edu 371 week 5 DQ1

16 Beyond Word Study: Reading Fluency

Harry, a third-grade teacher in an urban school, has some interesting observations about his students.

Some of my students are still struggling with decoding words. Others however have gotten this down pretty well—they can decode most of the words they come across while reading. But even these more advanced readers, when reading aloud for me, read without any expression. Much of their reading tends to be word‑by‑word, sometimes even syllable‑by‑syllable. It’s clear to me that even though they can decode, they are not yet proficient readers. They are focusing their attention so much on saying the words, they have little energy left over for making sense of or enjoying what they read. In short, they are readers, but they are not fluent readers yet.

Fortunately Harry uses some instructional time for developing students’ reading fluency.

I like to read poetry to my class, and I try to get my students to read and appreciate poetry themselves. So throughout the school year students choose poems, practice them, sign up for performing them during our poetry breaks, and then read them to the class. I insist that students read their poems with expression, so they have to practice them a lot before they are ready to perform. Sometimes two, three, or even four kids will do a poem together. It’s neat to see these students orchestrate and practice their performance so that it is a fun experience for them and their audience.

Harry also does a lot with readers theater. “I think readers theater is one of those special activities that all teachers should know about.” Harry has prewritten scripts that groups of students choose, practice, and perform in readers theater style (no memorization, physical movement, costumes, or scenery)—students stand in front of their audience and read their scripts with expression and fluency. He reads to his students every day and occasionally shows his students how their favorite stories can be transformed into scripts to be performed as readers theater.

This is the best part for me, to watch these kids turn the class into a writers’ workshop as they take a story they like and recast it into a script. Often they have to adapt it for readers theater by cutting out some characters, adding others, adding and deleting lines, making the script work for them. I keep telling them that I am going to send some of their best scripts to Hollywood to be turned into a movie or television show.

Harry’s students’ poetry and script performances have impressive results: “Not only do my students become more fluent in their reading—in all their reading—over the year, but their word recognition improves and so does their comprehension.” As Harry has noticed, fluency is associated with overall proficiency in reading (Pinnell et al. 1995). Moreover, lack of fluency is a problem for many struggling readers (Rasinski and Padak 1998). Since fluency is such an important part of reading, it must be taught and nurtured at the elementary and middle school levels. In this chapter, we define fluency, explain its importance, summarize the essentials of effective fluency instruction, and offer resources for fluency instruction and practice.

16.1 What Is Fluency?

Think about the last time you heard a very fluent speaker. Most likely, the speaker didn’t bungle the words, but other aspects of the speaking—not just the spoken words—also helped you understand the message. The person probably spoke in chunks or phrases that made it easy to follow her or him. Perhaps the rate of speaking was helpful—neither too slow nor too quick. Perhaps the speaker paused or used his or her voice for emphasis. A fluent speaker helps listeners understand or comprehend the spoken message. Fluency in speaking is a multidimensional concept.

Reading fluency is also a multidimensional concept (Kuhn and Stahl 2000; National Reading Panel 2000). Fluency is like a bridge that connects word decoding to comprehension. This bridge consists of automatizing word recognition so that readers can pay attention to constructing meaning rather than word decoding. It also consists of interpretive and prosodic reading with appropriate expression and rate. Let’s take a closer look at these elements.

Decoding is part of fluent reading. Clearly, someone who is unable to decode the words on a page isn’t really reading, fluently or not. But mere decoding accuracy is not enough. Proficient and fluent reading requires effortless, automatic decoding. Readers need to expend as little effort as possible in the decoding aspect of reading so that their finite cognitive resources can be used for constructing meaning (LaBerge and Samuels 1974). Consider your own reading, for example; how often do you stop to analyze a word in order to decode it? Probably rarely. Like most adult readers, since you recognize the vast majority of the words you encounter instantly and automatically, you can think instead about making sense of the text—making predictions, asking questions, creating mental images. So now the fluency “bridge” has two supports: accurate decoding and automatic decoding, or automaticity in reading.

