Why Reading Fluency Should Be Hot! Tim Rasinksi

Reading fluency has been enjoying something of a renaissance in contempo years; afterwards an extended period of arguable neglect in England, there seems to exist a great and growing deal of involvement. Every bit well as being a hot topic, it's sometimes something of a hot irish potato. In the show base of operations related to reading fluency, this attribute of reading has sometimes been described as 'controversial' or 'a can of worms'. In part, this is considering of the ways past which fluency has been variously defined. In function, it is because of the means past which approaches to developing fluency have been implemented. And partly it is because of differing views in terms of its overall importance.

Some notable books on reading practice not explicitly tackle the concept of fluency as a single entity and as an aspect of reading proficiency. This includes Seidenberg's Reading at the Speed of Sight, and Dehaene's Reading in the Brain, though both go into swell detail in relation to aspects of fluency, and the cognitive processes that underpin those aspects, such as those that lead to automatic word reading (code learning, orthographic mapping). Elsewhere, references to reading fluency take been incomplete or disproportionately fragmented. A notable example would exist the 2018/19 KS1 Teacher Assessment Framework (TAF) for reading which included the following bullet betoken:

In age-appropriate1 books, the pupil can:

• read most words accurately without overt sounding and blending, and sufficiently fluently to allow them to focus on their agreement rather than on decoding individual words

In the nearly commonly accepted, contemporary definitions of 'reading fluency', accuracy is an integral part of fluent reading, and then the apparent separation of 'accurately' from 'fluently' could atomic number 82 to misapprehensions. Can you be inaccurately fluent? Maybe just very occasionally. This may not seem important, but talk of fluency has the potential to send out all kinds of unhelpful messages. It is important to keep this in mind every bit the weblog proceeds. Information technology's why the blog came into being. We are thrilled that the fluency renaissance is well underway, and we are doubly thrilled at the touch we have seen in then many schools in relation to our Fluency Projection work. Only we are also mindful that talk of reading fluency can be riddled with misconceptions. One of the driving forces behind this blog was a recognition that give-and-take has spread far, wide, and quickly in relation to fluency. But so, also, have some associated misapprehensions or misapplications.

Nosotros've also noted an increase in a focus on the methods (the 'what' as in 'what is echo reading?') over the rationale or justification behind their use (the 'why' or 'how' as in 'why or how might echo reading exist helpful?'). The word 'might' is pregnant here. Echo reading tin exist a very helpful strategy if used in a targeted way to develop expressive, phrased reading. Only information technology can too exist over-used if practical liberally at a whole class level. Worse still, it can sometimes mask fundamental difficulties or give a misleading picture of progress if it is existence used to circumnavigate difficulties with decoding. Echo reading is not a brusk cut for when independent decoding is unsuccessful. You can find more on echo reading in the latter half of this weblog.

What do we mean by reading fluency?

Given the scope for defoliation, fragmentation, and misapplication mentioned above, information technology is of import to define our terms clearly. The terms 'fluency' and 'fluent' are far from new in relation to reading and writing. They've been used to describe a range of linguistic behaviours. Nosotros speak of being fluent in item languages and of being fluent writers, just what do nosotros mean? Very often, when it comes to reading, fluency has been associated just with speed.

Reading fluency is now more normally agreed to be fabricated up of the post-obit components:

automaticity (rapid word reading without conscious decoding)
accuracy (words read accurately, typically measured as a percentage)
prosody ( expressive, phrased reading)

Let'south unpick these terms and then that we are articulate on why a skilful agreement of these concepts is important in developing fluent readers who are able to think and answer more finer to what they read, as they read.

Automaticity (word recognition rates)

This refers to a level of experience and competency in relation to give-and-take reading that ways that witting decoding is no longer required for familiar words. Word reading is so rapid it effectively occurs on sight (hence the term sight words – words that are processed with minimal cognitive endeavour in a split 2d). Automaticity is fundamental in that it frees up the cerebral infinite that would be used for low level processing of words. This means that more than of our mental energies tin be directed more effectively towards other activities '…such as comprehension, assay, elaboration and deep agreement.' (Hattie, 2014) In relation to fluency work, nosotros are concerned primarily with oral reading speeds. It might well be argued that function of the reason for the above reported neglect of fluency in the contempo past is that once a certain level of reading competency has been assumed, often marked by the shift to silent reading practice, there is a potential risk for nascent or emerging difficulties to go undetected. In the words of Seidenberg: 'Children who struggle when reading aloud exercise non get practiced readers if left to read silently; their dysfluency only becomes inaudible' (2017. P130). Every bit the complexity of reading materials increases, these masked issues will nigh likely be exacerbated.

