What does reading fluency mean

Fluency | Reading Rockets

Fluency is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. In order to understand what they read, children must be able to read fluently whether they are reading aloud or silently. When reading aloud, fluent readers read in phrases and add intonation appropriately. Their reading is smooth and has expression.

Children who do not read with fluency sound choppy and awkward. Those students may have difficulty with decoding skills or they may just need more practice with speed and smoothness in reading. Fluency is also important for motivation; children who find reading laborious tend not to want read! As readers head into upper elementary grades, fluency becomes increasingly important. The volume of reading required in the upper elementary years escalates dramatically. Students whose reading is slow or labored will have trouble meeting the reading demands of their grade level.

What the problem looks like

A kid's perspective: What this feels like to me

Children will usually express their frustration and difficulties in a general way, with statements like "I hate reading!" or "This is stupid!". But if they could, this is how kids might describe how fluency difficulties in particular affect their reading:

• I just seem to get stuck when I try to read a lot of the words in this chapter.
• It takes me so long to read something.
• Reading through this book takes so much of my energy, I can't even think about what it means.

A parent's perspective: What I see at home

Here are some clues for parents that a child may have problems with fluency:

• He knows how to read words but seems to take a long time to read a short book or passage silently.
• She reads a book with no expression.
• He stumbles a lot and loses his place when reading something aloud.
• She reads aloud very slowly.
• She moves her mouth when reading silently (subvocalizing).

A teacher's perspective: What I see in the classroom

Here are some clues for teachers that a student may have problems with fluency:

• Her results on words-correct-per-minute assessments are below grade level or targeted benchmark.
• She has difficulty and grows frustrated when reading aloud, either because of speed or accuracy.
• He does not read aloud with expression; that is, he does not change his tone where appropriate.
• She does not "chunk" words into meaningful units.
• When reading, he doesn't pause at meaningful breaks within sentences or paragraphs.

How to help

With the help of parents and teachers, kids can learn strategies to cope with fluency issues that affect his or her reading. Below are some tips and specific things to do.

What kids can do to help themselves

• Track the words with your finger as a parent or teacher reads a passage aloud. Then you read it.
• Have a parent or teacher read aloud to you. Then, match your voice to theirs.
• Read your favorite books and poems over and over again. Practice getting smoother and reading with expression.

What parents can do to help at home

• Support and encourage your child. Realize that he or she is likely frustrated by reading.
• Check with your child's teachers to find out their assessment of your child's word decoding skills.
• If your child can decode words well, help him or her build speed and accuracy by:
  • Reading aloud and having your child match his voice to yours
  • Having your child practice reading the same list of words, phrase, or short passages several times
  • Reminding your child to pause between sentences and phrases
• Read aloud to your child to provide an example of how fluent reading sounds.
• Give your child books with predictable vocabulary and clear rhythmic patterns so the child can "hear" the sound of fluent reading as he or she reads the book aloud.
• Use books on tapes; have the child follow along in the print copy.

What teachers can do to help at school

• Assess the student to make sure that word decoding or word recognition is not the source of the difficulty (if decoding is the source of the problem, decoding will need to be addressed in addition to reading speed and phrasing).
• Give the student independent level texts that he or she can practice again and again. Time the student and calculate words-correct-per-minute regularly. The student can chart his or her own improvement.
• Ask the student to match his or her voice to yours when reading aloud or to a tape recorded reading.
• Read a short passage and then have the student immediately read it back to you.
• Have the student practice reading a passage with a certain emotion, such as sadness or excitement, to emphasize expression and intonation.
• Incorporate timed repeated readings into your instructional repertoire.
• Plan lessons that explicitly teach students how to pay attention to clues in the text (for example, punctuation marks) that provide information about how that text should be read.

More information

Find out more about fluency issues with these resources:

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What Is Reading Fluency?

Written by Amber Felton

• Why Is Reading Fluency Important?
• Reading Fluency Skills
• Reading Fluency Activities
• Reading Fluency Programs

Reading fluency is the ability to read with proper speed, accuracy, and expression. Children, and people in general, must be able to read fluently in order to understand what they’re reading. This applies to both silent reading and reading out loud. 

