knowledge (including morphology) because familiarity with a variety of words (and word parts, i.e., morphemes) can help to read these words with greater ease and fluency.

Finally, awareness of sentence structure (grammar) and punctuation is also linked to fluency (particularly rhythm, phrasing, and intonation). This is because knowing how to break sentences into appropriate phrases, and including pauses at different punctuation, is a key component of the qualitative aspects of reading fluency.

Evidence base

Research into fluency has examined the role that it plays in contributing to comprehension. In a review of research into this area, Konza (2016) examines three key areas which contribute to fluent - accuracy, rate and prosody (expression) - and which enable students to engage in meaningful and enjoyable experiences of reading (cf Kuhn & Stahl, 2000; Rasinski, Rikli, & Johnston, 2009 as cited in Konza, 2016). Rasinski and Samuels (2011, p. 95) note that when readers develop fluency, 'they are able to devote their finite cognitive resources to the more important task in reading - that is, comprehension'.

Key concepts

Grammar and punctuation

Another component of the teaching of fluency is the teaching of grammar and punctuation. This can include (but is not limited to) the following:

Discussing word types: noun, adjective, verb, adverb, preposition, determiner etc.

Explaining differences between commas, full stops, colons, semi colons, exclamation points.

For more information, see: Vocabulary

Developing fluency

Opportunities for developing reading fluency include:

References

Abbott, M, Wills, H, Greenwood, CR, Kamps, D, Heitzman-Powell, L & Selig, J (2010), The combined effects of grade retention and targeted small-group intervention on students' literacy outcomes, Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties, 26(1), pp. 4-25.

Afflerbach, P., Pearson, P., & Paris S. G. (2008). Clarifying differences between reading skills and reading strategies. The Reading Teacher, 61(5), 364 - 373.

Konza, D. (2016). Understanding the process of reading: The big six. In J. Scull & B. Raban (Eds), Growing up literate:Australian literacy research for practice (pp. 149-175). South Yarra, Vic. : Eleanor Curtain Publishing

Rasinski, T.V. & Samuels, S.J. (2011). Reading fluency: what it is and what it is not. In S.J. Samuels & A.E. Farstrup (Eds.), What research has to say about reading instruction (4th ed.) (pp. 94 - 114). Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

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Reading fluency is an important focus of literacy teaching, and can be thought of in two different but complementary ways: Reading fluency has a qualitative definition, referring to the quality of students' reading.

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Books for Reader's TheaterA Reader's Theatre Treasury of Stories, by Win BraunPresenting Reader's Theatre, by Caroline Feller BauerReader's Theatre for Beginning Readers, by Suzanne I. BarchersThe Best of Reader's Theatre, Vols. I and II, by Lisa Blau

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Books for Reader's TheaterA Reader's Theatre Treasury of Stories, by Win BraunPresenting Reader's Theatre, by Caroline Feller BauerReader's Theatre for Beginning Readers, by Suzanne I. BarchersThe Best of Reader's Theatre, Vols. I and II, by Lisa Blau

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I found inspiration for the following Reader's Theatre activity at www.readwritethink.org. Visit this site to discover ways in which you can expand the following activity, for links, and even more Reader's Theatre ideas to use in the classroom!

Reading Rock Stars!

This activity is a fun one because it motivates the class to do their best work. It takes several days, but the students will gain many vital skills from this project (reading fluency, comprehension, creativity, presentational techniques and analytical skills).

DAY 1: Intro to Reader's Theatre and Script

Choose a script to read or a book that you can transform into a script (if you have advanced readers in class, they can assist you). Read it aloud to the class, demonstrating the use of different character voices. When finished, discuss the characters and story.

Introduce the concept of Reader's Theatre (see Part I, Readers' Theatre Basics). Discuss the difference between a play and Reader's Theatre. For instance, in a play, the actors do not use scripts. There is blocking and stage direction. In Reader's Theatre, scripts are used, and the actors typically stand/sit and read. Ask them for feedback on what made your reading interesting (the different voices for various characters, pitch, tone, inflection, etc.)

Design a rubric so students know how they will be graded. Have them set goals for themselves that they want to accomplish through this activity.

Make it competition. You can have a prize for the best group. The prize may be that the group that scores the highest gets to perform on video. Perhaps you can set it up so that all other groups will have the opportunity to perform for other classes and/or on morning announcements.

Distribute scripts. If various students are playing the same character have them work together, highlighting and rehearsing lines. They should also take note of any challenging vocabulary. For younger kids, the new words can be used for future spelling tests! Have the partners critique each other, practicing positive feedback followed by constructive criticism.

Have each student write either in a journal or on a piece of notebook paper an assessment of their work after every session to track their progress.

DAYS 2 & 3: Student Rehearsal Process

Have the students spend some time reviewing their goals and going over the rubric.

Distribute scripts and assign performance groups. The class will meet in these groups today.

Before they practice, have the students write a character analysis and backstory based on information they obtain from the script. They can also decide on some character information themselves. For example, if the script does not talk about the character's childhood, encourage the student to create a backstory about their childhood. Also have them write a retelling of the story in their own words. They can incorporate a different ending, add characters, etc. These two activities will ensure that the students comprehend what they are reading, and also encourage their creative juices to flow! It will be interesting to see what the different groups come up with!

Allow the class time to rehearse in their performance groups.

Have the students write a log about what they accomplished today.

DAY 4: Reader's Theatre Performance Competition Begins

Performance day!

Hand out evaluation sheets/rubrics which they will use to judge performances. These should be set up so that each group is being evaluated in various areas. These may include: Projection, Proper Voice Inflection, Character Voices, Creativity, Confidence, Comprehension of Story, Ability to Hold Our Interest

Review rubric as the students will use this to vote. Remind them they should be looking for such as confidence, proper voice inflection, projection, and creative character voices. Stress the fact that there can only be one winner, but you are proud of all of their work, and the class should be, too. It takes a great amount of courage to present in front of peers, and as long as they did their best, they are ALL rock stars!

You should also fill out an evaluation sheet on each group, using these as a guideline for when you tally points, etc.

After all the groups have performed, collect rubrics. At this time hand out self-evaluation sheets to each student, asking them to assess their goals and how they think they did. Collect those sheets either at the end of the day or the next day. (These are not used in the point tally process.)

Before the start of the next school day tally up points.

DAY 5: And the Reading Rock Star Winner Is...

Announce the winner of the Reader's Theatre contest! They are the Reading Rock Stars! Set up the recording day and help students fine tune performances for any additional readings they may perform for other classes. Make sure you do the video recording within a day or two while the performances are still fresh in the students' minds and voices.

