Fluency
What is it and why is it important?
Fluency is linked to comprehension and comprehension is the goal of reading. Comprehension is the understanding of what you are reading. Fluency is important to build in our readers in order to increase their depth of comprehension and to also increase the amount of reading that they do. When we are able to read something at a quick pace with little to no problem solving then we are more likely to read for longer amounts of time. If the reading of a book is fluent, then the reader is freed up to think about what he/she is reading.
A fluent reader sounds good, and reads accurately at an appropriate pace with expression. A fluent reader sounds like they are talking to you. You will notice that their eyes are moving quickly across a line. You will also notice that a fluent reader raises his/her voice for question marks and exclamation marks, but drops their voice for a period. You hear their voice pause briefly for a comma. You will also notice that a fluent reader will quickly bring their pace back up after slowing to solve a tricky word.
So what can teachers and parents do to help when the reading is slow or choppy?
· Start by checking the level of the book to be sure that the book is at an easy or just right level. The majority of the words should be known at a glance.
· Read a book or a section from a longer book to the child to demonstrate what fluent reading looks and sounds like. Then read the book, or section with the child leaving off the end of a sentence for the child to read fluently.
· Write down a repetitive phrase or sentence and have the child read it quickly. The phrase might be: Baby Bear said or The Big Billy Goat Gruff or “Run, run as fast as you can.” Do this for several days.
· Make sure that a child is making their voice go down at the end of a sentence and up for a question mark. Perhaps you will need to model what this sounds like.
· Make sure that a child is pausing and stopping when they see punctuation marks. Perhaps you will need to model what this sounds like.
· Prompt the child to listen to how they sound.
Ask: “Are you putting your words together like talking?”
· Prompt with: “Make it sound like you would sound if you were mad, or sad, scared, etc.”
· Prompt with: “Is that how (the character) would say it?”
· Repeated readings: Decide on a short book or a paragraph from a book that could be practiced each day for perhaps a week.
· Turn a favorite book into a script.
· Do a reader’s theater.
Provide time for reading each day! At home and at school time must be spent on increasing the volume of high-accuracy reading to increase fluency which will lead to deeper comprehension and the joy of reading.