Independent, Instructional And Frustration Level Texts: Repeated Reading

Mesmer, E.M., & Mesmer, H.A.E. (2008). Response to intervention (RTI): What teachers of reading need to know. Reading Teacher, 62(4), 280-290.

Phonological awareness is being able to distinguish the assembly of isolated sounds that make up words and experiment with adjusting the distinct sounds known as Phonemes to form new words (Emmit, Hornsby & Wilson, 2013). Elements of phonological awareness include practice with separating, manipulating and grouping together sounds of words, in addition to exploring words and sounds in an enjoyable way using rhymes (Matheson, 2005). Phonological awareness provides innovative processes for a broader vocabulary and the ability to sound out new words (University of Oregon, 2009). The decoding process that occurs allows readers the ability to then concentrate on the meaning of what they read and improve their reading development (Reid Lyon, 1998). When teaching phonological awareness to children, teachers should work in small groups that explore only a couple of concepts at a time for instance how the mouth moves when saying a variety of isolated sounds in comparison to these phoneme sounds blended to assemble a word (Learning Point Associates, 2004). In conjunction with the familiarity of phonemes and words in phonological awareness, it is imperative to integrate this fundamental feature of reading development with understanding graphemes, and the link to letters in print to their phonemes sounds with phonics (Fellows & Oatley,

Reading is a means of language acquisition, of communication, and of sharing information which is essential in being a productive member of society. If and when a student missed an opportunity to learn the skills necessary for reading, it’s has a profound impact on their lives. As educators we realize that teaching all children to read requires that every child receive excellent reading instruction. We are also aware that children, who are struggling with reading must receive

In duet reading, a stronger reader is paired with a less-fluent reader. The stronger reader sets the pace and provides visual tracking by moving his or her finger below each word as it is read in unison. In audio-recorded books, the student reads aloud with an audio-recorded version of a book. The purpose is to encourage the weaker reader to read along with the tape. In echo reading, the adult reads a short passage and then invites the child to “Say what I say” or “Copy me,” encouraging the child to repeat what the adult has read (Robertson & Davig, 2002). In this way, the adult models fluent reading and then provides the child with an opportunity for immediate practice. In paired reading, children who are struggling with reading fluency are paired up with a more capable reader. In this strategy, the fluent reader and reader take turns reading by lines or pages (Mathes, Fuchs, Fuchs, Henley, & Sanders, 1994).

Reading fluency is considered an integral component of the reading process and it has a big presence in the classroom. Its importance became evident since the National Reading Panel (2000) pronounced fluency instruction and assessment an essential and was thus incorporated into the reading First guidelines of No Child Left Behind in 2002 (Shelton, Altwerger, &Jordan, 2009). Reading fluency has been defined in many ways; an outcome of decoding and comprehension, a contributor to both decoding and comprehension, the ability to recognize words rapidly and accurately, the connections

The intervention used first was the Peer-Mediated instruction with repeated reading (PRR). During this phase, the students were seated across from each other. The students were then given a copy of the passage, one in which to read, and the other in which to mark the time and note any errors observed, along with a stopwatch. Both students began reading from the selected text for the pair for a duration of twenty minutes at the beginning of the class. Next, the “paired reading” time consisted of each student taking turns reading using only a whisper. To ensure the fidelity of the intervention, measures were taken to ensure that one student didn’t have to be the first reader every time. During the read aloud, the student who wasn’t reading would follow protocol and read the following sentence “Stop. That word is _______. What word? Yes, ________. Please read that sentence again.” After the paired reading time, the reader would then be asked to read

Back to school reading in the primary grades usually begins in the classroom assessment, and part of a formal reading assessment includes reading fluency. Teachers strive for students to read grade-level texts throughout the year with purpose and understanding. Testing students in reading by using a variety of formal assessments, such as DRA (Developmental Reading Assessment) or PALS (Phonological Awareness Literacy Screening) provides a little insight into how well students read, but there is usually only one or two reading passages used. Fluency is one area that is extremely important, but seldom practiced because most students read independently to themselves. Together with phrasing, expression and punctuation, pace is can be evaluated by teachers in small group guided reading lessons. Students are given an opportunity to read out-loud in front of their teacher and their peers, but often will not receive daily practice with fluency everyday.