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Reader's Theatre in the Classroom: Part 2, Reading Rock Stars

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I found inspiration for the following Reader's Theatre activity at www.readwritethink.org. Visit this site to discover ways in which you can expand the following activity, for links, and even more Reader's Theatre ideas to use in the classroom! Reading Rock Stars! This activity is a fun one becaus

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https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/literacy/Pages/default.aspx

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Free PRINTABLE DOWNLOADS & RESOURCES

The reading fluency activities on this page are essential for children with dyslexia and struggling readers. These activities can be taught in the classroom (small and large group setting) and can also be implemented at home! Keep checking this page for more free printable reading fluency activities and other ways to increase reading fluency!

READING FLUENCY ACTIVITIES: CLASSROOM THAT SUPPORT READING FLUENCY

By enlarging this template you can help students learn and remember important self-check strategies when reading. We have found that it is beneficial to add objects to each strategy!

Increase a child's reading fluency at the word level while they take turns "reading" and being the "listener". Open the above template for complete directions and materials needed. This is a great activity for reading centers!

Print and cut apart the strips to help children practice punctuation fluency by using letters of the alphabet.

Use this parent friendly homework log to help your students practice reading fluency using the repeated reading method at home. Repeated Reading is one of our favorite reading fluency activities because it is so effective.

Help children understand and recognize common prefixes and suffixes by cutting out and laminating the above cards. Provide children with opportunities to locate these in words. Reading fluency activities that explicitly teach prefixes and suffixes are important for increasing reading fluency.

Using the same premise as mentioned on the Reading Fluency Page in " Repeated Readings", students can receive feedback and guidance reading appropriate text from their peers. One student plays the "reader" and the other is the "listener". The teacher sets a timer for a desired amount of time and after the first trial, the listener provides feedback to the reader. After the second and third trials, the listener is responsible for checking off the reading behaviors that the reader demonstrated. NOTE: This reading fluency activity must be explicitly modeled by the teacher before students can do this independently.

Reader's Theater helps students become fluent readers! The repeated readings necessary to prepare for play, both silent and oral, help students gain confidence with the selected play text. Choral readings, rehearsals, and readings at home with family members all create great reading opportunities. (Carson-Dellosa's "Act It Out with Reader's Theater" Series are great because the speaking parts in each play can be acted with students at different reading levels).

When reading rhyming poetry, children may use the predictable patterns to help them get a sense of when it is appropriate to pause between phrases. Rhyming poetry appeals to children of all ages, and is therefore a good choice for developing reading fluency from kindergarten through fifth grade. For more information about rhyming, go to the Phonemic Awareness Activities Page.

Students should be given opportunities to practice reading fluency with letters, words, and phrases that can be found in the classroom. (Not just the print found in books!) During reading centers, students are able to walk around independently to "read the room". Pocket charts and hanging posters are located throughout and are kept at eye level. Empty laundry baskets are great places to keep rolled up poems and songs previously learned.

One of children's favorite reading fluency activities are practicing with short phrases. Repeated reading of phrases gives students practice reading decodable and non-decodable words with fluency. The short phrases may be written on sentence strips for the small group setting or used for a reading center activity. Click on the following links to print off these short phrases:

Print, cut, and laminate the "People Reading" cards. Using the "Short Fluency Phrases" located above, have students pull out a "people" card. They must read the short phrase to represent the person that was drawn. Have the student pull out 2-3 more "people" cards to use with the same short phrase. Our kids love reading fluency activities like this!

Print, laminate and place these cards with the "Short Fluency Phrases" used above. Purchase one Lego set for each child that will be reading and have a stopwatch handy. The idea of this game is to to finish your Lego creation before anyone else does! ("Lego Bionicles" seem to work best and they only have 30-50 pieces. Check the Lego sets for the appropriate age of the children you are working with!)
How to Play:

When a child reads a "Short Fluency Phrase" correctly (with good expression too!) they get to take one piece to make their creation. A child can also add 4 Legos if they pull out the, "Add 4 Legos to Your Creation" card or if they pull out the, "One Minute to Work" card.

If someone pulls out the, "Take a Lego Away From a Partner" card, they must take a Lego away from their partner. If someone has taken your Lego from you, the only way to get it back to to pull out a "Add 4 Legos to Your Creation" card!

This game might take a while if played until someone has finished their Lego creation. If you are working with a small group of children, a good idea would be to place finished Legos in a plastic bag until another day when the game can resume.

The above documents are used to encourage reading at home. Students are given a form to take home (on a needed basis). A list of the books read is written down, along with how the book was read. Students are encouraged to read any of the following six ways: Independently, with a parent, shared, paired, choral, and/or echo reading. A paper clip is linked together (to form 'The Reading Web') for each book that is read at home. The more books that are read at home, the bigger the web gets!

On small cards, write some common decodable and non-decodable words depending upon the needs of your students. Place these in a container along with 10-15 cards that say, "Oh No!" Have students read each card as they pull them out. If they are read correctly, the student gets to keep them. When an "Oh No!" card is pulled out, the child must put all of their cards back in the container. The student with the most cards at the end of the game is the winner.

Each day students practice 5-10 words that are kept on a metal ring. Words are chosen for each student by the teacher. When the student is able to successfully read the word without any help, a tally mark is given. Once ten tallies are on a word card, it is taken off. Students have a special binder labeled, "Words I Can Read". Ring Words that are taken off are written down in this binder and then glued on the above template to take home to share with their families. Students get very excited when they are able to take their words home!

Return from Reading Fluency Activities Page to Reading Fluency Page

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Free Reading Fluency Activities To Improve Reading Fluency

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A group of six third graders huddle around the computer giggling as they determine what kind of introduction they want for their next Readers Theatre podcast. They have practiced this script every day this week and are now ready for Chase (pseudonym) to count them in. Sarah starts the recording program, Chase gives the signal, and they all sing the introductory music they have decided to add into their reading script work.

Chase holds the microphone close to each reader, and each speaks clearly and confidently into the microphone, connected to a classroom computer. The readers monitor their volume and timing by watching the sound waves that appear on the screen. When they finish, they listen to the recording and decide if it needs to be redone before saving it. Long pauses are deleted.

Other class members are engaged in their own reading or writing work, as this is not a one-time production. It is part of the regular rhythm of this classroom. Each group will have its turn.

Jessica, who started the year reading at a kindergarten level, has caught up with her peers, and her reading is indistinguishable from that of the other on-level readers in her group. In other second- or third-grade classes, the teacher may be holding the microphone as the rest of the class listens to the live performance, but the energy and excitement are the same. The students are reading a script they have practiced all week and recording their performance to a voice file that will be uploaded to a website later that day. They know that by the time they get home, their family and friends will be able to enjoy their performance over and over again from any computer that is connected to the Internet.

