Reading Reading UniverseUniverse

Accuracy and FluencyAccuracy and Fluency

Accuracy before Fluency

Read this sentence:

The horse got a cold.

Accuracy before Fluency

Read this sentence:

The horse got cold.

Improving AccuracyAccuracy improves…

• when students have decoding strategies in place to decode words.

• when students practice reading words accurately

An increase in accuracy leads to better fluency and comprehension.

Research Base

Accurate decoding is an important foundation of reading comprehension, and is a skill that must be mastered if students are going to be able to “read to learn.”

(Gough & Tunmer, 1986; Vellutino, Tunmer, Jacard, & Chen, 2007)

Accuracy and Fluency Activity

• Pair up• One person reads while one person

marks errors• Read The Boarding House by James

Joyce• Discuss behaviors and solutions

The Reading UniverseThe Reading Universe• In The Reading Universe fluency

comes under the heading of “Word Usage for Meaning.” It is preceded by vocabulary and followed by comprehension, which reinforces the understanding that it is the “bridge” between word recognition and comprehension.

What is Fluency?What is Fluency?

Fluency refers to the ability of readers to read quickly, effortlessly, and efficiently, with good, meaningful expression.

Rasinski, 2003

• Fluent readers don’t read word-by-word, but rather in natural-sounding phrases, just the way they would speak them.

• Fluent readers read with automaticity. That is , they process text automatically, requiring little effort or attention.

• Fluent readers don’t read word-by-word, but rather in natural-sounding phrases, just the way they would speak them.

Importance of FluencyImportance of Fluency• Fluency is important because it provides a bridge between

word recognition and comprehension (Armbruster, Lehr, & Osborn, 2001).

• Fluent reading should be a major goal of reading instruction because decoding print accurately and effortlessly enables students to read for meaning.

• Students who decode words effortlessly can focus more of their conscious attention to making meaning for text (Blevins, 2001).

• They can make connections among the ideas in the text and between the text and their background knowledge.

• Fluent readers recognize words and comprehend at the same time. In contrast, less fluent readers must focus their attention primarily on decoding individual words, which leaves little attention left for comprehending the text (Reutzel & Cooter, 2005).

Reading RealityNAEP National Assessment of Educational Progress (1998)

Can read at start ofschoolFind learning toread fairly easyFind learning toread challengingExperienceextreme difficulties

20-35%

5%

60%

30% of the 60%

Reading RealityNAEP National Assessment of Educational Progress (1998)

Can read at start ofschoolFind learning toread fairly easyFind learning toread challengingExperienceextreme difficulties

Components of FluencyComponents of FluencyResearchers don’t all agree on the

definition of fluency but most seem to be in agreement about the skills students must develop to become fluent readers.

• Automaticity • Prosody

• Rate

AutomaticityAutomaticity• Automaticity involves fast, effortless word recognition

resulting from extensive reading practice.

• Some examples of automaticity include the familiarity with which we shift gears on a car, play a musical instrument, or play a sport.

• Researchers are discovering that it is not just a child’s accuracy in recognizing letters and words or performing phonemic awareness tasks that counts in terms of the child’s reading progress. It is the speed with which a child can perform these talks that is critical and telling (Blevins, 2001).

ProsodyProsody• Quality refers to the reader’s ability

to use proper intonation or expression.

• This is called prosody, the pitch, phrasing, and stress in one’s voice. Prosody gives language its rhythm and flow. (Prosody comes from the Greek word meaning accent).

RateRate• Rate involves attaining appropriate

reading speed according to the reader’s purpose or the type of passage. (Reutzel & Cooter, 2005).

AutomaticityAutomaticity• Fluent readers read with

automaticity.

• They process text automatically, requiring little effort or attention.

Increasing Word Recognition Increasing Word Recognition StrategiesStrategies

By increasing a child’s sight vocabulary he/she no longer relies on sounding out words phoneme by phoneme.

• Personal sight words are those which a child accumulates through frequent encounters or personal experience. For example, a pet’s name or a favorite hobby (baseball)

• High-frequency words include a generally accepted list or lists of words that occur often in text and should be memorized. (such as Dolch words or Fry’s instant words)

• The ability for a child to decode words automatically is important to fluency. Some examples are:

a) decodable words from basal lessons b) phrases, sentences, and paragraphs

pulled from stories they are reading.

• Isolated word recognition is a necessary but not sufficient condition for fluent reading. Students who read words in isolation quickly will not always transfer that “speed and accuracy” to connected text.

Fluency/Accuracy Activities Fluency/Accuracy Activities • Speed drills using word lists build fluency because

they help students rapidly recognize sight words and words with common syllable and spelling patterns.

• It is recommended that along with limited amount of frequency words in isolation, students do repeated reading of high frequency words in the context of short sentences and phrases.

• Fry’s 300 “instant words” make up approximately two-thirds of all words students will encounter in their elementary school reading. It is recommended that students learn 100 high-frequency words a year, so by the end of third grade they would have mastered all 300 words on the Fry’s list.

Problems if this skill is Problems if this skill is missedmissed

• Students will probably have difficulty comprehending written text. They often fail to understand that the main purpose for reading is to understand the author’s message.

• Students with inadequate fluency are also likely to avoid reading because of fear of failure and negative attitudes. Students who avoid reading have less exposure to ideas and vocabulary in books and lose intellectual as well as academic ground.

• A study done by the NAEP found that 44% of a representative sample of the nation’s 4th graders were low in fluency. The study also found a close correlation between fluency and comprehension.

Why do nearly half of American Why do nearly half of American children lack fluency?children lack fluency?

• Dedicated fluency instruction is rarely found in classrooms or even in intervention programs.

How can you help your students How can you help your students become fluent readers?become fluent readers?

• By having students repeatedly read passages with guidance and feedback

• By combining reading instruction with opportunities for them to read books that are at their independent level of reading ability.

Reading Text LevelsReading Text Levels• Independent Level Text – relatively easy

text for the reader, with no more than approximately 1 in 20 words difficult for the reader (95% success)

• Instructional Level Text – challenging but manageable text for the reader, with no more than approximately 1 in 10 words difficult for the reader (90% success).

• Frustration Level Text – difficult text for the reader, with more than 1 in 10 words difficult for the reader (less than 90%)

Strategies for Increasing FluencyStrategies for Increasing Fluency

Read AloudRead Aloud

• Students need to have a model voice in their heads as a reference point when they monitor their own reading.

• It is particularly important for poorer readers who have been placed in low reading groups to hear text read correctly. Otherwise, they are likely to only hear the efforts of other poor readers in their group (Blevins, 2001).

• After you model how to read a text, have the students reread it. By doing this , the students are engaging in repeated reading.

Strategies for Increasing FluencyStrategies for Increasing Fluency

Choral ReadingChoral Reading

• Students read along as a group with the teacher/tutor.

• All students should have a copy of the text being read.

• Choral reading allows practice before reading alone.

Strategies for Increasing FluencyStrategies for Increasing Fluency

Echo ReadingEcho Reading

• As the name implies, the teacher/tutor

reads one sentence or phrase and the student echoes back the same sentence or phrase, following the words with a finger to ensure that the child is actually reading and not simply mimicking the teacher.

Recorded TextsRecorded Texts• If volunteers or additional personnel

are not readily available, teachers can allow students to listen to recorded texts while reading.

• The key to this strategy is that students listen to the oral rendition of a text while reading the same text simultaneously.

The key to all of these The key to all of these strategiesstrategies

Practice, Practice, Practice

It is recommended for struggling readers that 15-20 minutes a day be set aside for fluency practice.

Rasinski, 2002