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What Is It? What Is It?
Oral reading fluency is the ability to read printed words aloud with decoding accuracy, appropriate phrasing, and normal speed. Fluent readers are better able to focus their attention on what the text means. Fluency can vary, depending on what readers are reading, their familiarity with the words, and their amount of practice with reading text. When teachers provide frequent and motivating opportunities for oral reading, students improve their understanding of what they read. Such opportunities require appropriate scaffolding through pre-reading instruction and adequate (silent or group) practice before reading orally to an audience. Recent research on the efficacy of certain approaches to teaching fluency has led to increased recognition of its importance in the classroom and to changes in instructional practices. Practicing is generally recognized as an important contributor to fluency. Guided and repeated oral reading practice encourages students to read passages aloud with explicit guidance and feedback from the teacher. (This practice should not be confused with "round-robin" reading, in which students take turns reading passages from the same text and which usually do not offer opportunities to practice and to read silently first.)
Technology TipsThe following technology recommendations for reading are direct excerpts from "Technology and Teaching Children to Read," published by the Northeast and Islands Regional Technology in Education Consortium (NEIRTEC) in 2004. The complete NEIRTEC report can be downloaded as a PDF file from the link provided at http://knowledgeloom.org/elemlit.
"Electronic books, or e-books, present traditional picture book text and images in an alternative on-screen format. The simplest electronic books simply transfer the story from paper to the screen, and allow the child to listen as the program reads the story aloud. Some e-books may also highlight each word as the child progresses through the book. More complex electronic books create a more malleable story, allowing children to manipulate the text and introduce features not found in traditional books (Labbo & Kuhn 1998).
E-books, with features designed specifically to support children learning to read fluently, can provide multiple supports for fluency instruction, including the ability to:
Implications for ELLsFluency in speaking English is an important factor underlying fluent oral reading. Reading quickly, accurately, and expressively can pose a challenge to English language learners (ELLs). They need rich opportunities to listen, speak, and internalize the sounds, rhythms, and patterns of English over a period of time. If the vocabulary or the sentence patterns of a passage are unfamiliar, ELLs will find it difficult to read aloud fluently. With repeated exposure and practice, ELLs can develop the ability to automatically identify English words seen frequently in print. Even ELLs who are quite proficient in reading comprehension and silent reading in English may feel self-conscious about reading orally, especially in large-group settings. Criticism, ridicule, or public correction is likely to exacerbate anxieties that ELLs may have about having an accent or being different.
Strategies for Supporting ELLsEffective teachers provide English language learners (ELLs) with opportunities to listen and follow along as they read stories aloud. To prepare ELLs to read a text orally, teachers read it to them a few times. The goal is for students to understand the story well and to hear the sounds and rhythms of the language. Sometimes teachers move their fingers under the text as they read so that students can match what they hear with what they see. Sometimes students move their own fingers under the text as they listen. Such experiences give ELLs the linguistic information and the confidence they need to practice reading and rereading a book until they can read it fluently. Often, teachers have students dictate their stories for initial fluency practice because the language and the concepts will be familiar. Some teachers work with students to standardize spelling and sentence structure before the stories are practiced and read aloud. Predictable pattern books also help young ELLs to develop fluency. Other good read-aloud choices are simple call-and-response poems and short skits, where the teacher reads a more difficult part and students join in for a predictable refrain. After hearing the text repeatedly, students can read it with the teacher and then practice reading it aloud to themselves and others. They can practice reading aloud as a class chorus, in small groups or pairs, and at home to family members. Librarians, community volunteers, parents, and "reading buddies" from the upper grades can read with students. Classmates can also take turns reading aloud with "reading buddies" in class. Hearing their classmates read aloud often has a motivating effect on ELLs.
Glimpse of the ClassroomStudents in Mrs. D.'s second-grade English learners class begin almost every day reading books from their "chair bags," individually selected books that are "just right." All the students are reading orally, while Mrs. D. circulates through the class and occasionally assists a student with a difficult word. Students complete reading logs that rate books by difficulty and indicate why they liked a particular book the best. Today, Dominick has a chance to do a "commercial" to sell a book he liked to other members of the class. When Mrs. D. says, "We're going to have free reading now," students in her class scurry to find their books. They practice. Most of the class is reading simultaneously in pairs--"buddy reading"--while Mrs. D. works with a pair of students on their understanding of their book. Some students take turns, others read in unison, and a few read silently. Daniel likes Alligators Abound. He reads aloud to a partner: "B-Bursting Balloons,
Questions to Think About
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