As this classroom scene shows, we are no longer entering the 21st century-we are there, and often our students are ahead of us. In our quest to use and integrate current technology to enhance literacy instruction, we seek to match well-researched literacy strategies with technological tools that enhance the strategy and make it stronger. One such recent enhancement was to match the reading fluency strategy of repeated readings with the technology of podcasting.

Readers Theatre is an important tool that brings authenticity and engagement to the process of repeated readings, resulting in remarkable and measurable comprehension gains. When considering the power of Readers Theatre along with the auditory nature of podcasting, we set about to extend the Readers Theatre work of Martinez, Roser, and Strecker (1999) and Griffith and Rasinski (2004) by investigating the following questions:

Can we replicate the reading comprehension gains from previous Readers Theatre research using podcasted performances?

How will the experience of podcasting Readers Theatre be qualitatively different from performances without the technology?

Readers Theatre: Proven literacy strategy

Repeated reading as a way to improve both fluency and comprehension is well established (Dowhower, 1987, 1991; LaBerge & Samuels, 1974), but finding an authentic purpose for this type of reading and rereading can be challenging. By providing a performance and an audience, Readers Theatre offers an authentic purpose for the kind of repeated practice required to become a fluent reader-especially for struggling readers (Griffith & Rasinski, 2004; Martinez et al., 1999; Worthy, 2005; Worthy & Broaddus, 2000).

Teachers have found that implementing the practice of Readers Theatre as a strategy for improving fluency for as little as 10 weeks resulted in consistent gains in comprehension of more than one year (Griffith & Rasinski, 2004; Martinez et al., 1999). This 10-week time frame intrigued us. Because Griffith and Rasinski (2004) found these gains year after year, we used the same time frame for this study.

We share Martinez and colleagues' (1999) definition of Readers Theatre as an interpretive, voice-only performance. Performing readers use their voice to bring the characters to life without sets, costumes, props, or memorized lines, the inclusion of which would change this work from Readers Theatre to more traditional stage drama. The readers' goal is to expressively read a text so that the audience can visualize the story (Martinez et al., 1999).

A script and upcoming performance provide the context for purposeful reading and rereading (Coody, 1992), along with the elements of drama. Because the product of the performance is oral, volume, intonation, pitch, and timing are critical to supporting the listener's enjoyment, visualization, and understanding of a script. The use of these elements provides the demonstration of the readers' understanding of the text, as well.

With the expectation of drama and performance, readers begin to realize that reading is an activity that has an element of experimentation (Carrick, 2000). To portray a character's emotions, one requires a deep understanding of the plot and the character's goals and motives. Considering the audience in a performance reading compels the reader to engage in deeper analytical thought to make the story come alive so that the audience can envision it (Guzzetti, 2002).

Because of the expressive nature of Readers Theatre, the byproduct of this extensive fluency work has been dramatic gains in reading comprehension (Griffith & Rasinski, 2004; Martinez et al., 1999). Further, the social nature of being part of a cast of readers adds to the motivation to engage in reading and rereading the script (Busching, 1981).

Purposeful matching: powerful technology that enhances a strong literacy strategy

When considering a powerful technology and literacy strategy match, our first consideration was to maintain the integrity of the literacy strategy while also creating something that was not there without the technology. In other words, we believe it is important to maintain the elements of the literacy strategy that have proven effective through the research, such as fluency and comprehension gains. Then we look for technology affordances that highlight the strategy strengths while adding a new dimension, so that the combination creates positive changes in the learning environment that were not possible without this pairing (McLeod & Vasinda, 2009).

Clearly, integrating technology for the sake of technology itself might result in initial engagement due to novelty, but the long-term effects would certainly wane. Kozma (1991) advocated selecting technology that is uniquely suited to the learning project at hand. Readers Theatre, as defined in this article, depends solely on the voice to convey meaning, and it is through the interpretive reading that students grow in their fluency and comprehension.

Because Readers Theatre has an auditory product, the technology match would need to capitalize on the auditory nature. Podcasting, as a purely aural medium, is an ideal means to authentically integrate technology, widen the audience for student readings, and maintain the integrity of Readers Theatre goals. Further, integrating this technology into students' reading work introduces and extends the concepts of new literacies that can be developed and learned through the use of technology (e.g., see Gee, 2003; Leu, Kinzer, Coiro, & Cammack, 2004; Richardson, 2006).

Podcasting uses audio files over the Internet, typically in mp3 format. Interested listeners subscribe to podcasts, which are typically distributed via Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds. New podcasts in a feed are automatically sent to subscribers.

While podcasting has evolved to include video files, our research used only audio files for two reasons. First, as previously noted, Readers Theatre was originally conceived as an aural strategy, and maintaining the integrity of the strategy was important to us. We do not advocate turning Readers Theatre into traditional drama stage productions, which while engaging and serving of other purposes, can siphon time away from the real purpose of this strategy: to engage in dramatic, repeated reading. Stage dramas also take more classroom time and are often selective in who participates. By remaining true to the auditory nature of Readers Theatre, time spent on performance reading is the focus rather than making props, costumes, and sets. Second, recording audio files is an inexpensive and easy process that is accessible to many teachers, even those who work in cash-strapped districts and those who are technology- shy. (See Figure 1 for an overview of the recording process.)

Figure 1: The recording process

Methodology

Participants

Three elementary schools in a North Texas suburb were selected for this research. Two of the schools are Title I schools that also serve the district bilingual population and many English learners (ELs). (Refer to Table 1 for school demographics.)

Table 1: School demographics

One second-grade class and one third-grade class from each school were selected for this project based on teacher interest, for a total of six classes. All parents granted permission for their children to participate in the study and for their voices to be podcasted in their Readers Theatre groups. Approximately 100 students participated in the project, including 35 who were identified prior to the study as struggling readers.

Struggling readers were students who scored at least a year below their current grade level as determined by either the Developmental Reading Assessment (DRA; Beaver, 2003) or the Comprehensive Reading Inventory (CRI; Cooter, Flynt, & Cooter, 2006). Comprehensive data were collected on those 35 struggling students as a regular practice during the school year to determine progress and growth. Table 2 includes struggling student demographic information. One teacher decided not to continue participation after three weeks in the study; therefore, the data on that teacher's struggling students was not included in the demographics or the results.

Table 2: Struggling student demographics

Getting started

Before the study began, we followed school district guidelines for software approval for Audacity, free recording software, which was used to record the performing readers. It was installed on all classroom computers. We also purchased an inexpensive external computer microphone for each participating classroom at a cost of about $10 each.