As such, attending to oral reading fluency – or what Shanahan calls text reading fluency - is important. Simply a conscientious balance needs to be struck, both in terms of developing oral and silent reading, and also in terms of how we handle the development of rate. Where England has focused far more than heavily on the development of systematic phonics instruction over the by 15 years or then, it could be argued that greater focus has been given to fluency and, within that, reading charge per unit, in the US. From this focus, some cautionary tales emerge. If reading rate development and measurement is not sensitively handled, it could quite easily go an ill-brash race to achieve ever-faster rates. Reading likewise fast is not what we are aiming for with our strongest readers and is something that has frequently had to exist addressed with overly speedy readers in our Fluency Project work. Beware too the peer worship of the class's speediest reader. To the children, they are acing this reading game. For the enquiring adult, they all too often struggle to show annihilation like the depth and range of understanding nosotros might hope for. Conversely, nosotros take a chance demotivating less confident readers if we gear up unrealistic targets or too overtly celebrate the achievements of the whizziest decoders. We are looking to support children to movement towards a suitably paced rate when reading aloud an age-appropriate text. For our money, something around 120 WPM by the end of Yr 4 rising to around 150 WPM by the end of Yr vi is a fairly proficient indicator. This reflects rates shared by Rasinski and Cheeseman Smith in their Megabook of Fluency (2018) too equally the Oral Reading Fluency data of Hasbrouk and Tindal (2017).

Of course, keeping Duke and Cartwright's (2021) messages relating to active reading in listen, reading rates should demonstrate a degree of flexibility for the increasingly strategic reader. If I am reading a favourite Anne Tyler novel, I'1000 whipping through it. My silent reading for pleasure will exist markedly faster than my oral reading. Seidenberg describes this equally a 'technological advantage' of reading – where the unnatural deed of deriving meaning from printed words outstrips our natural processing capacities with spoken language. However, even when reading silently, if I am reading a pension letter – a field manner out of my comfort zone and no doubtfulness affected past my ain motivation – I slow down. I go dorsum over technical language, and I deploy a different, more deliberate set of reading gears that let me greater traction with the words, and a ameliorate chance of understanding quite how bad my fiscal hereafter might exist looking. I alter my speed according to need.

Every bit a endmost tip, Seidenberg also points out that audiobooks are generally recorded at around this sweet spot of reading rate – typically around 120 to 150 WPM. So if y'all are looking to supplement your models of a good oral reading rate, audiobooks may just be worth a punt. Audiobooks can offering many of the other associated benefits of a good storytime session, too, if you choose well (text and the cast of readers).

Accuracy (word recognition and pronunciation)

Accuracy is inextricably leap upward with automaticity. Appropriately paced reading is desirable just not at the expense of accuracy. Decoding errors and omissions will also impact upon the degree to which the text is read and understood. Whatever bulldoze to better the rate of reading has to attend to the level of accuracy that the reader achieves. Accuracy should develop as words become familiar. In the class of reading, skilled readers use context to support them in accurately reading homographs – words that are spelled in the same manner only that have different pronunciations or meanings. This act of selecting the correct pronunciation to reflect meaning is one way past which we begin to meet how fluency is an aspect of reading that straddles both give-and-take reading and comprehension. Information technology is our cognition of the word used in context that is tapped into to in order to inform the word's pronunciation. I've written about this straddling previously. However, given that time is in short supply, I would urge you, instead to read this recent commodity by Duke and Cartwright (2021).

My admiration and excitement for this article is still at the boundless stage, and so a further, fuller weblog is on the cards – likely to be on my own site, given the likelihood that I will froth about its usefulness and bright design. Why practise I similar information technology then? It'southward open access; information technology's serious about bridging enquiry and practice and places practitioners at the heart of its rationale; information technology is expertly structured; it has a reading model that offers a comprehensive insight into active reading and the processes that straddle discussion reading and comprehension, as well as providing explanations for these as potential causes of reading difficulties. As such, it scratches so many itches for those of united states who admit the value of the Simple View of Reading, but are sometimes, perchance often, frustrated by how the simplicity of that framework is misunderstood or misapplied in practise. Duke and Cartwright's model of an active View of Reading reflects the Herts English team'southward ain driving forces in all of our fluency work. From the off nosotros accept been concerned with shifting reading from being a passive feel to an active joy, or 'busy encephalon reading' to borrow my colleague Penny's phrase. Active reading informs the third strand of our preferred fluency definition: prosody.

