The Effects Of Reading Fluency On Reading Comprehension Essay

he most fundamental responsibility of schools is teaching students to read. Indeed, the future success of all students hinges upon their ability to become proficient readers. Recent scientific studies have allowed us to understand more than ever before how literacy develops, why some children have difficulty, and what constitutes best instructional practice. Scientists now estimate that fully 95 percent of all children can be taught to read. Yet, in spite of all our knowledge, statistics reveal an alarming prevalence of struggling and poor readers that is not limited to any one segment of society:

Addison read a narrative and an expository passage at Level P, “Plenty of Pets” a narrative passage and then an expository passage, “Animal Instincts”. Addison read both passages with 96% and 99% accuracy respectively. She scored satisfactory on both passages. When reading Level Q, she read a nonfiction passage, “Not Too Cold for a Polar Bear” with 97% accuracy and excellent comprehension. At Level R, she read with 95% accuracy and satisfactory for comprehension, although it is deliberate and arduous. However, when Addison read a narrative and expository text Level S, “Could Be Worse” and “Amazing Animal Adaptations”, reading both passages below 95% accuracy. When considering a fluency score, Addison primarily reads in three and four word groups, however it is not smooth and lacks expression with a slow rate most of the time. Aimweb progress monitoring data were considered to determine Addison’s correct word per minutes. According to the data, Addison’s word recognition skills significantly impacts her ability to read fluently, thus causing frustration. She is currently being progressed monitored at a third grade level, indicating she falls near the thirty third percentile when compared to third grade students nationally, reading a median of 109 correct words per minute.

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 evaluating the different types of reading interventions, I found that paired reading is the most commonly used to increase fluency. According to the report of The National Reading Panel (2000), guided repeated oral reading is the most effective procedure for developing reading fluency (Kuhn & Stahl, 2000; Rasinski & Hoffman, 2003). Paired reading was originally developed

The study that I reviewed for the fluency evidence based practice was conducted in an alternative high school in the Southeast. The students that were involved in the study attended sessions that were mediated by their peers three times a week for 45 minutes. The sessions were held in a study hall type classroom that was structured in that the environment was conducive to helping increase the fluency skills of these struggling readers. This was a focus class that had certain guidelines for being a part of. The students were enrolled in this class if they received a grade level of six or below on the Test of Adult Basic Education assessment. The other requirements for this class were as follows: current reading scores between levels 4.0 to 7.0 as determined by the TOWRE (Test of Word Reading

What is Fluency? Fluency is the ability to read smoothly and automatically, with expression and attention to punctuation. Correspondingly, reading with sufficient accuracy and fluency supports overall reading comprehension.

How did you learn to read? Most of us do not put much thought into this question, but learning to read is a difficult task. According to Cervetti and Hiebert, the National Reading Panel identified five essential components that a teacher should use during reading instruction, which gives the student the highest chance of being an effective reader (2015, p. 548). These five essential components are also called five pillars of reading instruction. They are Phonics, phonemic awareness, vocabulary, fluency and comprehension. This paper will describe each of the five pillars, how they are related, the benefits, as well as give some effective methods of teaching phonics and phonemic awareness. It will continue by addressing the relationship between reading assessment and instruction and end by identifying ways to address the needs and different learning styles of a student. This paper will start by looking at a definition of phonics and phonemic awareness, then move onto the role that each play in learning to read, how they are related, the benefits and effective methods of teaching both.

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.).

Fluency is an important key idea in reading.. Fluency means that students can read with at least 95% accuracy in identifying words and sounds. Fluency is important in reading because it will be used as a base in having students identify new words when reading. Fluency is not only important in reading, but in writing as well. When working with my tutee I have noticed that while she can read the text well, when it comes down to writing key words or vocabulary from the text she has trouble. She can correctly identify the sounds the word makes, but not spell them correctly. Fluency is important to master for new students, because then when they are reading new texts they can identify similar words and key phonemes.

Reading comprehension is the ability to read the text, process what you just read and then be able to understand what you read well enough to explain it to a fellow peer clearly and precisely. Reading comprehension is a link in the chain that is the five pillars of reading instruction. The first pillar being phonemes, second is phonics, third and fourth is fluency and vocabulary and finally the fifth is comprehension. It’s the caboose of the pillars you might say. While all of the pillars are vital to the ability to read I’ve witnessed many children able to read efficiently and fluently, but not able to explain what they just read. Those children did not suffer from ADHD, and if some of them struggled with comprehension it makes you assume that kids with diagnosed ADHD will most likely have an even harder time. According to Kaprea Johnson, “The ability to read and comprehend is a major milestone in a child’s life and has long standing effects throughout the lifespan” (Johnson, 2013, p. 98). With that being said, the importance of reading comprehension is pretty clear.

Even though students reached the fluent reading level, it doesn’t mean that reading instruction is no longer necessary. In contrary, individuals are constantly learning new words, learning how to apply those words into their own world experiences. Hence, reading instruction is a never-ending process. Some fluent “readers have yet to learn how to adjust their reading rate or are unaware that other readers adjust their rate to match their purpose for reading. Because these readers read everything at the same rate, they struggle to complete and comprehend lengthy reading” (Tompkins, 2017). In order to continue to support fluent readers, teachers can utilize some effective accuracy and fluency strategies. For instance, one example is to compare the process of reading with cars;

Reading is believed to be an easy task, something we all learning and develop through the years as we grow, however, is it really that simple? To reading and understanding are both essential when a student begins to read. It is a complex action that requires a multitude of different actions/components, all working at the same time, to become a successful reader. The components that are pertinent to reading are: comprehension, oral language, phonological awareness, phonics, fluency and vocabulary. Without these components, reading may very well be irrelevant because it does not make sense to read and not understand what is being transmitted/relayed. According to the National Reading Panel (NRP), “a combination of techniques is effective for

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

Learning to read is one of the most foundational skills needed for educational success. As children learn to read they develop the ability to decode, interpret, and store information from what they are reading. Reading comprehension allows a child to gain meaning from text and decoding allows a child to process sounds into words. Reading is vital to educational success because it allows a student to learn new information and build upon their prior knowledge. Students who attain reading skills are more likely to achieve academic success while students who have reading difficulties are likely to struggle academically and fall behind their peers. Reading difficulties have been prominent within the US for years. For example, the most recent National Assessment of Educational Progress statistics shows that only about 33% of fourth graders are at or above proficient at reading (National Center for Educational Statistics, 2011). Studies show that the cause of reading difficulties is based primarily on genes, environment, and instructional experience (Vellutino, Fletcher, Snowling, Scanlon, 2004). Students with a language learning disorder have difficulty comprehending spoken and written language thus making it difficult to learn new information. Children with reading disabilities are more likely to struggle during elementary school years as students are asked to think about what they read more critically. Speech language pathologists and teachers can help

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.