When doing the latter, fluent readers are able to read phrases and add in proper intonation when needed. As such, their reading becomes smooth and expressive. 

Why Is Reading Fluency Important?

Reading fluency is important because it develops comprehension and motivates readers. It has been referred to as a bridge between reading phases such as early reading and later reading. 

Early phases of learning reading fluency help learners to develop their oral language skills, as well as phonemic awareness. It also helps to teach the principle of the alphabet and to improve complicated words. Practicing early reading fluency helps the student become familiar with more complex and high-frequency words, which then helps them to master a significant number of words. 

Later reading fluency phases are developed by increased reading skills and a deeper comprehension. 

Readers who do not sufficiently master reading fluency can become stuck in the middle of this bridge. Oftentimes, they will be able to decode words, but because they do not have the proper reading fluency, they will often lack the comprehension to enjoy or understand the reading process. This leads to students taking a dislike to reading and will often create reluctant readers who do not wish to participate in reading activities. This can have negative consequences for themselves and also for their families, both current and future, and their broader society. 

When reading fluency problems are present and fluency skills are weak, they can stunt the development of vocabulary and comprehension, leading to a process referred to as the Matthew effect. The Matthew effect is based on a Biblical passage that states that the rich get richer and the poor get poorer. 

In the same way, readers who struggle early on in the process of attaining reading fluency end up lagging behind their peers. As a result of this, these learners often fall further behind in learning environments and in society because they read less text than their peers. In relation to the Biblical verse, proficient readers become richer since they are able to read an increasingly significant amount of text compared to those who lack in reading fluency.  

A student’s ability to master reading fluency often depends on being able to identify a significant number of words by sight alone. Since words are not referred to as sight words until the student learns to read them correctly, minimal reading practices and inaccurate practices have been shown to slow a student’s development of reading fluency. This is especially true for beginner readers and often results in a cycle of failure.  

Reading Fluency Skills

There are three main elements in reading fluency: accuracy, rate, and expression. 

Accuracy

Accuracy is the fundamental foundation of fluent reading. In order to master reading fluency, the reader must be accurate in reading text. The main purpose of being able to read is to understand what is being read. In order to achieve this understanding, the reader must be able to read accurately. As simple as this sounds, it means that the reader must be able to identify specific words accurately.  

Rate 

The rate refers to the speed at which a student can read the text. While rate is important, reading fluency goes beyond rate alone. Oftentimes, it is believed that faster reading is better reading, but this is simply a misconception. Reading at a quick rate does not signify that the reader will be able to comprehend the text that is being read. Fast readers may still be reading inaccurately. In fact, they may be reading so fast that they are unable to understand what they are reading. While fast reading is often associated with an overall proficiency in reading, it should not be regarded as the same as fluently reading. 

Expression

Expression is an important part of being able to read orally. It includes components such as tone, pitch, emphasis, volume, and rhythm. Expression also signifies the reader’s ability to group words together into correct phrases. It’s often thought that a good expression reflects better reading comprehension.  

Reading Fluency Activities

Aside from school-based activities that teachers engage in with students, there are certain activities parents and guardians can do at home to help build a child’s reading fluency. These include: 

• Reading and rereading easy-to-understand books. Have your child choose their favorite book and then engage in repeated readings with them. Allow them to read it out loud at least three times. 
• Engage in fluent reading daily in the presence of your child. Use expression and funny voices when reading aloud. 
• Read a phrase, sentence, or paragraph, then allow your child to read the same one. 
• If your child is an older sibling, have them read a simple book to a younger sibling. 
• Read a short poem or nursery rhyme with your child. Read it to them, then allow them to read it and continue to read it until they can do so fluently. 
• Study basic high-frequency words with your child to ensure that your child knows these words automatically. Knowing these words on sight can help your child with their reading accuracy and rate. 
• Select a comic strip from a newspaper, a comic book, or online source and expressively read the comic strip aloud. After you have finished, ask your child to do the same. 

Reading Fluency Programs

There are several reading fluency strategies and programs that exist to help children develop and master fluent reading skills. One such program is the Read Naturally program or strategy, which was developed by Candyce Ihnot, a Title I reading teacher. 