Prosody (advisable apply of phrasing and expression)

As noted in relation to accurateness, merely on a more than consistent, integral basis, prosody links comprehension to the ways by which nosotros read words aloud (and the associated 'subvocalisation' that occurs when we read in our heads). It's important to understand that prosody not simply reflects some level of comprehension, in playing a part in fluent reading, information technology supports further, deeper understanding. There is plenty to read on prosody. Possibly our favourite commodity to share is Schwanenflugel and Flanagan Knapp's The Music of Reading Aloud. It's an commodity that has been shared by our Reading Fluency Project team on many occasions: its free to admission and it's a very satisfying (melodic even) read in its own right. Daniel Willingham gets similarly musical in The Reading Listen, with his talk of 'the melody of spoken language' (2017, p66), and the means in which this tune carries information: emotion, tone, emphasis…and more. So this keying into the rhythms of speech is especially of import in bridging word reading and comprehension. It'due south as well important from the point of view of diagnostic cess. If the reading is flat, or monotone, nosotros might need to unpick and accost the caste to which meaning making has been activated. Prosody is significant made audible and you may desire to read our earliest blog on the topic, from Kirsten Snook, who offers some excellent gateways into this critical topic, and offers a perspective that take account of our younger readers: Exercise you sound good to heed to? (or 'fluency: reading's best-kept secret weapon'). In the blog, Kirsten offers what I still call up is ane of the most beautifully unproblematic prompts for prosodic reading I have even so come up beyond:

"The volume is talking to the states. If y'all were the book, how would you say this?"

Merely to close this section, it is worth noting that there is a growing banking company of evidence that extends our knowledge of the roots of prosodic sensitivity and the role this may play in the conquering of discussion reading (for a taster, you lot may want to follow the Holliman reference towards the end of this web log). A consideration of that evidence base is across the reach of this weblog, but we may only desire to notation that nosotros have by no means wearied our agreement of the ways in which complex processes overlap and link word reading and comprehension.

Developing comprehension

Developmental work to enhance these iii aspects of reading fluency should be in service of greater comprehension of increasingly complex texts. Our initial work in developing the Fluency Project was heavily inspired by Professor Tim Rasinski, amid others, and post-obit their atomic number 82, was particularly geared towards children that did not present difficulties with give-and-take recognition, just struggled to comprehend texts that reflected an age-appropriate level of challenge. At the heart of our intervention work is an intention to improve reading comprehension. Information technology shouldn't come equally a surprise that this aim, and gains seen in oral reading functioning, has had wider benefits such as increased confidence and motivation to read. This is a highly desirable effect in that information technology becomes a commuter for further improvements to reading performance. Returning to Duke and Cartwright's recent paper, the authors advise that influential models of reading such as Scarborough's reading rope are in need of updating to reverberate advances in our understanding of the processes that brand up adept reading. Central to this suggestion is the description of processes that straddle word reading and comprehension, and reading fluency is ane of the processes described in this manner. The authors too signal out that a 'growing body of research has demonstrated that skilled readers are highly active, strategic, and engaged, deploying executive skills to manage the reading process …Readers play a central role in making reading happen. In addition to acquiring necessary give-and-take-reading and language comprehension noesis and skills, readers must acquire to regulate themselves, actively coordinate the various processes and text elements necessary for successful reading, deploy strategies to ensure reading processes go smoothly, maintain motivation, and actively engage with text.' (2021, p30)

This talk of bureau, and associated executive skills is echoed in a blog from Shanahan too published this year. Exploring reading comprehension, Shanahan offers some pertinent insights:

'What do I make of executive performance?

Well, first information technology requires intentionality … it's the part of our mind (not brain) that takes agency, that tries to accomplish things, that aims at goals. Too oft we care for reading comprehension as if information technology operated mainly through automaticity — arising spontaneously from reading the words.

Merely to comprehend nosotros must focus on the ideas. Research reveals that adults often "read" text without attending to meaning…

And so hither we have a annotation of caution. Yes, nosotros want to develop fluency, but we demand to maintain a focus on the existent cease goal of reading: understanding. Fifty-fifty if the reading sounds meaningful, we need to ensure that reading for meaning is our real aim. As such our Reading Fluency Project makes deliberate use of targeted questioning to ensure reading is active and strategic. Where the first session with a text is focused upon fluent reading performance, the follow up is always focused on comprehension of that text. Shanahan goes on to make a case for the office of challenging reads in this work in order to provide sufficient motivation to develop strategic reading, self-regulation and reflection. This as well, is a fundamental feature in the design of our Fluency Projects and y'all can observe a range of links to previous blogs offering suggested texts for all phases:

Flexing fluency muscles with bully texts (Oh…and they are costless too!)