Readers Theatre scripts came from purchased resources of reproducible scripts, websites from which free scripts were available, and an extensive library of scripts that could be checked out from one of the participating schools. The social studies series adopted by the district had a book of reproducible scripts that supported each unit of social studies, as did the reading series. We chose to follow Griffith and Rasinski's (2004) line of thinking about scripts in that we did not match up reading levels of scripts to reading levels of students. Teachers were encouraged to choose scripts that either supported a content area or that they thought their students would enjoy without being overly concerned with matching students to leveled scripts. The participating teachers were also encouraged to share free script findings and website resources with each other. Two of the teachers wrote their own scripts using favorite picture books from their classroom libraries. Each character's dialogue in the book became a part. The descriptions became narrator parts. The books from which scripts were written (see box below) became class favorites and were chosen over and over again from the classroom library.

Time/rhythm

The 10-week study lasted from October 2007 through January 2008. Included during that time frame were three weeks of holiday breaks: one week for Thanksgiving and two weeks for Winter Break. Reading comprehension data were collected through pretests administered before the start of the project. Parental permission was obtained. We were able to compare our 10-week time frame to the previous Readers Theatre research gains, which we used as a baseline for this study (Griffith & Rasinski, 2004; Martinez et al., 1999).

Students were divided into small, heterogeneous groups of four to eight, depending on the number of parts in their script. In one classroom, all students used the same script for that week. In most classrooms, each small group performed a different script chosen and distributed by the teacher. The goal was to build the Readers Theatre project into the natural rhythm of the classroom in a 10- to 15-minute time frame each day.

During the study, the students and teachers followed a weekly routine. On Monday, new scripts were given to groups, parts were assigned, and students read over them on their own. Tuesday through Thursday, students practiced the scripts in their small groups. During this practice time, the teacher might model prosodic reading of various parts and monitor practice sessions, but most often the groups practiced on their own while the teacher met with small groups for targeted instruction. Friday, each group recorded its script and created the mp3 file that was saved to the hard drive of the computer. Some classes did this as a small-group activity with the teacher while other students quietly worked on other literacy activities, such as independent reading, independent writing, or word work. Other classes recorded each small group while the rest of the class participated as the audience, but the performing readers were focused on the computer recording, not their classmates. (See Figure 2 for an overview of the Readers Theatre process.)

Figure 2: The Readers Theatre process

Recording

Initially, we placed the external microphone on a stand in the center of the group. As we experimented with the sound quality, we found it best when each speaker spoke directly into the microphone. The students also monitored their volume by watching the sound waves produced by their voice on the computer display. In most classrooms, the teacher moved the microphone to the performer, but in some third-grade classrooms, the students took over all the production.

The participating teachers e-mailed the file to a district technology employee who then posted the audio files to the district Readers Theatre website. (This step has now been replaced by teachers uploading the files directly to their own website or blog.) The website address for the Readers Theatre podcasts was made available to all the parents. Parents could listen to all the podcasts, which were identified only by classroom teachers' and performing group's names. The students knew which group was theirs. This indirect anonymity made obtaining parental permission to participate easier. (Figure 3 offers Audacity recording tips.)

Figure 3: Audacity recording tips

Design/data collection and analysis

This was a mixed-methods study. Quantitatively, we examined reading fluency and comprehension scores of the 35 struggling students before and after the intervention. Teachers used either the DRA or the CRI. Both assessments were accepted because one school was already required to use the DRA assessment. We were sensitive to the time demands teachers face in implementing an intervention; therefore, all aspects, including assessment, needed to fit into the rhythm of the classroom.

Qualitatively, we conducted student focus group interviews and asked teachers to complete an open-ended questionnaire. The student focus group interviews were conducted at each school. Teachers were asked to identify one struggling reader, one on-target reader, and one advanced reader for the focus group. Because each school had two participating classrooms, each focus group consisted of six students and was facilitated by the two researchers. Students were asked open-ended questions that led them to reflect on the Readers Theatre work. Each student was given the opportunity to answer each question. The interviews were video-recorded and transcribed for coding using a grounded theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1998). Consensus was developed on any coding disagreements through discussion to determine which code was most appropriate (Boyatzis, 1998).

Teachers were asked to complete an open-ended questionnaire to reflect on their experiences and the benefits and drawbacks they perceived from the study. The questionnaire was e-mailed to the teachers. Most of the teachers wrote their responses and returned the questionnaire via e-mail. One teacher was interviewed directly. (See Table 4 for a selection of teacher responses.) The teacher who did not fully participate in the study did not return her questionnaire. The questionnaires we received were analyzed and coded using a grounded theory approach (Strauss & Corbin, 1998), similar to the student focus group transcripts.

Results

Pretest data of initial grade-level-equivalent reading scores for the 35 struggling students had a mean of 1.09. In other words, as a group, these struggling second- and third-grade readers comprehended texts at a first-grade level. Individually, struggling students' reading levels ranged from nonreader to second-grade comprehension.

After 10 weeks of repeated reading, recording, podcasting, and listening to their own voice recordings, the post-intervention grade-equivalent reading score mean was 2.22. (Figure 4 shows pretest and posttest results.) Therefore, the average reading level for the group of struggling students was second grade. Individual student gains ranged from mid-kindergarten to fifth-grade comprehension levels. The grade-level equivalency gain for the struggling readers as a group was 1.13 years after this 10-week intervention. Gains for individual students ranged from one semester's growth to three years' growth as measured by the DRA and CRI.

Figure 4: Struggling student trade-level comprehension pretest and posttest

Note. Students averaged a gain of 1.13 years in reading comprehension during the 10-week intervention.

Findings

Readers Theatre benefits

Several themes were identified in the interviews that support previous Readers Theatre research findings. For example, students identified a strong theme of authenticity with the Readers Theatre work. They also spoke specifically about the benefit of repeated readings that this work offered, and they appreciated the social aspect of the work. Finally, students noted that Readers Theatre was challenging and satisfying. Teachers and students both noted that reading with expression was important and necessary with Readers Theatre and that the Readers Theatre work helped them to improve expressive reading. Teachers found that Readers Theatre fit well into the rhythm of the classroom, and they also appreciated the connection that the Readers Theatre texts can make to the content standards. As previously stated, these themes are well documented in other studies (Griffith & Rasinski, 2004; Martinez et al., 1999).