The third support for the fluency bridge involves parsing or chunking the text into syntactically and semantically appropriate units and interpreting the text by reading with appropriate expression, what linguists call prosodic reading or the melodic aspects of oral reading (Schreiber 1991). When a reader reads with appropriate phrasing and expressively, emphasizing certain words, making extended pauses at certain points, speeding up in some sections and deliberately slowing down at others, active meaning construction and interpretation is evident. Indeed, one must comprehend the text in order to decide about where to chunk text and how to read it expressively.

Fluency is the ability to read expressively and meaningfully, as well as accurately and with appropriate speed. Successful reading requires readers to process the surface level of the text in order to comprehend. The goal of reading is comprehension, of course, but proficiently processing the surface level allows the reader to direct his or her attention to meaning. Reading fluency enables control over this surface-level text processing (Rasinski 2010).

16.2 Why Is Fluency Important?

Part of the answer to this question should be evident in the definition just provided: Fluency is important because it builds a bridge that enables comprehension. In fact, research into repeated readings indicates that reading a particular passage several times, a common fluency instructional activity, leads not only to improvement on that text but also to improvements in decoding, reading rate, prosodic reading, and comprehension on unfamiliar texts (Dowhower 1987, 1997; Herman 1985; Koskinen and Blum 1984, 1986; Kuhn and Stahl 2000; National Reading Panel 2000; Rasinski, Reutzel, Chard, and Linan-Thompson 2011). The reading practice transfers to new, unread text. So fluency is important because it affects comprehension.

Unfortunately, significant numbers of students are not fluent readers. The large-scale National Assessment of Educational Progress study (Pinnell et al. 1995), for example, concluded that nearly half of U.S. fourth-graders read below minimally acceptable fluency levels, and only 13 percent of them read at the highest fluency level. From these results, then, we can assume fluency difficulties among approximately half of the primary-level population. We can also assume that nearly all primary-level students will benefit from fluency instruction. Thus, fluency deserves emphasis in your reading curriculum. Next we offer some research-based ways to accomplish this.

16.3 Helping Students Become Fluent Readers

The first step in planning a fluency component for your reading program involves time. About 15 to 20 minutes each day should be devoted to fluency instruction, and students should have additional opportunities within each school day to practice fluent reading. Here are brief descriptions of several activities you can use to provide the basis for your fluency instruction.

Model Fluent Reading

Some students are unaware that they are not fluent readers, and even more have never thought metacognitively about fluency—what a speaker does to enhance understanding. These students need to hear expressive reading. They need to hear how fluent readers read, and they need the opportunity to talk about the nature of fluent reading.

Teacher read-alouds can accomplish both of these goals. Most teachers read aloud to students each day. Transforming these read-aloud sessions into fluency development opportunities is easy. First, since the read-alouds must be as fluent as possible, you may need to practice beforehand. Second, vary the types of texts you select for read-alouds. Find poetry, drama, and speeches; don’t just read storybooks. The variety in text types will help students develop a more elaborate notion of fluent reading.

Finally, find ways to draw students’ attention to the ways you use your voice to promote fluent reading. In brief postreading conversations ask questions such as:

What did you notice about my voice?
How did my voice help you pay attention or understand?
How did I use my voice to show happiness or excitement or anger or some other emotion?

These brief conversations can help students develop and refine their abstract concepts about fluency.

You might also want to experiment by reading a short passage in several ways—fluently, in a word‑by‑word laborious manner, too quickly, and so on. Ask students to compare the renditions, to tell which one was most effective at communicating the author’s message and why. This practice, too, helps develop self-awareness about fluency. In all, teacher read-alouds, especially when supplemented with brief conversations about fluency, aid students’ thinking about the nature of fully fluent reading.

Provide Fluency Assistance (Scaffolding) for Students

Hearing fluent reading is not the same as being a fluent reader. Thus, assisted reading, another method associated with fluency improvements (Kuhn and Stahl 2000; National Reading Panel 2000), is an important component of a fluency program.

Several methods for assisted reading show promise. One is a simple routine that begins with your reading a short text to students. This is followed by an invitation for students to follow along silently as you read aloud again. Group reading is next. Choral reading, antiphonal reading (dividing the class into groups), even choral reading in silly voices (e.g., like a robot, like a baby) are all effective and enjoyable assisted reading methods. This routine provides good models of fluent reading and unobtrusive assistance for children who may need it.