KS1 Reading Fluency Project: text pick guidance – Years 1 and 2

KS2 Reading Fluency project: text selection guidance – Years 3 & four

KS2 Reading Fluency Project: text selection guidance

KS3 (Yr vii) Reading Fluency Project: text selection guidance

Ways past which nosotros might develop reading fluency

As role of our KS1 and KS2 Reading Toolkit, nosotros offer a chapter devoted to fluency. This graphic offers a sheathing summary of the core methods that nosotros accept been lucky enough to read about, explore, and refine in the course of our piece of work.

Graphic with text

Every bit well every bit these listed approaches, paired and assisted reading accept been shown to be very effective in developing fluent reading. Of the pictured approaches, echo reading seems to be causing the biggest buzz and deserves some special mention. Reverse to some recent reports, echo reading was non christened in 2021 – which is a good thing. Rather than worry ourselves almost the possible limitations of a "fad of the week" type scenario, echo reading has a long and well-developed history, and has more and more empirical weight behind it. It is non new, nor is it the only strategy or arroyo that we might use equally part of our reading fluency development work. Like other aspects of reading, 2 rules of thumb are helpful:

use of a limited range of development techniques means that more than fourth dimension can be devoted to practice, equally in that location is non a need to spend additional time on explaining unfamiliar activities for our learners. Information technology besides allows practitioners to develop expertise in the delivery of these methods, and supports increasingly responsive educational activity. The processes (for case, echo reading, paired/assisted reading, text marking, choral reading) are staples; the reading materials are novel and our part of the bargain is to provide rich, diverse, engaging, and motivating, challenging material to help us develop proficiency as efficiently as possible.
instructional approaches should exist targeted to need and designed to take adept issue. The vehicle, or arroyo or strategy (the what) is less important than the desired outcome and how finer we support our learners to achieve information technology (the why). What really matters above all is improved outcomes in terms of reading operation, conviction and motivation.

Going deeper: links to blogs, a gratis webinar, and recommended reads

Free webinar early on autumn 2021

Herts for Learning's Reading Fluency Projection 2021: what we know at present!

Thursday 9th September four.00- 4.45pm

The HfL Reading Fluency Project showtime launched in 2016. Since then, the HfL English team accept worked with over five hundred schools and thousands of pupils, ensuring that the most powerful and effective strategies are in identify to support the weakest readers. The results speak for themselves. Having carried out hundreds of visits to schools participating in the project, the projection team have been able to consolidate their understanding of what needs to be in place to make the difference for these pupils.

Bring together this free 45 minute webinar to learn more about this highly impactful and innovative programme and to hear nigh the learning that the project team have gathered from their work over the last five years. The webinar volition exist delivered by projection pb, Kathy Roe, who will be joined by Lauren Haines, Discipline Leader from Gloucester Road Main. Lauren will share details about the project's success in her school.

Why fluency matters

Exercise y'all sound skillful to listen to? (or 'fluency: reading's best-kept secret weapon')

A central early on primer that looks at how reading fluency is commonly defined and that goes on to provide a very clear rationale as to why reading fluency needed greater attention equally part of our collective drive to better reading achievement

As piece of cake as A B fluenCy!

An early account of some class-based exploration arising from the release of the DfE's 2016 working at ARE videos and following research work in back up of the development of our EY/KS1 and KS2 reading guidance toolkits

What do nosotros mean when we talk almost reading (and writing) fluency?

A gathering of thoughts from workshop sessions delivered (at the ResearchEd National Conference & Oxford Reading Spree in 2019). These sessions looked in particular at how reading fluency spans both dimensions of the Simple View of Reading – something more fully and helpfully explored in Knuckles & Cartwright'southward Agile View of Reading (2021, see discussion above) - and were concerned with the integration of multiple processes in the act of meaningful/meaning-led reading.

Comprehensive summaries

The Herts for Learning (HfL) KS2 Reading Fluency Projection – strategies and outcomes

An overview of the various iterations of the KS2 Reading Fluency Project. This comprehensive read offers observations related to the drivers of our work in this field, equally well as helpful notes on where the intervention strategies proved most helpful.

Fluency: the span from phonics to comprehension

A short and sharp collection of notes taken from Tim Rasinki'due south keynote session at our Fluency Expo! Conference, January 2021.

What we practise in our fluency projection – approaches and strategies

Read like nobody is watching

A comprehensive, and highly practical collection of hints and tips to develop active reading. A expert read to follow Knuckles & Cartwright's (2021) global look at reading.

Outcomes and touch on

Early findings from the KS2 reading fluency project

Some hints and tips and early on observations from the starting time iteration of our KS2 Reading Fluency Project

KS2 reading fluency projection autumn summary written report

A study into touch on seen from schools delivering the HfL KS2 Reading Fluency Project

Repeat later on me: the HfL KS2 reading fluency project works… works… works!