Technology benefits

During the interview analyses, the data suggested three themes that are attributable to the use of technology. These themes are different from the Readers Theatre benefits in several ways. For example, these benefits have not been previously noted in research about Readers Theatre. Also, students and teachers directly attributed some of their comments to the technology, while other reflections were connected to technology by the researchers. The three themes identified were (1) having a wider audience, (2) the permanency of the work, and (3) using audio as a visualizing medium.

Wider audience

Students and teachers both recognized that podcasting the Readers Theatre scripts and posting them online created a wider performance audience. Several students described the experience as follows: "You think that thousands and thousands of people could be watching." (This continued reference to watching as opposed to listening is discussed in the section "Audio as a Visual Medium.") Most Readers Theatre performances are conducted for classmates and family members who can attend the performances during the school day. Clearly, this timing excludes many working parents as well as extended family who do not live in the close vicinity of the school.

While Readers Theatre performances without podcasting have a limited audience, podcasts are accessible from any computer with Internet access. Parents can listen at their convenience as demonstrated with the following student comment:

I ran to my dad and said we did our first Readers Theatre today and he was like, "Oh, I want to watch it," and I gave him the paper that said the name of the website so he can listen to it and he said, "Wow, you did really good!"

The wider audience also amplified the authenticity of podcasting Readers Theatre that was noted among both students and teachers. For example, one student noted that recording the scripts and then listening to them was powerful because "it's like being real." This feel of authenticity was clearly connected to the technology by one student who, while discussing the difficulties of Readers Theatre, said, "I thought that thinking of how many people were watching listening [sic] to you was the hardest part." Finally, a student was discussing how she felt about herself as a reader before Readers Theatre and after Readers Theatre. In particular, she noted the link to the technology by saying,

Before we did the Readers Theatre I felt like a kitten because I was really scared that it [posting the podcasted Readers Theatre online] was so to everyone. And after it I felt like a tiger because I kept doing Readers Theatre more.

Further, the wider audience connected students to the social aspects of Readers Theatre as they recorded and listened to their podcasts. One student noted, "It felt really good because you can make friends while you're doing Readers Theatre, and they might say you have a good voice or something like that." Another student compared his podcasting work to the teamwork of baseball: "It reminded me of my baseball team like we work hard to beat another team so we work hard to make it to sound good." When one student was discussing her favorite script, it was clear that her group had recorded and listened to their work multiple times. She noted, "When I heard Stephen [who began second grade as a nonreader] say his part he used a lot of expression and he didn't like, do like lazy expression, and that made me feel kind of surprised and stuff." Finally, one student was discussing her feelings of nervousness as her group was recording their script. She said, "My friends, they kind of showed me how it kind of doesn't feel nervous once you do it more and more."

Permanency

One student summarized the importance of the permanency of the podcasts by saying, "We could just go the computer because it's still there." Podcasting the Readers Theatre performances created a lasting record of student work, and students used that permanency in two ways: (1) to find their voice and (2) to evaluate their own performances. Many students commented that "hearing what you sound like" was an important part of the experience, with some noting that their voice sounded "strange" at first. One student felt happy because "you heard yourself like reading and stuff." This careful listening inevitably led to students evaluating their own work. One student noted, "We tried again and again and then when we finally got it right, we played it and it sounded very good when we heard it."

Self-evaluation is a critical skill, and certainly this work offered that opportunity to students (Rolheiser, 1996). Students had a clear goal of the caliber of performance they desired, as one student pointed out: "I feel good to listen to our work because it makes me feel good that we tried hard and our best to do what we had to do on Readers Theatre." One student noted his goal this way: "I tried to read the words to get expressions in to make you feel real...to make it a strong Readers Theatre performance." Then students discussed the process of evaluation and the accompanying emotions. One student felt it was "kind of embarrassing because if you mess up and then you hear yourself on the computer it's kind of embarrassing." Another student shared a range of emotions: "We kept getting all confused until we started all over and we fixed it up and we got it and we recorded it and we heard it on the big screen, it was so exciting." Clearly, the permanency of the recording created an important opportunity for students to self-evaluate, revise, and improve their reading fluency.

Audio as visualizing medium

Ironically, radio producer and interviewer Ira Glass has concluded that audio is a visual medium (Abel & Glass, 1999). Certainly, while using the Audacity software during recording, the students noted the sound waves as a visual clue. One teacher observed that her "kids started noticing the sound waves on the screen and tried to make sure their volume made the waves big enough to have good volume." Another teacher agreed, saying that her students noticed the sound waves, and "They found it useful for seeing how long their pauses were between lines! It was a good visual reminder to keep up with the group!"

However, more important, students began to discuss their Readers Theatre podcasts, for which there was no visual cuing, using visual vocabulary. For example, students talked about their podcast using language such as "watch," "show," "look good," and "show my voice." This use of visual vocabulary to describe an auditory medium is important, because visualization is a critical comprehension strategy closely related to inferring. Visualizing is inferring in images (Harvey & Goudvis, 2007), thus the oral and auditory aspect of recorded voice performances could force this visual inferring. As readers become more skilled in rapid decoding, they also become more skilled in rapid inferring supported by visualization.

Using podcasting, with all the benefits previously noted, adds depth and specificity to students' visualization. One student commented, "And when we were finished, we can hear like a video." Another student reflected further,

because if you are like saying the story without having to sit there and just read and turn the pages and look at the pictures, you kind of get excited about like just saying it and kind of like acting it out in your brain and sound out the words and it helps you a lot. I know it helped me.

Using audio as a visualizing medium is certainly a new dimension to Reader Theaters' proven comprehension benefits (Griffith & Rasinski, 2004; Martinez et al., 1999). While this work has opened the door to this new dimension, more study is needed to develop a comprehensive, research-based theory.

Discussion

Podcasting Readers Theatre was a profoundly powerful learning experience for the students. We believe that its power came directly from the careful match of research-based strategy and well-suited technology. This matching used a strong and engaging strategy for developing readers-Readers Theatre-and enhanced it. Other matches of this specific strategy with technology have resulted in video-recording the performance. While this match had important contributions, it ultimately changed the strategy from Readers Theatre to traditional theater. The introduction of video to Readers Theatre changed it from a strategy that can be used efficiently and regularly without the interruption of regular classroom rhythms to a production that can be time-consuming. Our purpose was to keep the integrity and efficiency of Readers Theatre while enhancing it with an integration of a well-suited technology.

We have made these purposeful matches previously with similarly powerful results, including integrating Language Experience Approach with blogging and wikis (Vasinda, McLeod, & Morrison, 2007) and math problem-solving strategies with screen casting (McLeod & Vasinda, 2009). This matching allows teachers and students to experience the power that technology can bring into the regular rhythm of the classroom. Typical classroom technologies include drill-and-practice type software that does not evoke the same type of engaging learning experience as this podcasting experience. If drill-and-practice is the only interaction teachers have with technology- integrated learning, their view of technology-rich learning is hampered and their advocacy voice for using technologies muted.

