Mark Weakland Literacy

Repeated Reading, pioneered by Dr. Jay Samuels, is a specific and thus capitalized routine for building fluency. But when it comes to uncapitalized types of repeated reading, there are many engaging ways to go. This post looks specifically at choral and echo reading. Both provide support for reluctant or struggling readers, allow the teacher to monitor word pronunciations and note errors, and provide valuable feedback, important because feedback helps readers form the exact pronunciation and spelling of every word. With repeated reading, words can be more fully processed by the brain’s reading circuitry and thus there is a better chance that each word will be stored completely (with all aspects of meaning, sound, and spelling) in the “brain dictionary.”
 
Choral and Echo Reading
During choral reading, students read a short piece of text in unison with the teacher. After the teacher first models fluent reading, students read along and try to match the pace and prosody. The text can range from lines of decodable text or sentences from a leveled reader to a paragraph from an article, a story excerpt, or a book. Another option is a piece of poetry. Depending on the poem and the students, either the entire poem or a specific stanza is repeatedly read.
 
Echo reading is when the teacher models and then the student or students read the same text back. Kindergarten kids typically echo one sentence. To determine the number of sentences for other grades, consider the demands of the text and the abilities of the students. If students need support and the sentences are relatively difficult (longer and/or with higher decoding demands), one sentence will do. But if sentences are shorter and easier to decode, pick two or three for echoing. Otherwise, students with good short term memory will simply “parrot back” a sentence without ever reading it.

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​Groupings for Choral and Echo Reading
Echo and choral reading can be used with groups of all sizes, from small to whole. When working with students who need a lot of support, use both types of repeated reading every day. Here’s one possibility for what a repeated reading routine might look like:

• In a small reading group, after students have whisper-read their text and you have identified passages that need extra fluency practice, use the I Read, We Read, You Read routine. The I Read provides the model of fluent reading, the We Read is a choral read, and the You Read is an echo read.
• Toward the end of the small group session, ask students to go back into their text, find two or three favorite sentences, and practice reading the sentences on their own for 30 to 60 seconds. Say something about the goal, like “the goal of practicing is read your sentences so they sound like someone talking. You should have smooth reading, in phrases, not to slow or fast, with expression that shows you know what the sentences mean.”
• Finally, ask each student if they would like to read their sentences out loud. Some students will share and others will pass. Regardless, the end result is that all students read selected sentences at least a half dozen times.

 
A Classroom Example
As an example of repeated reading, let's imagine a small reading group of five 3rd grade students who have just finished whisper reading the text at the bottom of this post. Your teacher talk might sound like this:

• Teacher: “I saw and heard many of you using strategies to read the second and third paragraphs. I saw Brian reading all the way through his words and then re-reading. I heard Myra cross-checking for meaning. Let’s go back and build fluency with the second paragraph. Everyone, point to the beginning of the second paragraph.”
• Students: [They point to the word Other.]
• Teacher: "We’re going to do an I Read, We Read, You Read. I will read with a steady rate, with expression, and in smooth phrases. You track with your fingers as I read. [Teacher reads.] Other items are more unusual. Metal daggers…” [Teacher continues to the end.]
• Teacher: “Go back to the beginning if the paragraph. [They point to the word Other.] Let’s read that same passage together. Begin.”
• Teacher and Students:  “Other items are more unusual. Metal daggers… [Teacher and students continue to the end.]
• Teacher: “Good effort. Go back to the beginning if the paragraph one last time. [They point to the word Other.] You read it. Use phrases and expression. Stay together. Ready? Begin.”
• Students: “Other items are more unusual. Metal daggers…”
• Teacher: "I noticed how you broke some sentences into two smooth phrases.  I heard you say, “A harp covered (pause) in glittering jewels.”  
• Teacher: “Before we end our group, look over this page and find two sentences you would like to practice for fluency. [Students look.]  Point to your sentences so I can see the ones you picked. [Students point.] Re-read your sentences for 30 seconds. Do not stop practicing until the timer beeps. Ready? Begin.” [Students track and read until the beeper goes off.]
•  Teacher: “Okay. I saw everyone concentrating and reading. Good effort! Brian, would you like to share your two sentences?”
•  Student: “Pass.”
•  Teacher: “Myra, how about you?”
•  Student: “I looked up and saw a bear reaching down to grab me. Its mouth was open!”
•  Teacher: “Thank you. You read smoothly and with expression!”

 
Upcoming
In my final blog on repeated reading (coming up in two weeks), we’ll dive into why and how to use poetry for repeated reading.

​Throughout my educational career - from special education teacher to reading interventionist to classroom co-teacher – I loved the point in the year when young readers “took off.” Seemingly out of the blue, they suddenly became much more fluent readers. When students entered this stage of their reading development, their rate and accuracy increased dramatically and they were able to confidently and quickly traverse whole paragraphs, even when the written terrain became difficult.
 
