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Readers purposefully engage with the meaning of text by choosing and self-monitoring behaviors that contribute to effective reading. 

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Readers purposefully engage with the meaning of text by choosing and self-monitoring behaviors that contribute to effective reading. 

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Readers self-monitor their reading by asking themselves:o Does it make sense? Does it sound right? Does it look right

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Readers self-monitor their reading by asking themselves:o Does it make sense? Does it sound right? Does it look right

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Phonics and word analysis skills aid in decoding words.

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Phonics and word analysis skills aid in decoding words.

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Readers purposefully notice and support their own progress by reflecting upon their use of effective behaviors by asking themselves: What am I doing well as a reader?

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Readers purposefully notice and support their own progress by reflecting upon their use of effective behaviors by asking themselves: What am I doing well as a reader?

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Standard English language and usage have conventions.

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Standard English language and usage have conventions.

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When your student begins to protest: "But I like it this way!" or "It looks okay to me," it's high time to introduce the concept of writing conventions.

Defining Conventions

We can define conventions as a set of generally accepted standards for written English. We use conventions to make our writing more readable. In other words, we do things in a certain way so the reader can figure out what we're trying to say.

Conventions include spelling, punctuation, capitalization, grammar, and sentence structure. Students should:

Apply spelling rules correctly.

Use correct punctuation to smoothly guide the reader through the paper.

Use verb tenses correctly.

Write sentences that express complete thoughts.

Demonstrate paragraph organization and use smooth transitions.

In addition, each kind of writing has its own conventions. For instance:

Narrative writing must have characters, setting, and plot.

Descriptive writing must appeal to the senses through use of vivid, colorful, precise vocabulary.

Expository writing must inform, clarify, explain, define, or instruct.

Persuasive writing must present an argument based on facts and logic, and attempt to sway the reader's opinion.

Teaching Conventions

As a rule, you probably won't teach a lesson on "conventions," per se. There are just too many conventions, so it's wiser to deal with them independently. Besides, individual concepts stick better when students can apply them in a practical way.

For example, it's just natural to introduce character, setting, plot, and when you're teaching your children to write a narrative. You wouldn't teach these as isolated elements and not have your kids actually write a narrative; the instruction and application makes sense because they're including these elements in their story.

Similarly, instead of teaching grammar in isolation, make sure you're providing an immediate way for students to apply their grammar lessons to a writing assignment. If your grammar program is introducing appositives, for instance, require your child to include an appositive in the history report he's working on.

Reinforcing Conventions

Diligently reinforce concepts by making sure your children are following conventions in their writing.

As they get older, there should be no more excuse for things like comma splices, incomplete sentences, and homophone confusion.

These are the problems you must nip in the bud now, because they're the very issues that will identify your students as poor writers later on-both in college and on the job. Therefore, give recurring problems focused attention.

Here on the blog, you'll find lots of help with grammar and punctuation. Other available resources include The Blue Book of Grammar and Punctuation and All About Homophones, both of which can help you teach and reinforce basic but important grammar and spelling conventions. Check them out!

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When your student begins to protest: "But I like it this way!" or "It looks okay to me," it's high time to introduce the concept of writing conventions. We can define conventions as a set of generally accepted standards for written English. We use conventions to make our writing more readable.

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There is an ongoing debate about reading. What is it? How is it learned? How is it most effectively taught? The Commission on Reading of the National Council of Teachers of English has compiled the following overview of what the profession knows about reading, learning to read, and effective reading instruction and referenced some of the large body of research that has given rise to this view. It then outlines policies that promote learning to read.

Reading and the Reading Process

Reading is a complex and purposeful sociocultural, cognitive, and linguistic process in which readers simultaneously use their knowledge of spoken and written language, their knowledge of the topic of the text, and their knowledge of their culture to construct meaning with text. ¹ Each of these types of knowledge impacts the sense that readers construct through print. Readers easily comprehend text with familiar language but are less successful at comprehending text with unfamiliar language. ² Readers easily comprehend text on familiar topics but are less successful at comprehending texts on unfamiliar topics. ³ At the same time, the interpretations readers construct with texts as well as the types of texts they read are influenced by their life experiences. ⁴

The sociocultural, cognitive, and linguistic systems readers use to make sense of print are largely intuitive. For example, few are aware that they use their life experiences to interpret text, and that as life experiences differ from reader to reader and from community to community so, too, do interpretations of a given text. Similarly, few are aware that when they are reading about statistics they understand the phrase all the figures on the right hand side of the table means numerals in rows and columns, but when they are reading about crafts they understand the same phrase means figurines on a piece of furniture; 5 nevertheless, they do.