In the Read Naturally program, students are assessed and placed into an appropriate instructional level, at which point a teacher helps the student to set a realistic fluency goal. Step one is then to have the child do what is known as a cold reading—an unpracticed reading of a student-selected passage. Step two involves the student practicing reading from the same passage at least four times. A model is there to help them learn how to correctly pronounce the words in the passage. Step three focuses on the child reading the passage again, independently. The final step allows the student to read for the teacher and is graded on a WCPM (Words Correct Per Minute) scale. 

There are many other reading programs and strategies to help students improve their reading fluency. Which program or strategy is best for your child will be up to you and their teachers. 

5 Simple and Effective Ways to Improve Reading Fluency

Reading fluently means reading at a natural pace, with expression, and at the same time understanding what you read. How can you help your students and children learn to read fluently? Isn't it enough just to read more?

In fact, non-verbal reading (note: reading to oneself, not out loud) does not help people who have difficulty reading fluently. The National Reading Panel states: "Empirical studies show that independent non-verbal reading has little effect on the development of reading speed." In this case, it is necessary to consider whether the student should continue to read in the wrong way in the hope of gradually improving his skills if he has difficulty reading? nine0005

​

This is very similar to learning to paint. Having received some useful advice from the teacher, the student begins to understand the basic techniques of painting. The teacher breaks down each step and then checks how each one works to make sure the students have understood everything correctly.

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Should we do the same for our students - make sure they read diligently, progressing step by step, the way an art teacher approaches each student to make sure that our technique will lead us to the desired result? Would a student have a better understanding of the technique of the art of painting if he silently and clumsily tried to draw something on his own? This is exactly what happens to the student who does not talk about his reading problems. nine0005

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Despite this, non-verbal reading plays an important role in a student's life. Once he reaches the level of fluent reading, he should continue to read everything that comes to hand at his usual speed.

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Here are the best ways to improve reading fluency:

​

1. Show an example of fluent reading: demonstrate how to read aloud correctly. Other adults can help with this too: tutors, parents, siblings, etc. In this way, the student will hear how the text should sound in order to get a clearer understanding of how speech is built, including correctly spaced pauses at the end of sentences, rising intonation when using questions, etc. nine0005

2. Reading aloud: have your students read aloud loudly and clearly, not necessarily fast. As you gain experience in reading and improve his skills, the speed will most likely increase as well.

3. Choral reading (or reading in unison): this is a group practice in which you read a passage of text to your students and they repeat it in unison. This provides group reading practice and can also help a child who is too shy to read aloud in front of others. nine0005

4. Reader's Theatre: This is a fun transformation of ordinary reading into a kind of performance. Each student should work as a team with their classmates, reading with expression and conveying the meaning of what is written. This will help improve not only reading efficiency, but also teamwork skills.

5. Praise for fluent reading: a little praise sometimes works wonders. Remember to also gently point out problem areas so that students know what to work on. Reading is extremely difficult for some, so do not forget to encourage them to continue their work! nine0005

Now that you know that independent non-verbal reading does not help students with reading difficulties, what approach would you take for literature lessons to make them more effective? Pay attention to the Fast ForWord software package, which now includes the Reading Assistant, which is:

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• demonstrates a sample of correct reading (reads aloud to a student)

• listens and analyzes how the child reads aloud

• helps you practice the correct pronunciation of

• helps build vocabulary

• helps to understand the meanings of unfamiliar words

This is a kind of personal reading tutor built into your computer, and this program is very effective, especially for children who are not helped by silent reading. nine0005

Practice, backed by the right methods and the right support, is the key to the success of beginning readers.