For decades reading research has shown us that reading fluency - the ability to read accurately, at an appropriate rate, and with proper expression and phrasing - is essential to reading comprehension (LaBerge & Samuels, 1974; Stevens, Walker, & Vaughn, 2017). One especially effective and efficient practice that builds students’ reading fluency is guided repeated reading. The activity provides less skilled readers with the opportunity to hear a model of fluent reading and then practice the same passage in a way that minimizes errors. Additionally, reading aloud with others (often with the teacher) builds confidence, lessens the stress of reading independently and supports any student who feels shy or nervous about reading out loud.
 
Capitalized Repeated Reading
Repeated Reading is the specific (and thus capitalized) routine pioneered by researcher Jay Samuels. It has been shown to be effective at improving the oral reading fluency of elementary students, including those with learning disabilities (Kim, Bryant, Bryant, & Park, 2017; Stevens et al., 2017; Lee & Yoon, 2017). 
 
The routine shares these key ingredients with other varieties of repeated reading (such as echo reading, choral reading and Radio Reading):

• Student reading is done orally (as opposed to silently) so the teacher can monitor word pronunciations and note errors.
• The teacher gives support, first when she models the passage and then when the students read along with others.
• The process provides feedback, important because feedback helps readers form the exact pronunciation and spelling of every word processed by and stored within the brain’s reading circuitry (Shaywitz, 2020).

 
Through its very nature, Samuel’s routine gives students lots of reading practice. It goes, however, above and beyond garden varieties of repeated reading.  According to Timothy Shanahan, “Repeated Reading is a particular method … to develop decoding automaticity with struggling readers. In this approach, students are asked to read aloud short text passages (50-200 words) until they reach a criterion level of success - particular speed and accuracy goals” (Shanahan, 2020). Said another way, the routine uses goal setting, instant error correction, and peer mediation to boost all components of reading fluency.

Photo from IRRC's website article on Repeated Reading (courtesy Merrimack College School of Education/Flickr)

​Putting Repeated Reading to Use
Repeated reading of all types typically leads to improved reading performance, especially for low performing readers (Zawoyski, et. al., 2014), with the biggest payoffs being more accurate word reading, improved oral reading fluency, and more reading comprehension (Shanahan, 2020). Still, some schools and teachers don’t make use of this powerful practice. Here’s what dyslexia researcher Sally Shaywitz has to say: “…the proven effectiveness of guided repeated oral reading to increase fluency is too often ignored. That is unacceptable. In fact, the evidence is so strong that I urge adoption of these programs as an integral part of every school reading curriculum throughout primary school” (Shaywitz, p. 233).

Fortunately, it doesn’t take much time and effort to understand and then adopt the practice in your reading block. If you would like to understand Samuel’s Repeated Reading routine well enough to use it with your readers who struggle, here are three resources to explore - just follow the links:

• IRRC blog: Repeated Reading with Goal Setting for Reading Fluency: Focusing on Reading Quality Rather Than Reading Speed
• Reading Rockets Blogs About Reading: Everything You Wanted to Know About Repeated Reading
• Samuel, S.J. (1997). The method of repeated readings. The Reading Teacher. 50 (5). 1997 
  
  

A Final Note
The work of S. Jay Samuels has had a profound impact on the field of reading instruction. Dr. Samuels passed away last year in December. Whether they know it or not, teachers who engage in quality reading instruction have been influenced by Dr. Samuels and countless children have become better readers because of his insights. If you’d like to read about S. Jay Samuel’s life and reflect on his accomplishments, follow this link and read the “in memorium.”
 
Citations and Sources

• IRRC blog: Repeated Reading with Goal Setting for Reading Fluency: Focusing on Reading Quality Rather Than Reading Speed  https://iowareadingresearch.org/blog/repeated-reading-fluency
• Kim, M. K., Bryant, D. P., Bryant, B. R., & Park, Y. (2017). A synthesis of interventions for improving oral reading fluency of elementary students with learning disabilities. Preventing School Failure: Alternative Education for Children and Youth, 61, 116–125. doi:10.1080/1045988X.2016.1212321
• LaBerge, D., & Samuels, S. J. (1974). Towards a theory of automatic information processing in reading. Cognitive Psychology, 6, 293-323. doi:10.1016/0010-0285
• Lee, J., & Yoon, S. Y. (2017). The effects of repeated reading on reading fluency for students with reading disabilities. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 50, 213-224. doi: 10.1177/0022219415605194
• Reading Rockets Blogs About Reading: Everything You Wanted to Know About Repeated Reading www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-literacy/everything-you-wanted-know-about-repeated-reading
• Shawitz, S. & Shaywitz, J. (2020). Overcoming Dyslexia: Second Edition, Completely Revised and Updated. Knopf.
• Stevens, E. A., Walker, M. A., & Vaughn, S. (2017). The effects of reading fluency interventions on the reading fluency and reading comprehension performance of elementary students with learning disabilities: A synthesis of the research from 2001 to 2014. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 50, 576-590. doi:10.1177/0022219416638028
• Zawoyski, A., Ardoin, S., & Binder, K. (2014). Using Eye Tracking to Observe Differential Effects of Repeated Readings for Second-Grade Students as a Function of Achievement Level. Reading Research Quarterly. 50(2), 171–184.