The systems readers use to make sense of print are interrelated and partially redundant. For instance, in the sentence There are some books on the table, the words some and are and the letter s in books signal that there is more than one book. This redundancy permits readers to sample print, using only what they need to construct meaning effectively and efficiently. ⁶ Readers also use these interrelated systems to make predictions concerning what the print says, to confirm or disconfirm their predictions, and to connect these meanings to form a coherent understanding of the text.

Readers read for different purposes. Sometimes they read for pleasure. Sometimes they read for information. Their reason for reading impacts the way they read. They may skim or read carefully depending on why they are reading. Throughout this process, readers monitor the meaning they are constructing. When the text does not meet their purposes they may switch to another text. Readers expect what they are reading to make sense. They use a repertoire of strategies, such as rethinking, re-reading or reading on to clarify ideas, to make sure they understand what they read in order to accomplish their purposes.

Writers also contribute to how well readers are able to read a text. The writer's language and knowledge of the topic as well as skill in using written language influence the reader's ability to construct meaning. The degree to which readers and writers share the same understanding of the language and the topic of the text influences how well they communicate with each other.

Learning to Read

Learning to read is a life-long process. People begin developing knowledge that they will use to read during their earliest interactions with families and communities. In their pre-school years, children learn to understand and use spoken language and learn about their world through meaningful interactions with others.

Children also learn about written language as more experienced readers provide meaningful demonstrations of reading and writing. ⁷ Some of the earliest demonstrations they receive include reading environmental print (such as the word stop on a stop sign), making and using grocery lists, writing and reading notes, and reading and discussing children's stories and letters from friends.

Through these demonstrations by others, children learn the pleasures and purposes of print. They also learn to read and write their names and the names of family members. In addition, they learn vocabulary typical of written language, such as how different types of texts such as grocery lists, personal letters, and fairy tales are structured. They also learn basic concepts of print such as the message of print in books continues across pages. The more children interact with spoken and written language, the better readers they become. ⁸

As children learn to read continuous text, they use their intuitive knowledge of spoken language and their knowledge of the topic to figure out print words in text. ⁹ For example, if a more experienced reader reads Catch me, catch me, if you can. to young children while pointing to the print, children use their memory of what was read to them to help them to figure out which words in the sentence represent catch and me.

As children learn to read new text independently they continue using their intuitive knowledge of spoken language, their growing knowledge of written language, and their knowledge of the topic of the text to construct meaning. Consequently, beginning readers read words in the context of a story with familiar language on a familiar topic better than they read words out of context, as in lists or on flash cards. ¹⁰ For example, a beginning reader may read horse as house when encountering it in a list but read it correctly in a story about cowboys. Beginning readers also comprehend stories with familiar language better than stories with unfamiliar language such as unfamiliar "book" language ¹¹ or contrived language such as the language in decodable texts. ¹²

At the same time, as children learn to read more and more words in context, they use their developing knowledge of patterns of letter-sound correspondences in familiar words to figure out how to pronounce unfamiliar words. ¹³ For example, children who have learned to read small and smile and cart and part, can figure out that sm- is pronounced /sm/ and -art is pronounced /art/ and then figure out how to pronounce smart.

The more children read, the better readers they become. 14 Children read more when they have access to engaging, age appropriate books, magazines, newspapers, computers and other reading materials. They read more on topics that interest them than on topics that do not interest them.

Reading supports writing development ¹⁵ and writing supports reading development. ¹⁶ For example, through reading readers learn the power of a strong introduction and eventually use such knowledge as they write their own pieces. Conversely, writing develops awareness of the structures of language, the organization of text, and spelling patterns which in turn contributes to reading proficiency.