Paired reading, which may involve pairs of students’ choice or pairings of more fluent and struggling readers, provides another excellent scaffold for children (Eldredge 1990; Eldredge and Butterfield 1986; Eldredge and Quinn 1988; Topping 1987a, 1987b, 1989, 1995). Partners spend 5 or 10 minutes several times each week reading together. One child reads while the other listens and follows along silently. The listener offers positive comments about the reader’s fluency. Then the pairs switch roles. Paired reading can also involve two readers reading the same text aloud simultaneously.

Teacher coaching or feedback is another form of assistance. As students are reading, stroll around the room to listen. Talk with students about what you hear:

You got all the words right, but you read so fast! It was hard for me to follow you.
I really like how you paused between sentences. This gave me a chance to think about the author’s message.
I loved how you used your voice in this section! You really sounded angry.

This sort of assistance helps students become aware of their own interpretations and also provides a good model for children’s own responses to partners.

Listening to prerecorded books while reading them silently is yet another way to provide assistance (Carbo 1978a, 1978b, 1981; Chomsky 1976; Pluck 1995). This is a good choice for a listening center activity. It may also provide another authentic audience for practice—students can create their own recorded books for others to enjoy. Assisted reading of this sort has been found to be a powerful strategy for improving fluency and comprehension.

Captioned television (see Chapter 18) is an interesting way to support students’ reading. When students watch television with the captioning on and the volume low, they must focus on the printed words in order to understand the program. The video often provides the support students need to read successfully (Koskinen et al. 1993; Postlethwaite and Ross 1992). In addition, videos of favorite children’s songs from animated musicals, with the lyrics presented in a captioned format, are available at stores and in public libraries. From our own observations, young children love watching, singing, and reading these video texts.

Encourage Repeated Readings

Practice leads to fluency in reading in the same way it does in other areas, such as driving a car, for example, or playing a musical instrument. As we have noted, repeated readings (Rasinski et al. 2011; Samuels 1979/1997) have been found to improve reading both on the practice passages and on unfamiliar texts.

Repeated readings works best when students have authentic and engaging reasons for practice. Performance can supply this motivation. The invitation to perform gives students a natural reason for practicing a passage repeatedly (otherwise known as rehearsal). Moreover, comparing different oral renditions of the same text often provides opportunities for students to consider fluency abstractly. For example, discussions with students might focus on questions such as:

How was your second (or third or fourth) reading of this text better?
What did you do differently with your voice? How did this change make the reading better?
What will you do with your voice the next time to make the reading even better?

Of course, if students are asked to practice a text for performance, they also need performance opportunities. Many teachers we know have “fluency Fridays”; they devote some time, usually on Friday afternoons, for students to perform texts that they have rehearsed throughout the week. Some teachers convert their classrooms into poetry cafés. In Darlene’s third-grade class, for example, Poetry Club happens every other week.

Students select poems or scripts, practice them throughout the week, and perform for classmates and parents on Friday afternoon. Students love the authenticity that comes from reading with expression for an audience. Darlene adds to the authentic atmosphere by turning off the overhead lights in her classroom and placing a reading lamp near a stool that students can use. Refreshments such as hot apple cider and popcorn complete the coffeehouse setting. Students in Darlene’s class have even learned to snap their fingers (as a less noisy and much “cooler” alternative to clapping) to express their appreciation for each reading.

Other teachers have readers theater festivals. Readers theater involves the performance of a script without costumes, props, movement, scenery, or memorization of lines. Performers simply stand in front of the audience and read the script to the audience. Readers theater is very similar to the dramas and comedies broadcast over the radio in the 1930s through ’50s. The actors simply stood around a microphone, without costumes, scenery, props, or movement, and read from a script. Of course, in order for the script to have any impact on the audience it needs to be read with expression—hence readers theater is a superb activity for promoting practiced or repeated readings.

Nearly any script can be used for readers theater. Some of our favorites are listed in Figures 16.1 and 16.2. However, we have found that scripts students write are often the best (Young and Rasinski 2011). Writing a script gives students a sense of ownership of the text. To make a script, students simply find a favorite short story or story segment and recast it in the form of a script, deleting unneeded parts and adding parts and lines that will contribute to the script. Usually a four- to five-page (double-spaced) script will result in a 10‑ to 15‑minute performance. This is also a great way to encourage reluctant writers—script writing from an existing story provides plenty of support. It allows students to examine the story being scripted from the point of view of the author—what did the original author do to make the story worth publishing?

