READING FLUENCY

Fluent readers can read text with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. Fluency depends upon well developed word recognition skills, but such skills do not inevitably lead to fluency. It is generally acknowledged that fluency is a critical component of skilled reading. Nevertheless, it is often neglected in classroom instruction. That neglect has started to give way as research and theory have reconceptualized this aspect of reading, and empirical studies have examined the efficacy of specific approaches to teaching fluency.

There is growing concern that children are not achieving fluency in reading. Recently, the National Assessment of Educational Progress conducted a large study of the status of fluency achievement in American education. That study examined the reading fluency of a nationally representative sample of fourth graders, and found 44% of students to be disfluent even with grade-level stories that the students had read under supportive testing conditions. And furthermore, that study found a close relationship between fluency and reading comprehension. Students who are low in fluency may have difficulty getting the meaning of what they read. Given this, it is not surprising that the National Research Council report, Preventing Reading Difficulties in Young Children, states “Adequate progress in learning to read English (or, any alphabetic language) beyond the initial level depends on sufficient practice in reading to achieve fluency with different texts”, and that it recommended, “Because the ability to obtain meaning from print depends so strongly on the development of word recognition accuracy and reading fluency, both the latter should be regularly assessed in the classroom, permitting timely and effective instructional response when difficulty or delay is apparent”

There is common agreement that fluency develops from reading practice. What researchers have not yet agreed upon is what form such practice should take to be most effective. For example, one approach is to have students read passages orally with guidance and feedback. Programs in this category include repeated reading, neurological impress, paired reading, shared reading, and assisted reading, to note the most popular procedures.

Speed Reading is a great way help to build fluency. Appropriate from about 6th grade, it works as an aid to fluency by the way techniques are applied to the material. In addition comprehension strategies are combined with high-speed practice to raise both rate and understanding levels. See our speed reading reviews to find a program that suits you.