Learning to read in one language accelerates learning to read in other languages. ¹⁷ When readers learn to read text written in a language they understand, they transfer an intuitive understanding of what reading is and how to read when reading in other languages.

Children vary in the experiences they bring to learning to read, including different cultures, background knowledge, oral and written languages, experiences with print, ¹⁸ and access to print. 19 Nevertheless, all readers use their life experiences, their knowledge of the topic, and their knowledge of oral and written language to make sense of print and all learners benefit from instruction that helps them make sense of print. ²⁰

Readers continue to grow in their ability to make sense of an increasing variety of texts on an increasing variety of topics throughout their lives as they learn more spoken and written language, acquire more knowledge on an ever-expanding variety of topics, and have more and more life experiences.

Effective Reading Instruction

Effective reading instruction helps learners make sense of written language. ²¹ It builds on what learners know at any given time to help them learn more. Effective instruction is grounded in a professional knowledge of how we read and how we learn to read. It is best provided by knowledgeable, caring teachers who organize instruction to meet the varying needs of all their students. ²²

Teachers provide effective reading instruction when they:

Expect all students to achieve. ²³

Know their students as individuals, including their interests, their attitudes about reading, and their school, home, and community experiences.

Carefully observe each student's reading in multiple contexts in order to provide appropriate instruction and monitor progress.

Create a risk-free environment that supports social interaction, open discussion of ideas, and multiple perspectives.

Teach students about reading within the context of authentic reading using texts with authentic language.

Read to students daily using a variety of text types, including various types of fiction and non fiction and multicultural literature, on a variety of topics to build their students' familiarity with written language and their background knowledge on a variety of topics.

Use a variety of instructional groupings, including whole group, small group and individual instruction, to provide multiple learning experiences. ²⁴

Use multiple instructional methods such as shared reading ²⁵, guided reading, and literature discussion circles, as appropriate for their students.

Focus on the ideas represented by written language rather than the words on the page. ²⁶

Build background knowledge of topics and language that enables students to understand what they read. ²⁷

Teach before-, during-, and after-reading strategies for constructing meaning of written language, including demonstrations and think alouds.

Encourage students to use effective reading strategies such as self-monitoring for meaning and self-correcting when meaning breaks down. ²⁸

Provide specific feedback to students to support their reading development.

Provide opportunities for inquiry and language study, including vocabulary, word and text structures, and spelling patterns, that emerge from authentic reading experiences. ²⁹

Provide regular opportunities for students to respond to reading through discussion, writing, art, drama, storytelling, music, and other creative expressions.

Provide daily opportunities for students to read books of their own choice in school. ³⁰

Provide daily opportunities for students to write on topics of their own choice in school. ³¹

Provide regular opportunities for students to work together to learn through reading and writing.

Build partnerships with families to read and write regularly at home. ³²

Provide regular opportunities for students to engage in a variety of authentic literacy experiences in social studies, science, math, and other curricula areas. ³³

Provide regular opportunities for students to reflect on their learning. ³⁴

Provide ongoing support to students who need additional instruction.

Gradually release instructional responsibility to support independent reading. ³⁵

Reflect on their students' progress and their own teaching practices in order to make changes that meet the needs of students.

Policies That Promote Learning to Read

Schools, school districts, and governmental and non-governmental agencies promote reading achievement when they:

Respect teachers as professionals, value their knowledge of the students and community they serve, and encourage them to develop and adjust lessons according to the instructional needs of their students.

Establish and maintain an instructional materials selection policy through which educators with knowledge of the reading process, how readers learn to read, and effective literacy instruction guide the selection of reading instructional materials, including trade books and technological resources, for the schools for which they are responsible. Those involved in the process should have no commercial interests in the outcome of the process.

Provide learners with a wide variety of engaging, age-appropriate reading materials, free of stereotypes and compatible with community values, to read for pleasure and information.

Provide learners with a rich curriculum in social studies, science, math, fine arts, and other subject matters so they can comprehend reading materials on an ever-expanding variety of topics.

Provide learners who have not yet learned to read in any language with beginning reading instruction in a language in which they are competent.