Online Scripts

http://www.storiestogrowby.com/script.html

http://www.aaronshep.com/rt/

http://storycart.com

http://www.teachingheart.net/readerstheater.htm

http://www.timelessteacherstuff.com/

Figure 16.1 Resources for Readers Theater

Barchers, S. (1993). Reader’s theatre for beginning readers. Portsmouth, NH: Teacher Ideas Press.

Barchers, S. I. (2001). From Atalanta to Zeus: Readers theatre from Greek mythology. Portsmouth, NH: Teacher Ideas Press.

Barnes, J. W. (2004). Sea songs: Readers theatre from the South Pacific. Portsmouth, NH: Teacher Ideas Press.

Bauer, C. F. (1991). Presenting reader’s theatre. New York: H. H. Wilson.

Blau, L. (2000). The best of reader’s theater (Vols. 1 and 2). Bellevue, WA: One from the Heart.

Braun, W. (2000). A reader’s theatre treasury of stories. Calgary, Alberta, Canada: Braun and Braun.

Fredericks, A. D. (1993). Frantic frogs and other frankly fractured folktales for readers theatre. Portsmouth, NH: Teacher Ideas Press.

Fredericks, A. D. (1997). Tadpole tales and other totally terrific treats for readers theatre. Portsmouth, NY: Teacher Ideas Press.

Fredericks, A. D. (2000). Silly salamanders and other slightly stupid stuff for readers theatre. Portsmouth, NH: Teacher Ideas Press.

Fredericks, A. D. (2001). Readers theatre for American history. Portsmouth, NH: Teacher Ideas Press.

Fredericks, A. D. (2002). Science fiction readers theatre. Portsmouth, NH: Teacher Ideas Press.

McBride-Smith, B. (2001). Tell it together: Foolproof scripts for story theatre. Atlanta, GA: August House Publishers.

Rasinski, T. and Bagert, B. (2010). Poems for building reading skills (Grades 4, 5, 6). Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Educational Publishing.

Rasinski, T. and Brothers, K. (2010). Poems for building reading skills (Grades 1, 2, 3). Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Educational Publishing.

Rasinski, T. and Griffith, L. (2005). Texts for fluency practice (Levels A, B, C). Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Educational Publishing.

Rasinski, T. and Griffith, L. (2008). Building fluency through practice and performance (Grades 1 through 6). Huntington Beach, CA: Shell Educational Publishing.

Ratliff, G. L. (1999). Introduction to readers theatre: A guide to classroom performance. Colorado Springs, CO: Meriwether.

Shepard, A. (2004). Readers on stage: Resources for reader’s theater. Olympia, WA: Shepard Publications.

Sierra, J. (1996). Multicultural folktales for the feltboard and readers’ theater. Phoenix, AZ: Oryx Press.

Sloyer, S. (2003). From the page to the stage: The educator’s complete guide to readers’ theatre. Portsmouth, NH: Teacher Ideas Press/Libraries Unlimited.

Figure 16.2 A Sampling of Texts Adaptable for Readers Theater

Books Already Written in Script Format

Fleischman, P. (1989). I am phoenix. New York: Harper Trophy.

Fleischman, P. (1994). Bull Run. New York: Harper.

Fleischman, P. (2004). Joyful noise. New York: Harper Trophy.

Fleischman, P. (2004). Seedfolks. New York: Harper Trophy.

Fleischman, P. (2008). Big talk: Poems for four voices. New York: Candlewick.

Hall, D. (1994). I am the dog, I am the cat. New York: Dial. (The form of the book can also be used for students to write their own books that compare and contrast characters, events, or things—e.g., I am a Democrat, I am a Republican.)

Hoberman, M. (2001). You read to me, I’ll read to you: Very short stories to read together. Boston: Little, Brown.

Hoberman, M. (2004). You read to me, I’ll read to you: Very short fairy tales to read together. Boston: Little, Brown.

