Reading Fluency for Struggling Readers (2024)

1.) What is reading fluency?

Fluency is made up of “accurate reading of connected text at a conversational rate with appropriate prosody or expression.” (Hudson, Lane, Pullen, 2005)

• Reading fluency is reading at an appropriate pace, with accuracy and expression.

• It involves not only automatic word identification but also the application of prosody (phrasing, rhythm, intonation) at the phrase, sentence and text levels.

2.)Why does reading fluency matter?

• Fluent reading frees students to understand what they read.

• Students who are struggling to decode use much of their cognitive energy for that process. This affects their ability to read fluently and to comprehend what they are reading.

• Poor prosody can lead to confusion through inappropriate groupings of words or through inappropriate or lack of expression.

3.)How does reading fluency develop?

• Reading fluency develops as a result of many opportunities to practice reading. Even students who are struggling readers should be encouraged to read texts that are at their independent level.

• Reading fluency can be developed by modeling fluent reading and by having students engage in repeated oral reading. Repeated oral reading is one of the most effective ways to improve fluency. However, it is critical that the first reading of a passage or text be completed with teacher guidance with corrective feedback provided. In that way, students will not practice their mistakes over and over.

• Monitoring students’ fluency progress is important in evaluating instruction and setting instructional goals. As students become fluent with their current level of reading, they should be encouraged and supported to read at a slightly higher level.

4.) What are some effective techniques for helping students increase their reading fluency?

• Guided repeated oral reading with decodable text*, then connected text. We know from a body of research that oral reading can increase fluency. This does not occur when students are asked to read silently. “Repeated reading interventions for students with learning disabilities are associated with improvements in reading rate, accuracy, and comprehension” (Chard, Vaughn, and Tyler, 2002)

• Ongoing positive feedback –This type of feedback is critical, so that students can improve their accuracy in reading.

• Increasing scope of oral reading (words to phrases to sentences to connected text) The first step in fluency is to achieve automaticity in reading isolated words. If these words are tied to the patterns that a student is learning/has learned, the process becomes more meaningful to the student. After students can read these isolated words with a high degree of accuracy, they should be incorporated into phrase reading and then used in decodable text. *

*Decodable text is reading material in which the majority of words are linked to phonics instruction using sound spelling/relationships that students have been taught.

• Increasing complexity of text (longer words, more complicated sentence structure,etc.)

• Use of phrase-cued text to help students with reading in meaningful phrases and with pausing appropriately. To introduce phrase-cued text, mark short pauses (commas, phrase boundaries within sentences) with one slash (/) and longer pauses (ends of sentences) with two slashes (//). Model and practice reading this text with students so that they become more familiar with the components of fluent reading.

Jack be nimble/ Jack be quick/ Jack jumped over/ the candlestick.//

• Use of fluency strips to practice reading in meaningful phrases. Select meaningful phrases from a text that students will be reading and write them on sentence strips. Practice reading these strips with students, modeling fluent reading. When the students see this phrases in the text, point out to them that they have already practiced reading them in meaningful units rather than word by word.

Bass Lake, High Noon Books

Gail and Sue like to hike.

Each year they go to Bass Lake for a week. (Meaningful phrase: they go to Bass Lake)

They fill their packs with all they will need. (Meaningful phrase: with all they will need)

Then they hike into the lake.

• Choral reading, echo reading, buddy reading –In choral reading, students read sentences or passages with the teacher. Echo reading involves students reading each sentence after the teacher. When students participate in partner or buddy reading, they have opportunities to practice repeated oral reading, an effective strategy for improving fluency.

Research has shown that we can only do one cognitive task at a time and students who are exerting their cognitive energies to decode words are not able to comprehend what they are reading. Automaticity with reading fluency remedies this problem and is attainable with practice and appropriate interventions.

Lynn has been a practitioner in the field of literacy education for almost 40 years and has served as a special education teacher, teacher educator and trainer, intervention director, and university professor. Her focus has always been on intervening with struggling readers and on helping educators to do this most effectively. Lynn is the developer and facilitator of OGOA’s Connect to Comprehension Course.