​What Types of Reading Instruction Build Fluency?

​As teachers, we are thrilled to hear students reading with flow and expression. While the sound of fluent reading is beautiful in and of itself, we also know that effortless reading is beautiful because it is essential to comprehension. When students read fluently – with high degree of accuracy, at a good rate, and with lots of expression – their cognitive efforts go into gaining meaning from text, rather than recognizing words.
 
Fluency instruction can take many forms, but it typically involves having students read orally. This allows teachers to hear how the text is being processed. In some cases, students read the same page or paragraph multiple times, which may improve a student’s ability to read automatically. But repeated reading is not the only game in town. In other cases, students read new text in a non-repetitive manner. When done with specific supports, this type of reading also builds fluency.
 
Over the next few blogs, we will look at instruction that builds a student’s fluency. The general categories of instruction are 1) repetitive or repeated reading and 2) supported non-repetitive reading. Up first, Jay Samuel’s Repeated Reading, a specific form of guided repeated reading.

Guided Repeated Reading
Guided repeated reading differs from independent repeated reading in that it gives readers support via guidance from either a teacher or peer. There are a variety of guided repeated reading routines and they exist on a continuum of highly formal to informal. Let’s first discuss a formal one pioneered by Dr. Jay Samuels and aptly titled Repeated Reading.
 
Across many decades, Repeated Reading has shown strong evidence for improving the oral reading fluency of students, from elementary to secondary, from typical learners to students with learning disabilities.  
 
Typically, during Repeated Reading, students orally read a single passage multiple times to reach a certain percentage of accuracy rate, or to complete a prescribed number of readings. For example, students might be instructed to repeatedly read a passage until reaching 130 words correct per minute (WCPM). But because rate can be overrated and helps comprehension only up to a point, other goals should be considered. More on this in a minute.
 
Key components of Repeated Reading
Researchers have identified several key components of Repeated Reading instruction. 

1. The first is error correction, in which students receive feedback on words mispronounced during oral reading and practice the correct pronunciations.
2. A second beneficial component of repeated reading is peer mediation, in which students work together in pairs or small groups to complete instructional assignments.
3. Finally, there is student goal setting. Goal setting may help students self-monitor their reading and identify useful strategies that benefit their reading performance. 

 
As mentioned earlier, goal setting can involve a student picking numerical goal, such as “I will read 120 WCPM on my third reading of the passage.” But studies shows that during guided repeated reading with student coaches, some peers consistently recorded inaccurate reading rates. In addition, goals that stress the number of words read correctly per minute may communicate that speed is more important than quality! So, some researchers recommend that students be taught to focus on other quantifiable reading behaviors, as well as reading strategies. Examples of these behaviors and strategies include:

• I remained on task for _____ % of the lesson,
• I tracked with my finger as I read,
• I remained respectful when my coach gave me feedback,
• I stretched out or tapped out the sounds in unknown words,
• I used a familiar word to help decode an unfamiliar word,
• I re-read the word or sentence if I made a mistake or got confused.

 
Repeated Reading Lesson
A typical session of Repeated Reading involves the following:

• Each student in a pair chooses a reading goal.
• One student begins reading. A fluency coach (peer) follows along.
• The peer who acts as the fluency coach notices and marks pronunciation errors. If the reader does not correctly identify a word within 3 seconds or after two pronunciation attempts, the coach supplies the word (if known), but still marks the word as an error. Self-corrections that occur quickly or by rereading the sentence are not counted as errors.
• Following each completed reading of the passage, the pair goes through an Error Correction Procedure – the coach reviews the reader’s errors by identifying the words read incorrectly, providing correct pronunciations, and asking the partner to repeat the word. The students then switch roles.
• The steps are repeated three times for each partner with the teacher monitoring the work of the pairs and ensuring the steps are followed as faithfully as possible.
• After the final reading, the teachers helps both students to use the “Oral Reading Fluency Reflection Guide” to reflect on the lesson’s outcome. During this time, students consider which of their reading strategies and behaviors helped or hindered them. Students also consider a plan for the next Repeated Reading session.
• After the teacher coaches several Repeated Reading sessions, peers may be ready to run their own sessions, with little to no teacher coaching.

 
For more details on all of this, from a teacher’s introductory lesson and a peer’s coaching to the science behind the procedure, check out the full Iowa Center for Reading Research article at iowareadingresearch.org/blog/repeated-reading-fluency.  And remember these two important ideas as you think about how to build fluency: 1) Fluency is built through the rehearsal and refinement of word recognition, and 2) a what is most important is a focus on reading quality rather than reading speed.
 
Sources

• iowareadingresearch.org/blog/repeated-reading-fluency.