Reading - Just the Basics
 

Reading Rate and Fluency

Think again about how you read. You probably read with accuracy, some degree of speed, and expression. This is termed reading fluency. How quickly you read is your reading rate. Good fluency and reading rate are important because when a person reads fluently, he/she does not have to worry about the tedious process of decoding each word along the way. Decoding becomes just a natural part of the reading process. For most of us, accuracy, speed, and phrasing are strongly related to our level of reading comprehension.

So, how do you help your students become more automatic readers? First you need to find out your students' needs in this area. Not surprisingly, researchers have discovered that silent reading alone will not reveal students' needs. However, only being asked to read aloud may not aid in building better comprehension skills if it is intimidating to the student. The best practice is to balance different types of strategies for building fluency and reading rate, such as:

  • Explicit instruction
  • Guided reading
  • Neurological impress
  • Reading in pairs
  • Silent reading
  • Oral and silent timed readings
  • Choral readings
  • Repeated readings
  • Previewing
  • Taped books

These strategies need to be incorporated into every class period with students in order to improve their fluency and ultimately their silent reading comprehension.
Look for these icons throughout your training!
Webmaster   This icon will be present when you can open and print a file Open and print a file     This icon will be present when you will link to a website on the Internet Link to the Internet     About Us

Developed by Florida Human Resources Development, Inc. (FHRD), this website is authorized by the Michigan Department of Career Development and funded through a grant under Section 222(a)(2) State Leadership Activities of the Adult Education and Family Literacy Act, Title II of the Workforce Investment Act of 1998, amended.