Hoberman, M. (2005). You read to me, I’ll read to you: Mother Goose tales to read together. Boston: Little, Brown.

Hoose, P. and Hoose, H. (1998). Hey, little ant. Berkeley, CA: Tricycle Press.

Johnson, A. (1989). Tell me a story, Mama. New York: Orchard.

Raschka, C. (1993). Yo! Yes? New York: Orchard.

Rasinski, T., Harrison, D., and Fawcett, G. (2009). Partner poems for building fluency. New York: Scholastic.

Easy Books for Recasting as Scripts

Brett, J. (2000). Hedgie’s surprise. New York: Penguin Group.

Carpenter, S. (1998). The three billy goats gruff. New York: HarperFestival.

Cronin, D. (2000). Click, clack, moo: Cows that type. New York: Simon and Schuster.

Fox, M. (1987). Hattie and the fox. New York: Bradbury.

Kellogg, S. (1987). Chicken Little. New York: HarperCollins.

Lester, H. (1990). Tacky the penguin. New York: Sandpiper.

Lobel, A. (1979). Frog and toad are friends. New York: Harper Trophy. (All the Frog and Toad books are good for recasting as scripts.)

Lobel, A. (1983). Fables. New York: HarperCollins.

Martin, B. (1983). Brown bear, brown bear, what do you see? New York: Henry Holt.

Schachner, J. (2003). Skippyjon Jones. New York: Scholastic.

Seuss, Dr. (1960). Green eggs and ham. New York: Random House.

Trivizas, E. (1993). The three little wolves and the big bad pig. New York: Scholastic.

Challenging Books for Recasting as Scripts

Blume, J. (1974). The pain and the great one. New York: Bradbury.

Brown, M. (1992). Arthur babysits. Boston: Little, Brown. (All the Arthur books are good candidates for recasting as scripts.)

Caseley, J. (1991). Dear Annie. New York: Greenwillow.

Champion, J. (1993). Emily and Alice again. San Diego: Harcourt, Brace.

Henkes, K. (1996). Chrysanthemum. New York: Mulberry.

Henkes, K. (2010). Wembley worried. New York: Greenwillow.

Karlin, B. (1992). Cinderella. Boston: Little, Brown.

Kimmel, E. A. (1994). Anansi and the talking melon. New York: Holiday House.

Rylant, C. (2007). Gooseberry Park. New York: Sandpiper.

Steig, W. (1982). Dr. De Soto. New York: Farrar, Straus and Giroux.

Martinez, Roser, and Strecker (1999) describe a weekly classroom routine in which second-graders formed into repertory groups. On Mondays, the teacher would read the stories on which their scripts were based. Students then worked on their scripts throughout the week and performed their scripts before an audience on Fridays. In just 10 weeks of doing readers theater, the second-graders made reading rate increases that were 2.5 times greater than two similar classes of second-graders who did not do readers theater. Other measures of reading, including informal reading inventories, also demonstrated significant gains for the readers theater students. Mrs. Carter, one of the second-grade teachers, said that readers theater helped her students in two ways: “The first is comprehension that results from having to become the characters and understand their feelings, and the second is the repetition and practice” (p. 333). A growing body of research supports the use of readers theater to promote fluency and reading achievement in the primary (Young and Rasinski 2009) and intermediate (Griffith and Rasinski 2004) grades.

An interesting twist on readers theater makes use of technology—more specifically, podcasting (Vasinda and McLeod 2011). Podcasting allows a computer to be turned into an audio-recording device. (Free audio-recording software is available online from Audacity, at http://audacity.sourceforge.net/.) The audio recording, or podcast, is an electronic audio file, rather than a physical cassette tape that is easily lost or broken. The beauty of podcasting is that podcast recordings can easily be stored and organized on a computer; they can also be electronically transported to other locations (students’ homes, other classrooms and schools) as well as posted on websites for instant access by others. In essence, podcasting is a simple way for students to perform and publish the scripts (and other texts) that they have rehearsed.