Students who interact with technology outside of school are aware of the multidimensional experiences that are available to them. However, these experiences do not always transfer easily into the rhythms of the classroom. This careful matching process is a way to bridge technologies students know from outside of school with the structure and intentions of school. This is a theme of particular interest to us that we continue to explore.

We believe using audio as a visualizing medium could be a theme of particular interest to educators. While others have noted the visual aspects of auditory mediums such as radio (Abel & Glass, 1999), research surrounding podcasting in education is still limited and needs more study. Certainly, it holds important considerations for students as a text comprehension strategy (Harvey & Goudvis, 2007; Keene & Zimmermann, 2007). It can also migrate to other important academic areas as students become skilled visualizers and use the strategy with their math and science vocabulary. While Abel and Glass (1999) identified that audio produced by others can be visual, the theme certainly appeared strong with new technologies as students created their own podcasted audio. This may be an important link to facilitate visualization skills for reading more traditional texts and certainly requires more focused research.

Something old is new again

Overall, students in this study maintained the important benefits of traditional Readers Theatre, including authenticity and challenge. Students also maintained the critical reading comprehension gains documented by previous Readers Theatre research (Griffith & Rasinski, 2004; Martinez et al., 1999). Importantly, however, the Readers Theatre experience was qualitatively different for students and teachers through the use of podcasting. Both students and teachers noted the wider audience, the permanency, and also alluded to audio as a visualizing medium.

Certainly technology should not be used simply for the sake of novelty. Educators must use technology to create a learning experience that would not be possible without the technology or that is specifically suited to the technology (Kozma, 1991). In this study, we thoughtfully matched the technology to a proven literacy strategy, maintaining the integrity of the literacy strategy while enhancing it. This careful matching of strategy and technology is seen as a means to bridge the gap between the schools of today and the schools that our 21st-century students deserve (McLeod & Vasinda, 2009).

In conclusion, this study has significance for educators as we strive for authentic, technology-rich work that is meaningful and productive for students. While Readers Theatre has been a proven strategy for years, adding the podcasting dimension preserves the benefits of Readers Theatre and adds important attributes. Postman (1992) noted that technology offers a Faustian bargain in all situations. In other words, technology always provides something important but also takes something away. For example, the online world of shopping, banking, and more offers many conveniences but also takes away important face-to-face personal interactions. In this study, we found a rare exception to Postman's Faustian bargain. Podcasting Readers Theatre brought many new benefits to students but did not take away any important aspects. We believe this exception arose because of the careful matching of proven strategy with technology (McLeod & Vasinda, 2009).

Two themes that require further research emerged from this study:

More research and study should be devoted to the purposeful match of strategy and technology. This matching affords many benefits to students and teachers by ensuring that research- based strategies are not lost in the transition to technology-rich work and that students are learning in a manner befitting of their 21st- century minds.

Research is needed on student-produced audio as a means of visualization. This work has the potential to be very important for students in many different content areas, as visualization is a key skill for students in reading comprehension, mathematics, and more. If audio, an inexpensive and easy-to-use technology, can be proven to enhance visualization, educators will have another important tool to improve the quality of learning.

Finally, we would like researchers to replicate this study in a couple of ways. First, broader samples would verify the comprehension results. Second, more qualitative studies would not only verify the themes noted in this research but also could reveal emerging themes not present or not strongly communicated in our small sample.

Note

This research was supported by the Texas Association for the Improvement of Reading 2007-2008 research grant and by a 2007-2008 grant from the Foundation for Allen Schools.

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Extending Readers Theatre: A Powerful and Purposeful Match with Podcasting

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The struggling second and third graders in this study increased their reading comprehension after a 10-week Readers Theatre podcasting project. Podcasting made the students aware of a wider audience, which enhanced the authenticity and social nature of the strategy, and made their performances permanent so they could be stored and conveniently retrieved for later listening and evaluation.

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https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/literacy/readingviewing/Pages/litfocusfluency.aspx

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What It Is

Reader's Theatre is a fun approach for developing reading confidence in children. It engages kids to engage in oral reading by reading characters in scripts that has been developed from a short story or novel. It is not necessary for students to memorize their roles; they only need to read the script a few times, which helps develop their reading fluency skills. It also encourages students to read out loud with expression, giving them a better understanding of the power of both the written and spoken word.

How to Use Reader's Theatre in the Classroom

Choose a story that can be split up into parts. Assign reading parts to each student. You may have students read character parts and descriptive passages or you may decide to adapt the story into a script that focuses mainly on dialogue. Ask them to practice reading their scripts out loud. When they are comfortable, have the class read their assigned characters to an audience. For students of differing reading levels and students with learning disabilities, teachers may opt to use easier scripts with fewer difficult words. You may also write the script or the child's role in a larger font. Supply Braille scripts if necessary. Give the class their roles ahead of time. Encourage them to rehearse at home with their parents, and also have them read their lines together in class. If you are working with advanced readers and/or writers, you may want to allow them to write sections of the script.

Reader's Theatre can work across the curriculum: for Language Arts, as a teaching tool for mathematical word problems, to teach history lessons, or to enforce positive health habits, safety, and social skills. You can find specific lesson examples at www.readingrockets.org.

Reader's Theatre Basic Lesson Plan

Issue and introduce script to the class and have them make predictions about the story and the characters. Have them follow along as you read the script orally, demonstrating proper intonation and volume as well as different voice inflections for various characters. Afterwards, discuss the story and ask for feedback.

Build a list of vocabulary words found in the script. Write the words on the board and make references to the list while reading.

Divide the class into partners. Assign a certain number of pages to be read. Students should take turns reading every other entry in the script so that the entire class reads equal amount of material. If they finish early, have them swap entries. To avoid assigning the major parts to stronger readers (and vice versa), do not assign specific roles at this point in the process.

Walk around the classroom and assist. Be sure to demonstrate confident reading with expression. At the end of class, do a group read-through of the script, giving every student a chance to read one entry of the script. You may also opt to assign roles and have the students read only a section of the script.

Depending on the length of the script, after the group read-through, students may work in groups of three to five with specific assigned roles. The entire class should be reading equal parts of the script. Therefore, those children with minimal lines can play more than one character and read the same amount of text as children reading major characters.

As a final project, give the students an opportunity to perform for their own class. You can even convert the classroom into a theatre and invite other classes and parents to observe.

