Check out this blog to learn more about reading fluency and how to develop it.
Fluency defined...
Professor Tim Rasinski has defined fluency as the ability to read accurately, quickly, expressively, with good phrasing, AND with good comprehension. He states that it is not enough for readers to read the words in text accurately—they need to read the words automatically. LaBerge and Samuels (1974) posited that all readers have a limited amount of attention, or what I have come to call cognitive energy. If they have to use too much of that cognitive energy to decode the words in text, they have little remaining for the more important task in reading—comprehension.
Read Tim Rasinski's full article here - Why Reading Fluency Should be Hot
Christopher Such, author of 'The Art and Science of Teaching Primary Reading, explains that reading fluency can be thought of as consisting of three elements: automaticity, accuracy and prosody (i.e. fluent readers read quickly, easily and with the patterns and rhythm of spoken language). He explains that reading fluency is an important – and, in his experience, under taught – step between phonics and reading comprehension.
Read Christopher Such's full article here - I was bad at teaching reading – but then I found a better way - Teachwire
Research carried out by and for the Education Endowment Foundation summarises reading fluency here:
The ability to apply and identify the correct pronunciation of written words immediately and without conscious effort.
It involves smoothly and effortlessly decoding words while also comprehending and interpreting the text.
Fluent readers demonstrate automaticity in recognising words, allowing them to focus on comprehension and deeper understanding of the content.
Reading fluency can be defined as reading with accuracy, automaticity and prosody. When pupils read fluently, their cognitive resources can be redirected from focusing on decoding and onto comprehending a text. For this reason, fluency is sometimes described as a bridge from word recognition to comprehension.
How can we develop reading fluency?
One helpful document we can use to begin to answer this question is the The reading framework. It explains that we need to think of fluency as progressive. Our children are on a journey to becoming fluent readers in a range of genres.
The first step being accuracy Children need to be taught how to accurately decode words initially by saying the sounds and blending them together to read the word. Most children will need to do this several times before they develop the ability to read the word accurately at a glance.
Pupils learn to read at a glance or with automaticity more easily if, when they first read the word by saying the sounds and blending them, they know what the word means. This means that the written word is a symbol for a known spoken word. A child is therefore more likely to read the word dog with automaticity more quickly than the word cog.
Once a child can read the majority of words at a glance then they are able to attend to developing prosody. Children can learn how to read with prosody by listening to an adult explicitly model and discuss this. High quality reading aloud from adults is key. In addition to this children need to practice prosody aloud themselves a number of times. Repeated reads of the same text have shown to have a positive impact on fluency and comprehension. Teachers can provide children with fluency support through a range of assisted reading techniques such as echo reading, choral reading, mumble reading.
I recommend checking out the EEF's section on their website for more evidence based fluency practice here - Fluency | EEF
How and why we should assess reading fluency
Ensure to analyse the fluency parts of your Systematic Synthetic Phonics (SSP) programme assessments. This can highlight whether more practice is needed with reading words at a glace or if more time is needed to practice fluency of passages.
Professor Tim Rasinski suggests a couple of ways that we can access children's fluency that help us gain an insight into where children are at on their progressive journey to reading fluency.
Listening to children read an age appropriate text and record how many words they read accurately can help identify and track the progress of children with poor fluency.
Listening to children read and placing them on a fluency rubric
When listening to children read think carefully about the following questions:
Do pupils need more explicit fluency instruction?
Do pupils need more planned opportunities to practise fluency?
Do pupils need more specific feedback on how to improve fluency?
Are pupils struggling due to underlying weaknesses in decoding letters into sounds?
If you would like to learn more about teaching reading fluency we are thrilled to have booked Christopher Such for a virtual event in February 2025!
Reading Fluency: Theory into Practice
Virtual 3.45pm
February 13, 2025
Book your self a ticket by visiting the events page on our website here - Events - English Hubs
We hope to see you there!
For more information about us and our support go to English Hubs - St Wilfrid's English Hub (stwenglishhub.co.uk)