In a readers theater–podcast study (Vasinda and McLeod, 2011) struggling second- and third-grade students, working in small heterogeneous groups, spent 10 to 15 minutes Monday through Thursday rehearsing a different script each week. During these rehearsal days, the teacher would monitor and assist groups of students as they practiced, model expressive reading, and meet with small groups for targeted instruction. On Fridays each group recorded its script as a podcast. Later students listened to their own and their classmates’ voice recordings. Results of a 10‑week study indicate that students in the readers theater–podcast routine made, on average, over a year’s growth in reading comprehension. Moreover, both students and teachers noted that the instructional routine was challenging, but also satisfying, and an authentic use of repeated readings.

Another approach to repeated reading is to encourage students to practice so that they can read to buddies in a lower grade-level class. Students love being able to perform for their younger buddies and help them in reading. The younger students, also, are motivated to read by the example their older buddies demonstrate. Gregg’s fourth-graders have a date once a week with Lisa’s first-graders. They alternate classrooms for their visits and bring blankets, pillows, and stuffed animals for their literary rendezvous. The fourth-graders practice their reading throughout the week so that the first-graders will hear fluent and meaningful presentations of their stories. Both groups of students love their meetings and even correspond on classroom email about books to be read.

Older students can also create recorded books for their younger buddies to read and listen to when time is available. The use of technology (i.e., podcasting) makes recording books and other texts easier than ever. Before recording, older students will need to practice reading the texts several times so that the recorded reading is read with expression, meaning, and minimal word recognition errors. Older students love to insert personal introductions, sound effects and audible cues for page turns into their tapes. The younger students benefit from a growing library of favorite recorded books.

Prerecorded books also have superb potential for use with ELL (English language learner) students. Pat Koskinen and colleagues (1993) found that having ELL students take home prerecorded books for reading practice resulted in increased reading achievement and interest as well as greater self-confidence in students. Those children who were the least proficient readers reported practicing their reading more often than their more proficient classmates. Koskinen and colleagues created two readings for each story on each tape. The first reading was a slower, more deliberate presentation, and the second was a faster, more fluent rendition. This permitted students to move from an initial focus on words and phrases to a more fluent presentation of the stories.

Many students are motivated by the opportunity to read with friends. Pat Koskinen and Irene Blum (1984, 1986) found that repeated readings work very well in what they called paired repeated reading. Each student reads a passage to a partner several times. The partner’s role is to provide positive feedback and assistance. After several readings, the roles are reversed. Koskinen and Blum found that students enjoyed the alternative format and demonstrated strong gains in fluency, word recognition, and comprehension doing the paired repeated reading as little as 15 minutes three times per week for a little over a month.

16.4 Focus on Phrases and Phrase Boundaries

An important part of reading fluency is the ability to read in phrases, as opposed to word‑by‑word reading (Schreiber 1980, 1991). Consider the following sentences:

The principal said the teacher was very helpful.
Woman without her man is nothing.

Depending on how you phrase the first sentence, the principal or the teacher is helpful. And in the second, either woman or man could be interpreted to “be nothing.” Punctuation within sentences sometimes helps readers phrase the text properly. More often, readers must separate the meaningful elements of a sentence without the help of punctuation. This is not an easy task for some readers. Many younger readers, especially those who have developed a word‑by‑word reading habit, may have difficulty in seeing that phrases, more than individual words, carry meaning.

All the activities we have described in this chapter, along with wide reading, will help students develop sensitivity to phrase boundaries. As readers read or listen to fluent reading they need to attend to the phrasing in the reading. Another approach to developing phrasing is to mark or highlight phrase boundaries in the text itself, using a slash mark, vertical line, or other marking to specify the boundary (see Figure 16.3). Marking phrase boundaries can improve fluency, reading performance, and comprehension, especially with less able readers (Rasinski 1990; Rasinski, Yildirim, and Nageldinger, in press).

Figure 16.3 Example of Phrase-Cued Text

Simply embedding slash marks into a passage / at phrase and sentence junctures / can have a positive effect / on students’ own phrasing, / fluency, / and comprehension. For students who do not have a good understanding / of how sentences are phrased or chunked /, the slash marks provide direct visual cues / that enable students’ own phrased reading.

When marking, keep the text reasonably short—no more than two pages at a time. Have students read the text once or twice in one day. On the following day have students read the same text without the phrase markings. This will give students repeated reading practice and help them transfer their syntactic understandings of text phrasing to unmarked texts.