Basic Skills

Readers Theatre is a great way to build reading skills, to discover new information one might not recognize when reading silently and to generate classroom discussion. It's an active process that brings the written word to life.

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Reader's Theatre in the Classroom: Part I, The Basics

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What It Is Reader's Theatre is a fun approach for developing reading confidence in children. It engages kids to engage in oral reading by reading characters in scripts that has been developed from a short story or novel.

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https://www.readandspell.com/us/fluency-strategies-for-struggling-readers

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CLAY, M. M. (2016) LITERACY LESSONS DESIGNED FOR INDIVIDUALS. PARNELL, AUCKLAND: THE MARIE CLAY LITERACY TRUST.

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https://www.education.vic.gov.au/school/teachers/teachingresources/discipline/english/literacy/readingviewing/Pages/litfocusfluency.aspx

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Readers theatre: Blueback

Summary of task

Students studied the novel Blueback by Tim Winton as part of an integrated unit that included English and playbuilding in Drama. They developed their own character in an imaginary town meeting in Longboat Bay, the novel's setting. They used these characters in their improvisations to develop a short readers theatre script, which they rehearsed and performed. They recorded their performances on tablets to review their role-plays from the point of view of an audience. In this process, they made choices that developed character, situation, mood, and the atmosphere of their work.

Similar samples

Related samples

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Readers theatre: Blueback Students studied the novel Blueback by Tim Winton as part of an integrated unit that included English and playbuilding in Drama. They developed their own character in an imaginary town meeting in Longboat Bay, the novel's setting. They used these characters in their improvisations to develop a short readers theatre script, which they rehearsed and performed.

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https://www.themeasuredmom.com/10-ways-to-improve-reading-fluency/

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Language Arts

This planning checklist for a choral reading lesson uses the poem "One Sister for Sale" by Shel Silverstein. See example ›

This PDF includes dozens of poems for shared, choral, paired, and echo reading. See example ›

The website below offers teachers several poetry options conducive to the Choral Reading strategy along with some interesting tips on reading and language development. See example ›

The example of choral reading found on this site uses the children's book James and the Giant Peach. See example ›

Science

This lesson plan includes examples of choral reading activities that correspond to introductory science concepts. See example ›

Social Studies

This website includes a script for the choral reading of the children's book Bringing the Rain to Kapiti Plain. See example ›

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Choral reading is reading aloud in unison with a whole class or group of students. Choral reading helps build students' fluency, self-confidence, and motivation. Because students are reading aloud together, students who may ordinarily feel self-conscious or nervous about reading aloud have built-in support.

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This article gives several strategies to help children (or adults) improve reading fluency with explicit directions on how to implement each one.

Reading fluency is the ability to read automatically, accurately, and effortlessly, while using expression. Fluency is just as important of a skill as understanding phonics (knowing the letters and their sounds), knowing sight words, and comprehending what is read. Readers who are successful with fluency can concentrate on comprehension because they don't have to focus on figuring out the words.

Below is a list of strategies to help your child or student(s) become fluent readers (be sure to pick passages that spark your students' interest):
Side-Note: All the strategies below can be done with a parent and child or teacher and students. You can also pair an older child with a younger child, or a higher level reader with a lower level reader to practice these techniques. Be sure you pick a child who will be sensitive to a struggling reader. If you have any concerns about the child tutor you chose, make adjustments.
1. Read Aloud to Your Child/Student
If your child can hear examples of fluent reading they are more likely to understand how to apply fluency in their own reading. Read out loud to your child often and with expression. In order to read fluently, students must first hear and understand what fluent reading sounds like. Text can come from books, magazines, the internet, or anywhere you can find interesting reading material for your child. Talk to your child about what fluency means. After you read to them, have them share their thoughts on exactly what you did that made your reading sound fluent. This will help in grain the meaning of fluency into their memory, making them more likely to think about fluency when working on their own reading. To read about the research on the benefits of reading aloud to children see A Synthesis of Fluency Interventions for Secondary Struggling Readers.

2. Use Choral Reading

Choose a short passage that your child or students can read independently (although they may have trouble with the fluency they should be able to recognize most of the words without spending too much time sounding them out).

If you are a teacher, have a copy for yourself and a copy for your class or group. You also might want to put the passage on an overhead projector for the whole class to see. If you are a parent, have a copy for yourself and your child.

Next, read the passage out loud for your child/students to hear. Tell them to follow along with their finger as you read.

After reading the passage, re-read it and have your child/students read along with you, trying to match your speed and expression.

To read about the research on choral reading see Fluency in the Classroom.
3. Use Echo Reading
Echo Reading is similar to Choral Reading except you read the passage first aloud, and then have the child/students echo (or copy) you, by rereading the passage out loud trying to match the way you just read it. In choral reading, you re-read the passage with the students, while in Echo Reading, they read it themselves the second time. Find out what the research says about the effects of echo reading on reading fluency.
Here is a Video to Demonstrate the Choral and Echo Reading Strategies

4. Use Repeated Reading
Remind your child of the criteria for fluency (quickly, accurately, with expression). Have him pick a topic he enjoys. Then find him or have him find a short passage on that topic. Read the passage to him to show him what it sounds like to read the passage fluently. Then have him re-read the passage several times, out loud and in his mind on his own over a period of time, until he feels he has developed fluency in reading that passage.You can have him practice in front of you a few times first just to get him started and talk about strengths and areas that need improvement. Have your child read the passage for you again, once he believes he has mastered fluency. If he still has difficulty, talk to him again about his strengths and areas of need. Have him continue to practice on his own and read it for you again one he feels he has mastered his errors. Repeat the cycle until you feel your child has mastered fluency of the passage to the best of his ability. After mastering one passage, have him choose more topics of interest and apply the same strategy to those passages. To check out the research see Building Fluency through the Repeated Reading Method.
5. Use a Rapid Word Recognition Chart
Create a word recognition chart. For example, have four rows, with five words per row. Have the child read the words in the rows as quickly as possible, providing assistance when needed. Keep practicing until your child can automatically recognize all the words without sounding them out. Reverse the order of the cards and practice again. It is important to reverse the order to ensure your child is reading the words and not simply reciting the order of the cards from memory. You can use a pocket chart to make your rows of words, as shown below:

or use push pins to pin words to a bulletin board . You can create your own word cards on index cards or use word flash cards like the ones shown below.

