The Three Parts to Fluency

  • Accuracy

    “Accuracy should be seen as the first, foremost, and forever foundation of fluency” (Hasbrouck, 2020; Hasbrouck & Glaser, 2019, p.16)

    Miscues while reading can provide insight about whether students need additional phonemic awareness and phonics instruction.

  • Reading Rate

    Rate impacts comprehension once students are reading groups of related sentences (connected texts) (Hasbrouck & Glaser, 2019). 

    When measuring words per minute, be mindful that background knowledge impacts reading rates. Slowing down and rereading improves comprehension of difficult texts.

  • Expression

    The ability to read a text aloud so that it sounds like spoken language (Eunice Kennedy Shriver, 2000, p.3-10) is a window into comprehension. Students who are able to read with expression usually understand the text.

Reading Fluency: The Mastery of Interrelated Subskills

(Wolf & Katzir-Cohen, 2001; Hasbrouck & Glaser, 2019)

How To Develop Fluency

Develop fluency using phonics concepts students have been taught.

  • Work on Spelling

    Improving spelling brings about immediate improvements in reading fluency (Ouellette et al., 2017).

  • Repeated Oral Reading

    Repeated oral reading shows moderate to high effect sizes in research studies for students in Kindergarten through High School (Padeliadu, 2018).

  • Silent Reading

    Once a student has learned letter-sound correspondences, the brain self-teaches fluency by reading (Dehaene, 2013a, 2013b, 2013c; Share, 2004).

Free Fluency Tree Poster

Download, print, and hang this poster as a reminder to nurture the foundational root skills that help students strengthen their joy of reading!

Download Free Poster

References

Dehaene, S. (2013a). Inside the Letterbox: How Literacy Transforms the Human Brain. Cerebrum, 2013:7. http://www.dana.org/news/cerebrum

Dehaene, S. (2013b). How the Brain Learns to Read - Prof. Stanislas Dehaene. Filmed October 25, 2013. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=25GI3-kiLdo

Dehaene, Dr. S. (2013c). Lecture by Dr. Stanislas Dehaene on “Reading the Brain.” Retrieved from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MSy685vNqYk

Hasbrouck, J. (2020). An Update to the National Reading Panel Report: What We Know About Fluency in 2020. The Reading League Journal, 1(3).

Hasbrouck, J., & Glasser, D. (2019). Reading Fluency: Understand, Assess, Teach. Benchmark Education.

Ouellette, G., Martin-Chang, S., & Rossi, M. (2017). Learning From Our Mistakes: Improvements in Spelling Lead to Gains in Reading Speed. Scientific Studies of Reading, 21(4), 350–357.

Padeliadu, S. (2018). A Synthesis of Research on Reading Fluency Development: Study of Eight Meta-Analyses. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1477124https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2017.1306064

Share, D. L. (2004). Orthographic learning at a glance: On the time course and developmental onset of self-teaching. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 87(4), 267–298. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2004.01.001

Wolf, M., & Katzir-Cohen, T. (2001). The Role of Fluency in Reading Competence, Assessment, and Instruction. Scientific Studies of Reading, 5(3), 211–239.