Word recognition practice can also take on a phrased nature. Rather than always presenting sight words or word bank words in isolation, they can occasionally be taught in the form of phrases.

In the car

My old dog

When it rains

By the river

Inside the house

This adds variety to word recognition practice and emphasizes the notion that words are almost always read in the context of phrases and sentences.

16.5 Choose Texts Carefully

The texts students read can help or hinder their fluency. We all become less fluent when asked to read difficult or unfamiliar text. Often, students with fluency difficulties attempt to read texts that are too difficult. Such texts ensure a lack of fluency, perpetuating the students’ self-images as poor readers.

If we accept the idea of performance providing the motivation for repeated readings, then we need to consider the types of texts that lend themselves to performance. Texts meant to be read aloud, like poetry, scripts, speeches, monologues, dialogues, and jokes or riddles, are perfect for fluency development. Storybooks may be good choices for fluency practice too, especially if students will read them to a younger audience.

When teaching fluency, choose texts that are relatively easy in terms of word recognition and syntactic complexity. Reading easier texts helps students develop power and confidence in their reading.

More challenging texts may also be appropriate for fluency instruction when practice and support is provided. Stahl and Heubach (2005) found that children can read more difficult material very successfully (and accelerate their reading growth) if the teacher provides adequate scaffolding in the form of repeated, assisted, or guided reading. So if the text is difficult, be sure to provide sufficient support before and during reading to ensure student success.

Material with a strong sense of voice works well for fluency instruction. When students reread such material, their practice is aimed at re-creating the author’s voice. Poetry, speeches, songs, narratives, dialogues, monologues, journal entries, letters, and jokes generally have a greater sense of textual voice than informational text that is often presented in a dismembered, third-person voice. Figure 16.4 lists resources for finding songs to read and sing.

Predictable or patterned text (see Chapter 5), as found in poetry (see Chapter 7), is particularly well suited to helping students develop fluent reading. Their distinct and easily detected patterns make them not only easy to read but also require readers to attend to the pattern through phrasing and expression. Patterned or predictable texts are easy to memorize. Although students may take justifiable pride in memorizing a text, from a reading standpoint this is a concern. Memorized texts do not have to be examined visually (or read), so the visual representations of words do not find a way into students’ memories. Thus, when using patterned texts, pull words out of the context (you choose some and have students choose some), write them on the class word wall or in individual word banks, practice reading and chanting them in isolation, sort and analyze them for particular features, and play games with them so that students find themselves visually analyzing the words deeply and fully.

Figure 16.4 Websites for Finding Songs to Read and Sing

http://judyanddavid.com/cma.html

http://www.bussongs.com/

http://www.niehs.nih.gov/kids/music.htm

http://www.scoutsongs.com/

Poetry and song lyrics for children are especially well suited for fluency instruction (Wilfong 2008). These patterned texts have the advantage of being short, rhythmic, easy to learn, and are meant to be performed for an audience, thus lending themselves to repeated readings while appealing to many grade levels. Every elementary teacher should have several poetry anthologies in order to celebrate poetry every day of the school year. (See Figure 16.5 for online poetry resources.) Teachers and children can also compose original verse or verse modeled after favorite poems, which can be put together into class collections.

Figure 16.5 Children’s Poetry Online

A Rhyme a Week: http://curry.virginia.edu/go/wil/rimes_and_rhymes.htm

Poetry4kids: http://poetry4kids.com

Children’s Poetry: http://www.poetry-online.org/childrens_poetry_resource_index.htm

Classic Poetry for Children: http://www.storyit.com/Classics/JustPoems/index.htm

Jump Rope Rhymes: http://www.gameskidsplay.net/jump_rope_ryhmes/index.htm

Speeches are also wonderful sources for fluency instruction. Like drama, speeches are meant to be performed and heard by others rather than read silently. Using speeches from history is a great way to incorporate fluency instruction and practice into social studies. Figure 16.6 offers online sites where you can find great speeches for fluency work.