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Source

Reading. Fluent Reading Techniques

Read

Reading is a visual process. Vision is a purely symbolic process of seeing a symbol or object and translating it into an image. Images are formed into a complete thought. The process of obtaining visual information and translating it into a thought process takes place, as scientists believe, at a speed exceeding the speed of light. If you come to understand this process, then you can understand that the speed of reading is practically unlimited, you can read a book faster than turning pages. We have developed instinctive reading skills. Reading for us is the transfer of thoughts and concepts from one person to another. The intuitive process allows us to enter into a communicative relationship with the author, since each of us has an imagination and an intuitive mindset, then reading is just a connection - between the intuitive mind of one person and the intuition of another. nine0005

On our planet, not only people have the ability to read, many animals and plants can read information about the time of day, and the time when you need to go to distant lands (migratory birds), about the danger and its absence, about the start time of the spring games and about many other things. Even trees feel and read the information that there comes a time when it is necessary to drop leaves or a time when grass should appear and bloom. Animals and plants intuitively feel when it is necessary to perform this or that action, so a person does not need to learn intuition - he has it. All it takes for good speed reading is to get rid of the old techniques that you have followed since childhood and that you have been taught so that you believe in yourself. nine0005

Reading is the process of transferring energy from the author to the reader and speed reading is no exception, when you get acquainted with a new thought, with a new concept that is interesting to you, you get a powerful burst of energy. Speed ​​reading will be such a source that radiates this energy.

Reading is a deeply personal process that each person individually imagines. If one and the same article is given to be read by different people, then the interpretation of the article for each person will be completely different. nine0005

Reading through intuition introduces the reader to a world without limits, where human possibilities are endless.

Very often people confuse good and bad reading with fluent reading. Fluent reading cannot be called either fast or slow - it is a special method of reading. People often get confused as the emphasis is only on reading speed and not on productivity.

For daily needs and urgent tasks, the most important thing is to develop a strategy in reading, and this is impossible if you do not have fluent reading skills. It is just as important to read fast as it is to read slowly. These two types of reading actively support each other. Reading is a complex process in which both slow and fast reading play an important role. nine0005

It is not difficult to master the method of speed reading, by doing just a few simple exercises, you can master it.

Fluent reading is, first of all, the reader's ability to grasp the very essence of a book, article, report, that is, its main idea.

Fluent reading is faster than speed reading, since the reader sees even what lies outside the area of ​​printed text he is viewing.

If the reader needs to find some specific sign among the page of text, he will not read the entire text, he will look at the whole page with a face and try to make out it. If you need to find a word, he will quickly scan the page from top to bottom. nine0005

When reading fluently, the reader must associate words and signs, as well as the information received by him with the information already available, since words cannot be deposited in memory just like that, without being attached to anything.

A person who reads fluently can be compared to a person who waits for the return of a ship on the shore. This person knows what the ship should look like and which side it will appear from. Similarly, a reader looking for specific information and skimming through the text knows what he wants to find in the text. nine0005

The process of obtaining general information while reading a text fluently is a difficult and time-consuming process.

If you run your eyes over a completely unfamiliar text and meet a lot of new and unfamiliar words, then the process of obtaining information may be delayed, although, of course, you will learn what you wanted to know in the time allotted to you. But it will be information that you will not be able to interpret. If you know this topic perfectly and the pages of the new publication are full of familiar words and terms, then it will not be difficult for you to learn new information. nine0005

Here are two completely opposite cases. But usually the text is replete with meaningful words that are constantly repeated and the reader pays attention to them. Certain ideas about the text are formed if you try a cursory review of passages of the text. The clearer your understanding of the text, the easier it will be for you to read the text fluently.

Fluent reading can be used for both slow and fast reading and high speeds can be achieved. With the help of fluent reading, the flexibility of reading increases. Sometimes the meaning of the text becomes clear so quickly that all other sentences can simply be skipped or skimmed through. Sometimes you can skim page after page, paragraph after paragraph, to know when to start reading the text carefully. The art of such reading allows you to quickly read and skim through page after page, skipping what is not necessary, and at the same time not losing the meaning of the text. nine0005

With the right use of fluent text, the reader can focus his attention where he needs it and get rid of unnecessary work and unnecessary information. Fluent reading helps you absorb information faster and more accurately.

When reading fluently, you can take full advantage of vertical text. Vertical reading covers up to five lines of printed text, in normal reading you can see very blurry and vaguely two to three lines below and above the line you are reading. The normal field of view can be depicted as a flattened ellipse. If you focus your attention on a few words of printed text, you will be left with a very vague idea of ​​the lines above and below the line you were reading. nine0005

If you try to keep six or more lines in your field of vision, you will notice a difference in the distribution of your attention.

This text is an introductory fragment.

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