Provide teachers with a wide variety of reading materials with authentic language, free of stereotypes and compatible with community values, to use for instruction.

Provide opportunities for teachers, parents, educational leaders, and the public to continue growing in their understanding of how we read, how we learn to read, and effective reading instruction.

Research Cited

The Reading Process

1. Kucer, S.B. (2005). Dimensions of Literacy: A conceptual base for the teaching of reading and writing. (2nd edition) Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.

2. Bransford, J.D. and Johnson, M.K. (1972). Contextual prerequisites for understanding: Some investigations of comprehension and recall. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 11, 711-726.
Chiesi, H.L., Spilich, G.J., and Voss, J.F. (1979). Acquisition of domain-related information in relation to high and low domanin knowledge. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior, 18, 257-273.

Lipson, M.Y. (1983). The influence of religious affiliation on children's memory for text information. Reading Research Quarterly, 18, 448-457.

Pearson, D., Hansen, J., and Gordon, C. (1979). The effect of background knowledge on young children's comprehension of explicit and implicit information, Journal of Reading Behavior, 11, 201-209.

Spillich, G. J., Vesonder, G.T., Chiesi, H.L., and Voss, J.F. (1979). Text processing in domain-related information for individuals with high and low domain knowledge. Journal of Verbal Learning and Verbal Behavior 18, 275-290.

Taylor, B. (1979). Good and poor readers' recall of familiar and unfamiliar text. Journal of Reading Behavior 11, 375-388.

3. Bloome, D. and Green, J. (1985). Looking at reading instruction: Sociolinguistic and ethnographic approaches. In C.N. Hedley and A.N. Barratta (Eds.) Contexts of Reading (pp. 167-184). Norwood, NJ: Ablex.

4. Rumelhart, D.E. (1985). Toward an interactive model of reading. In Theoretical Models and Processes of Reading. 3rd edition. In R. Barr, M.L. Kamil, P. Mosenthal, and P.D. Pearson (Eds.) Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

5. Goodman, K. (1996). On Reading. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.
Kucer, S. and Tuten, J. (2003). Revisiting and rethinking the reading process. Language Arts, 80 (4), 284-290.

Smith, F. (2004). Understanding Reading, 6th Edition. Mahwah, N.J.: Earlbaum.

Learning to Read

1. Goswami, U. (1986). Children's use of analogy in learning to read: A developmental study. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 42, 73-83.
Goswami, U. (1988). Orthographic analogies and reading development. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, 40A, 239-268.

Moustafa, M. (1995). Children's productive phonological recoding. Reading Research Quarterly, 30, 3, 464-476.

2. DeFord, D. (1981). Literacy: Reading, writing, and other essentials. Language Arts, 58, 652-658.

3. Smith, F. (1994). Writing and the Writer. (2nd edition). Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

4. Cummins, J. (1981). The role of primary language development in promoting educational success for language minority students. In Schooling and Language Minority Students: A theoretical framework (pp. 3-49). Los Angeles: Evaluation, Dissemination and Assessment Center, California State University, Los Angeles.

5. Feitelson, D. and Goldstein, Z. (1986). Patterns of book ownership and reading to young children in Israeli school-oriented and nonschool-oriented families. The Reading Teacher, 39, 924-930.
Heath, S.B. (1983). Ways with Words. New York: Cambridge University Press.

Purcell-Gates, V. (1996). Stories, coupons, and the TV guide: Relationships between home literacy experiences and emergent literacy knowledge. Reading Research Quarterly, 31, 4-6-428.

Purcell-Gates, V. L'Allier, S. & Smith, D. (1995). Literacy at the Harts' and the Larsons': Diversity among poor, inner city families. The Reading Teacher, 48, 572-578.

Purcell-Gates, V. McIntyre, E. and Freppon, P. (1995). Learning written storybook language in school: A comparison of low-SES children in skills based and whole language classrooms. American Educational Research Journal, 32, 659-685.

Taylor, D. and Dorsey-Gaines, C. (1988). Growing Up Literate: Learning from Inner City Families. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Taylor, D. (1998). Family Literacy. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

Wells, G. (1986). The Meaning Makers. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.

