The Big 5 A teacher's guide to literacy in the classroom
Fluency: the bridge to comprehension
Three aspects make up a fluent reader: appropriate reading speed, reading with expression (prosody), and accuracy. It is time to start focusing on fluency once your students have a strong knowledge of phonics and are skilled in decoding (reading). Keep in mind that fluency is a skill that develops over time, not necessarily as a direct result of mastering phonics.
Why Fluency?
Teaching fluency may not be the first thing that comes to mind when designing your literacy curriculum, but it is just as critical as the other skills encompassed in the Big 5. Fluency can be understood as a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. When readers are fluent, they spend far less time trying to decode words meaning and can focus on comprehending the text instead. Naturally, it follows that there is a close, research-supported relationship between fluency and comprehension.
What is the best way to foster fluency?
Fluency will develop best when students have good models of fluent reading, and lots and lots of practice! While popcorn or round robin reading are easy and popular techniques in the classroom, they give each student only a tiny fraction of reading practice because the majority of their time is spent listening to others. Choosing activities (see below) that offer substantial practice time and strong supports will help your students become fluent more effectively. Additionally, material which is familiar and interesting to your students is more likely to improve their fluency. Try to stay away from reading material above a student's independent reading level or material which is irrelevant. For more about how to best select practice materials for your students, check out the information on IRIs on the assessment page.
What are the best fluency activities for my students?
- Modeling: read aloud to your class and encourage parents to do the same.
- Partner Reading: assign pairs of students to take turns reading aloud to teach other. Try pairing students in different arrangements based on reading ability.
- Choral Reading: students read aloud along with the teacher.
- Audio-assisted Reading: students follow along in a book or story as they hear it read on an audio-recording.
- Reader's Theater: Students practice and perform a play using text from a language-rich story or book.