According to Sheakoski (2012), a strategy that can be used to improve fluency in reading is repeat reading. Students can increase fluency skills using the repeated reading strategy during which they read a short passage repeatedly. It should be noted that fluency is more than just pronouncing words correctly, it also encompasses the process of fully and smoothly conveying what the text is about. The ability to read fluently is a predictor of comprehension. This is mainly because the more fluently one reads the easier it is for him or her

For readers struggling with fluency, the techniques which are most helpful are ones that build vocabulary and allow the instructor to monitor student progress. Repeated reading is a technique which asks students to reread short passages 3-5 times until their fluency improves. In guided oral reading, the teacher previews difficult concepts and words with the student in order to improve their reading comprehension. Acting as a role model, the teacher reads the text aloud while the student listens to target words and concludes with a summary of the text in their own words. Peer-supported reading is a technique similar to guided oral reading in that a stronger reader acts as a model for a lower performing reader.

Phonological awareness is when children learn to associate sounds with symbols and create links to word recognition and decoding skills. It consists of skills that develop through the preschool period. Phonological awareness is an important part of learning to read and write, children who have a broad range of phonics are able to identify and make oral rhymes, are able to clap out the syllables in a word and can recognise words with the same initial sounds. Phonological awareness is a good indicator whether your student will have a potential reading difficulty and with the many activities and resources available to us you can develop a child’s awareness early on in a child’s education.

The three participants’ target behavior was number of correct words read per minute. A word was considered correct when the spoken word matched the written word within three seconds. If the spoken word did not match the written word or was omitted, it was scored as incorrect even if self-correction occurred. If a word was inserted while reading a passage, it was ignored for scoring purposes. At the beginning of a reading passage, a timer was set for one minute to measure the duration of the reading. After one minute, the participants were asked to stop reading and a fluency rate (WCPM) was calculated.

Students with disabilities are definitely at a disadvantage when reading achievement is being considered. Alberto, P.A and Fredrick, L.D (2011) wanted to develop and individually examine the efficacy of three different components of an integrated literacy program. The goals are to determine the effectiveness of acquisition of the reading of pictures and logos (visual literacy component) and written text (sight-word instruction component and phonics instruction component). All research activities take place in the public school setting a cross five school districts in the southeastern United States. A total of 36 students participated in the program with an attrition rate of 11 students. Students were assigned to one of three curricular components: visual literacy, sight-word instruction, or phonics instruction. Visual literacy students were taught to read and demonstrate comprehension of the individual pictures and sequences of

For a child who is just starting to learn to read, they need sufficient practice in reading a variety of different books to achieve fluency. Reading can be complex and has many different aspects (Burns,1999). It is suggested that children who have problems reading and writing at a young age will find it hard to catch up as they get older and will not reach their full potential as adults, many will withdraw from school or society and some becoming involved with crime (MacBlain,2014). 40 percent of children find learning to read a challenge but with early help, most reading problems can be prevented (Reading Rockets, n.d.).

Many students are passed on through the education system without having proper reading skills. These skills consist of fluency, comprehension, and phonemic awareness. Reading skills are foundational building blocks for elementary aged students. Students who lack proper reading skills, such as fluency or the rate in which they read, will ultimately lack comprehension of what they are reading due to the amount of time in which it takes the students to read. This leads to the question, how does fifth grade students lack of fluency affect his or her reading comprehension? Unfortunately, because reading skills taught in kindergarten and first grade focus mainly on phonemic

When data from students who had average accuracy and fluency scores, but lower comprehension scores were compared to data from those with similar accuracy and fluency but average comprehension, the consistent differences were found to be lower oral language and vocabulary skills in the poor comprehenders upon entry into formal schooling. (Nation, Cocksey, Taylor & Bishop) Thousands of dollars each year are spent on intervention, trying to improve the reading of children that show delays. When one reads, the clear goal is comprehension of what is read. Without communication of ideas between the author and reader, decoding texts is pointless. Most intervention programs are focused on phonics and word decoding. Oral language interventions concurrent with vocabulary and comprehension tasks at age eight have been shown to lead to significant improvements in reading comprehension. (Nation, et al., 2010). Reading comprehension is not merely a product of being able to decode words and sentences. How we teach children to process and integrate the ideas found in text can have a large impact on their ability to function in a world of ever expanding knowledge and information.