Remedial Strategies
Subtopic: Instructional Strategies for Improving
Reading Fluency
Instructional Methods to Improve Fluency
Generally speaking, once the beginning reader has acquired the skill to
decode
printed words, he begins to recognize familiar words quickly and effortlessly. This is traditionally referred to as sight-word reading skill. However, since the phrase "sight-word reading" implies an exclusive reliance on visual processes, and since
phonological
skill is a foundation on which the quick recognition of the printed word is based, we prefer to use the phrase "instant word recognition". This skill is apparent in most children by the time they reach third grade. Children with reading disabilities, however, fail to develop instant word recognition skills. This makes the child with
dyslexia
a slow and struggling reader. Laborious reading is also a telltale sign of dyslexia because slow readers are found in all language systems including German and Italian which have an almost one-to-one letter-sound relationship.
Reading fluency refers to a rate of accurate reading where word recognition has become relatively effortless. Word recognition becomes almost automatic. This helps the reader to invest his attention in the meaning of what is being read which facilitates comprehension of text. For this reason, the dysfluent reader is also a poor comprehender. Since the ultimate goal of reading is comprehension, reading fluency is receiving much attention.
Three instructional procedures are used when fluency is the goal of reading instruction.
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Rereading
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Paired Reading
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Using Decodable Texts
Rereading
A procedure which improves reading fluency, is to require the reader to read the same material again and again. Known for a long time, this approach is referred to as "rereading". Some rereading studies have used of lists of single words, whereas others have used connected texts. Regardless of the material used, word lists or texts, studies indicate that rereading is beneficial in the sense it decreases reading time. There appears to be not much difference between groups that were trained on lists of isolated words and groups that were trained on text materials. The evidence is also not strong enough for us to conclude that rereading generalizes to words on which the children are not trained.
Parents and teachers can make up their own lists of words from the books that are used in the classroom. A typical list can contain about 20 words. Several such lists can be constructed. It is also important that these lists include four or five grammar words (e.g., but, when, to, and, at, etc.). Even though these grammar words are small and occur in print more often than nouns and verbs, they pose much difficulty for poor readers. Age appropriate words can be selected from either the "Dolch Sight Word List" or the "Fry's Instant Word List". In order to avoid
rote memorization
of words in the list, it would be necessary to scramble the order of words within each list.
Use a search engine to find references to both the Dolch and Fry's word lists.
An example of one of the popular search engines is Google.
www.google.com
Enter the keywords "Dolch Word List" (enclosed in quotes) for the Dolch list.
Enter the keywords "Fry's Instant Word List" (enclosed in quotes) for the Fry's list.
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When text material is used, it is important to select a passage which is not too difficult for the child to read. Assessment of the list-reading speed can be done on a daily basis. In addition to providing important feed-back information, the progress made should be gratifying both to the parent and the child himself. Children in the mid first grade are expected to read about 50 words per minute. Children's reading speed increases as they grow older and such differences can be apparent even from month to month. A rough estimate of the child's reading speed can be obtained by downloading oral reading fluency norms for grades 1 through 6.
www.readnaturally.com
Paired reading
Another method used for improving reading speed is called "paired reading". In this approach, the child reads a passage along with a good reader, usually the parent. During the initial trials, the parent provides the lead by setting up the pace and by reading loud. During later rereading trials, the parent slowly lets the child become the lead reader and gradually fades away as a leader.
The parent or the tutor also uses her finger to point at the words and move the finger along as the words are being read aloud. This act of "finger pointing" should match the rate of oral reading. As the child shows improvement in reading speed, the finger moving speed can be increased. But the finger moving speed need not "follow" the child's reading, it can actually be used as a prompt to increase the child's reading rate.
Use of Decodable Texts
The most important factor that slows down a child is his inability to
decode
the written words in a text quickly and easily. It is reasoned, therefore, if a text is constructed of words the child can decode easily, he can read it in a reasonably fast rate. Following this, some new words can be added to the text and the child's reading speed could be slowly improved. Textbook materials that are designed with this logic in mind are termed as "Decodable Texts".
The Decodable Text contains passages that are matched to the letter-sound relationship knowledge of the reader. Consequently, such texts contain simple and highly familiar words which the reader encounters several times in the text. The redundancy of written words amounts to rereading practice. There is not much research that informs us if reading fluency could be improved or not by relying on Decodable Texts alone. Nevertheless, Decodable Texts, minimize failure and thereby improve the confidence of the children and provide motivation for the child to pursue the reading act further.
Computer Software Designed to Improve Reading Speed
Please see the initial information on the
"Resources and Help" subtopic page.
Pay particular attention to the "Note about website addresses".
Return to this page by using your browser's BACK button.
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Read Naturally
www.readnaturally.com
This website claims to provide teachers with all of the tools they need to address the fluency needs of their students. The package includes books, tapes, CDs, and software programs. A reading fluency table can be downloaded for free. Read naturally offers six phonics levels which include 24 nonfiction stories, and corresponding tapes and CDs. All the materials are sequenced.
Materials for fluency assessment from grade 1 through 8 are also available.
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Great Leaps Reading Program
www.greatleaps.com
This program is divided into three major areas:
(1) phonics,
(2) sight phrases designed to improve sight-word reading skill, and
(3) reading fluency which uses age-appropriate stories designed to build reading fluency.
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Publications from Oxton House, Reading Speed Drills
www.oxtonhouse.com
This program contains drills (e.g., word lists) designed to promote fluency. The program comes in two sets. One set contains 143 pages of word drills covering one syllable words and phonetically irregular words. Set two includes 150 pages of word drills covering one-syllable and 114 phonetically irregular words.
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Decodable Text Sources
Please see the initial information on the
"Resources and Help" subtopic page.
Pay particular attention to the "Note about website addresses".
Return to this page by using your browser's BACK button.
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Bob Books for Beginning and Advanced Readers
www.bobbooks.com/bobbooks.htm
According the publisher, these are simple, easy, phonetic based, child-sized books which inspire kids to beg for the next books in the set. The books were developed as a step-by-step book-by-book program to guide children gently through the early stages of reading. The books come in three levels with the first two levels having two sets each.
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The Wright Group's "The Wright Skills Decodable Books"
http://www.wrightgroup.com
In the Search Box, enter "Wright Skills" and select "keyword".
This will access a page with a link to "Wright Skills".
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