To read more about the research on Rapid Word Recognition Charts see Improving Reading Fluency.
Check out Rapid Recognition Chart Generator for a free chart generator of the words of your choice.
6. Read Audio-Read Along Books
Children can listen to books on tape/CD and follow along as they read. You can find a selection of books for children with a read along audio CD on Amazon. Another option is Kindle Books. A Kindle is a wireless device used to shop for, download, and read digital media such as e-books, newspapers, magazines, and blogs. See an image below:

Here are two free websites that allow children to read along and listen at the same time:
Scholastic Listen and Read: Read Along Books
Learn English Kids
Another site that allows you to read along and listen to books online is K5 Learning. Although K5 Learning is not a free site it has many benefits over free sites such as:

Online reading lessons personalized for each child

Lessons that are interactive and prompt the student to respond; which increases engagement

Comprehensive reports on child's progress, which can be accessed by parents at any time.

Highlights each sentence as it is read

ABCmouse.com is also a great "paid-for" program for reading and listening to books electronically. The words are highlighted as you read along, just like in the picture below:

ABCmouse.com is designed for children 7 and under and K5 Learning is designed for children in grades K-5; however, older children with a younger reading level could benefit from the texts in both programs.
ABCmouse.com also has dozens of free books right on Youtube. Here is a perfect example:

Try Amazon's Audible and Get Two Free Audiobooks
To read about the research-based benefits of audio read-along books see Assisted Reading with Digital Audiobooks for Students with Reading Disabilities.
7. Encourage Independent Reading About Topics of Interest
Encourage your child to read independently as often as possible. Allow them to choose topics that interest them. If your child/student is open to it, encourage them to tell you what they read about. You might ask them what happened in the story, who the main characters were, where the story took place, what they thought of the story, etc. Don't do this every time as you want your child to have some independent reading time for pure joy, where he will not feel pressured to have to answer questions at the end. Mix it up (about 50/50). For more about the research-based effects of independent reading see Independent Reading and School Achievement.

Keep Your Cool
Remember to always stay calm when working with a child or student, even if you think they should be getting something that they are not getting. If you get frustrated with them, they may start to feel anxious, angry, inferior, stupid, etc. which will lead to a less productive learning session. Keep practice sessions short (5 to 10 minutes for younger children or children who get easily frustrated and 10 to 15 minutes for older children or children who can work for longer periods without frustration), unless the child is eager to keep going. For suggestions on ways to encourage children to complete tasks or assignments they do not want to do, read 3 Ways to Use Timers to Encourage Homework and Chore Completion and How to Use Schedules to Improve Children's Behavior.
If your child is significantly struggling with reading fluency or acquiring other academic skills, despite consistent practice and guidance, talk to your child's school and/or doctor. They should be able to refer you to the appropriate professionals to determine what might be interfering with your child's progress and what additional strategies might help.
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Recommended Books and Games to Improve Reading Fluency

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7 Reasearch-Based Strategies to Help Your Child with Reading Fluency

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This article gives several strategies to help children (or adults) improve reading fluency with explicit directions on how to implement each one. Reading fluency is the ability to read automatically, accurately, and effortlessly, while using expression. Fluency is just as important of a skill as understanding phonics (knowing the letters and their sounds), knowing sight words, and comprehending what is...

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Sites for teaching English language learners have a range of activities for building fluency. 

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Sites for teaching English language learners have a range of activities for building fluency. 

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According to Reading Rockets, fluency is composed of three features: accuracy, automaticity, and prosody. These features of fluency are regularly assessed in schools. It's my opinion, however, that ELs can't be held to the same standards as their English-speaking classmates while they are still learning English. Reading ability is not a predictor of reading comprehension in ELs (Lesaux & Crosson, 2010). Accuracy may not be a realistic goal for many ELs because they may have difficulty correctly pronouncing the words in a passage.

However, I think that activities that improve automaticity and prosody are very helpful to ELs, and it is worth providing explicit instruction to them to improve their fluency. It is my experience that activities that help develop reading fluency also improve oral language. Here are some strategies that help build fluency in ELs.

1. Teacher read-alouds. This activity is an effective strategy to help ELs develop fluency and improve reading comprehension. Although listening to a book on tape may be an effective strategy for native speakers of English, it doesn't engage ELs. I find it is better to find websites with books that are read aloud as the students turn the pages and see the text and pictures. Read my blog 10 Online Resources to Improve EL Literacy.

2. Choral reading. This is a strategy in which a whole class or groups of students read aloud in unison. This is a great strategy for ELs who may be too shy to read in public by themselves. Teachers should choose materials that are on the EL's reading level and that have short passages. I find that reader's theater materials, poems, and short plays are great for ELs. Examples of lessons can be found at Improving Fluency through Group Literary Performance.

3. Echo reading is a strategy in which teachers read a short paragraph a word cluster or sentence at a time and the students echo or imitate the teacher's intonation and expression. This is an excellent strategy for teaching ELs to read fluently and with expression. Here is a YouTube video that demonstrates how to echo read with children.

4. Partner reading happens when two students work together to read an assigned text. Teachers generally pair emerging readers with good readers. This strategy works with ELs when the teacher pairs them with a partner who is patient and with whom ELs feel comfortable.

5. Performance reading allows young readers to participate in a book that has memorable phrases that are repeated throughout the book and lends itself to gestures and dramatic voices. This is an excellent strategy for classrooms of young students in Grades pre-K-2.
Reading Fluency Resources for Teachers
Here are some resources for further information about reading fluency.

If you have other strategies that you use to improve your ELs' fluency in English, please leave a comment in the box below.

About Judie Haynes

Judie Haynes taught elementary ESL for 28 years and is the author and coauthor of eight books for teachers of ELs , the most recent being "Teaching to Strengths: Supporting Students Living with Trauma, Violence and Chronic Stress" with Debbie Zacarian and Lourdes Alvarez-Ortiz. She was a columnist for the TESOL publication "Essential Teacher" and is also cofounder and comoderator of the Twitter Chat for teachers of English learners #ELLCHAT.

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| 5 Activities to Improve Reading Fluency in Pre-K-5 ELs

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According to Reading Rockets, fluency is composed of three features: accuracy, automaticity, and prosody. These features of fluency are regularly assessed in schools. It's my opinion, however, that ELs can't be held to the same standards as their English-speaking classmates while they are still learning English.

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SHELLEY'S EXAMPLE: Readers' Theatre Scripts

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SHELLEY'S EXAMPLE: Readers' Theatre Scripts

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FOCUS ON TEACHING PROSODY
This site has lots of scripts that can be modified for use in the classroom

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Strategies and resources for developing Fluency

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Strategies and resources for developing Fluency

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7 Must-Have Resources to Improve Reading Fluency Right Now

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Help your students improve their reading fluency with sight word practice pages, phonics activities, poetry, and plays available from Scholastic.