Figure 16.6 Websites for Speeches

Inaugural Addresses of U.S. Presidents: http://www.bartleby.com/124

History Channel: Great Speeches: http://www.history.com/speeches (search on speeches for videos of notable speeches)

The History Place, Great Speeches Collection: http://www.historyplace.com/speeches/previous.htm

Gifts of Speech: Women’s Speeches from Around the World: Error! Hyperlink reference not valid.

Famous American Speeches: http://www.Americanrhetoric.com

Notable American Speeches: http://artofmanliness.com/2008/08/01/the-35-greatest-speeches-in-history/

16.6 Synergistic Instruction—The Fluency Development Lesson

The most potent fluency instruction incorporates multiple components in a synergistic manner (by synergy we mean that the instruction that combines effective components is more effective that the sum of those components taught separately). The Fluency Development Lesson (FDL) (Rasinski, Padak, Sturtevant, and Linek 1994; Zimmerman and Rasinski, in press), which we developed and have tested, is a good example of this synergy. We originally devised the FDL for teachers who work with primary-grade children experiencing difficulty in achieving even initial stages of fluent reading. It combines several aspects of effective fluency instruction in a way that maximizes students’ reading in a relatively short period of time (10 to 15 minutes) and is intended as a supplement to the regular reading curriculum. We have found the beginning of each day is a good time to do the FDL, as a sort of warm‑up for school. Teachers make copies of brief passages, usually poems of 50 to 200 words, for each child.

A typical daily Fluency Development Lesson looks like this:

The teacher distributes copies of the text.
The teacher reads and rereads the text orally to the class while students follow along silently with their own copies.
The teacher and students discuss text content as well as the prosodic quality of the teacher’s reading.
The entire class reads the text chorally several times. The teacher creates variety by having students read different verses or portions of the text in groups.
The class divides into pairs. Each pair finds a quiet spot, and one student reads the text to a partner three times. The partner’s job is to follow along in the text, provide help when needed, and give positive feedback to the reader. Next, the roles are switched. The partner becomes the reader and reads the text three times as well.
Students regroup, and the teacher asks for volunteers to perform the text. Individuals, pairs, and groups of up to four perform the reading for the class. Students may also perform for the school principal, secretary, custodian, and other teachers and classes. The performing students are lavished with praise. Performances may also be recorded as podcasts.
Students and teachers choose words from the text for closer examination and study (e.g., rhyming words) and addition to word banks. Words can be practiced and sorted at various times throughout the school day.
Students take a copy of the text home to read to their parents and other relatives. Parents are asked to listen and to praise their child’s efforts.

Our experience with the FDL indicates that, when employed three to four times a week over several months, it is easily implemented by teachers and parents, enjoyed by students, and leads to significant improvements in students’ fluency and overall reading, considerably beyond their previous progress. The FDL is the core lesson in the Kent State University reading clinic where students routinely make progress in word recognition, fluency, and comprehension well beyond what would normally be expected (Zimmerman and Rasinski, in press). We have also found that the FDL can be adapted for a variety of grade levels in the elementary and middle school.

Our goal in describing the FDL is to help you see what can happen when a lesson format is created using informed practices as building blocks. Thus, we challenge you to adapt the FDL for use in your own classroom, with whatever modifications fit your students’ needs.

In Conclusion

If reading instruction is to be successful, fluency must become a critical goal of the reading curriculum. It is not enough for students to become proficient in word decoding. They need to read with meaning, not just read for meaning. And reading with meaning is what reading fluency is all about. Fluent reading is accurate, quick, expressive, and above all, meaningful. Fluency is indeed the bridge between word recognition and comprehension.

Effective fluency instruction reflects three important principles:

Children need to hear models of fluent reading.
Children need support to develop fluency. This can take the form of teacher coaching, assisted reading, or both. Children also benefit from opportunities to think and talk metacognitively about fluency.
Children need regular opportunities to practice texts—widely and repeatedly. Repeated reading works best when performance is the reason for the practice.

The activities we have described in this chapter share a common purpose: to help students develop the ability to read fluently. Fluency instruction should be woven seamlessly into other areas of the reading and school curriculum—it should not be turned into a skill-and-drill activity. This chapter provides a starting place for making fluency instruction an integral part of your reading curriculum. The next chapter asks you to think critically about the methods and materials for your fluency and word study instruction.