This is a summary of subsequently findings from the very successful rounds of the project delivered across a wide range of schools. In amid the findings, you will discover some very helpful primal pointers. One such arrow is the importance of carefully calibrated use of 'echo reading' as one strategy amongst a range of approaches designed to heighten confident, meaningful reading. It needs to be used strategically. 'Repeat reading' seems to be a detail strand that has generated quite a buzz. Every bit sometimes happens when do achieves a trend state, it can get warped out of shape. Nosotros'd just similar to draw attending to some central messages:

Wider reading

Open access papers, articles and blogs

Duke, N., Alessandra, E,. David Ward, P. The Science of Reading Comprehension Instruction, The Reading Teacher, Vol 74, No. 6, pp.663-672

EEF (2017) Improving Literacy in Fundamental Phase Two Guidance Report

Heitin (2015) Literacy Expert: Weak Readers Lack Fluency, Not Critical Thinking

Heitin (2015) Reading Fluency Viewed as Neglected Skill, Instruction Calendar week

Holliman, A. J., Mundy, I.R., Wade-Woolley, 50.W., Woods, C. & Bird, C. (2017) Prosodic Awareness and children's multisyllabic discussion reading. Educational Psychology, 37:10, pp1222-1241

Kuhn, Southward. & Stahl, Thou.R. (2003) Fluency: A Review of Developmental and Remedial Practices, Journal of Educational Psychology, 95 pp.three-21

Lofflin, K (2012) offers critical reflections on Marcell, B. (2011) Putting Fluency on a Fitness Plan, The Reading Teacher Vol 65 issue 4 (run across 'paid for' reading list beneath)

National Establish of Child Health and Human Development (2000) Report of the National Reading Console; Teaching Children to Read: An testify-based cess of the scientific inquiry literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction, US government Printing Role

Rasinski (2012) Why Reading Fluency Should exist Hot!, The Reading Teacher Vol 65 Consequence eight

Rasinski, T. Yildirim, K. & Nageldinger, J. (2011) Edifice Fluency Through the Phrased Text Lesson, The Reading Instructor Vol 65 effect iv

Rasinski, T. (2014) Delivering Supportive Fluency Instruction, Reading Today

Schwanenflugel, P.J. & Flanagan Knapp, N. (2017) The Music of Reading Aloud

Shanahan, T. (2017) How to teach fluency so it takes

Published books, academic subscription or buy/rental only

Dowhower, S.L. (1994) Repeated Reading Revisited: Research Into Practice, Reading and Writing Quarterly, x
Dowhower, S.L. (1991) Speaking of prosody: Fluency's unattended bedfellow, Theory Into Practice, 30:3, 165-175
Klauda, S.L. & Guthrie, J.T. (2008) Relationships of Three Components of Reading Fluency to Reading Comprehension, Journal of Educational Psychology, Vol. 100, No. 2, 310–321
LaBerge, D., & Samuels, S. J. (1974). Toward a theory of automatic data processing in reading. Cerebral Psychology, 6, 293-323
Marcell, B. (2011) Putting Fluency on a Fitness Programme, The Reading Teacher Vol 65 result four
Miller, J. & Schwanenflugel, P.J. (2006) Prosody of Syntactically Complex Sentences in the Oral Reading of Young Children, Periodical of Educational Psychology, Vol. 98, No. four, 839–853
Rasinski,T. & Nageldinger, J.1000. (2016) The Fluency Factor: Authentic Pedagogy and Assessment for Reading Success in the Common Cadre Classroom, Teachers College Press
Rasinski, T., Homan, S. & Biggs, One thousand. (2009) Educational activity Reading Fluency to Struggling Readers: Method, Materials, and Testify, Reading & Writing Quarterly, 25:2-3, pp. 192-204
Samuels, S.J. (1979). The Method of Repeated Readings The Reading Teacher, Vol. 32, No. 4, pp. 403-408
Stahl, S.A. & Kuhn, M.R. (2002) Making it sound like linguistic communication: Developing fluency, The Reading Teacher; Mar 2002; 55, vi; pg. 582
Therrien, W. J. (2004). Fluency and Comprehension Gains as a Result of Repeated Reading: A Meta-Analysis. Remedial and Special Education, 25(four), 252–261

Reading Fluency Project Page

Links to further information relating to our KS1, KS2, and KS3 Reading Fluency Projects.

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Source: https://www.hertsforlearning.co.uk/blog/a-field-guide-to-reading-fluency