6. Anderson, R.C., Wilkinson, I.A.G. and Mason, J.M. (1991). A microanalysis of the small-group guided reading lesson: Effects of an emphasis on global story meaning. Reading Research Quarterly, 26, 417-441.
Cantrell, S.C. (1999). Effective teaching and literacy learning: A look inside primary classrooms. The Reading Teacher, 52, 4, 370-378.

Freppon, P. (1991). Children's concepts of the nature and purpose of reading in different instructional settings. Journal of Reading Behavior 23, 2, 139-163.

Milligan, J.L., and Berg, H. (1992). The effect of whole language on the comprehending ability of first grade children. Reading Improvement 29, 3, 146-154.

Mullis, I., Campbell, J. and Farstrup, A. (1993). NAEP 1992 Reading Report Card for the Nation and the States. Washington, D.C.: National Center for Education Statistics.

Sacks, C.H. and Mergendoller, J.R. (1997). The relationship between teachers' theoretical orientation toward reading and student outcomes in kindergarten children with different initial reading abilities. American Educational Research Journal, 34, 4, 721-739.

Effective Reading Instruction

1. See the references in the previous endnote.

2. National Commission on Excellence in Elementary Teacher Preparation for Reading Instruction (2003). Prepared to Make a Difference. Newark, DE: International Reading Association.

3. Anderson, R.C., Hiebert, E.H., Scott, J.A. & Wilkinson, I.A.G. (1985). Becoming a nation of readers: The report of the Commission on Reading. Washington, DC: National Institute of Education.

4. Anderson, R.C., Wilkinson, I.A.G. and Mason, J.M. (1991). A microanalysis of the small-group guided reading lesson: Effects of an emphasis on global story meaning. Reading Research Quarterly, 26, 417-441.

5. Steven, K.C. (1982). Can we improve reading by teaching background information? Journal of Reading, 25, 326-329.

6. Duke, N. and Pearson, P.D. (2002) Effective Practices for Developing Reading Comprehension. In Farstrup, A. and Samuels, S.J. (Eds.) What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction, 3rd edition, Newark, DE: IRA, pp. 205-242.

7. Elley, W.B. and Mangubhai, F. (1983). The impact of reading on second language learning. Reading Research Quarterly, 19, 53-67.
Neuman, S. B. (1999). Books make a difference: A study of access to literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 34 (3), 286-311.

Taylor, B., Pearson, P.D., Clark, K., and Walpole, S. (1999). Beating the Odds: Teaching All Children to Read. CIERA Report #2-006. University of Michigan, Ann Arbor.

8. Zaragoza and Vaughn (1995). Children teach us to teach writing. The Reading Teacher, 49, 1, 42-47.

9. Gambrell, L.B. (1996). Creating classroom cultures that foster reading motivation. The Reading Teacher 50 (1), 14-25.

10. Guthrie, J.T., Van Meter, P., Hancock, G.R., Alao, S., Anderson, E., and McCann, A. (1998). Does Concept -Oriented Reading Instruction Increase Strategy Use and Conceptual Learning From Text? Journal of Educational Psychology, 90:2, pp. 261-271.

11. Cambourne, B. (2002) Holistic, Integrated Approaches to Reading and Language Arts Instruction: The Constructivist Framework of an Instructional Theory. In Farstrup, A. and Samuels, S.J. (Eds.) What Research Has to Say About Reading Instruction, 3rd edition. Newark, DE: IRA, pp. 25-47.

12. Pearson, P.D. & Gallagher, M.C. (1983) The instruction of reading comprehension. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 8. 317-344.

May 1, 2004

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On Reading, Learning to Read, and Effective Reading Instruction: An Overview of What We Know and How We Know It - NCTE

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There is an ongoing debate about reading. What is it? How is it learned? How is it most effectively taught? The Commission on Reading of the National Council of Teachers of English has compiled the following overview of what the profession knows about reading, learning to read, and effective reading instruction and referenced some of the large body of research that has given rise to this view.

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Phonics and word analysis skills aid in decoding words.

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Phonics and word analysis skills aid in decoding words.

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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?

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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Building Reading Behaviors Targets  Tuesday September 3,2019