Strategic Reading InterventionA Proposal for Intervention for Struggling Middle School ReadersDaniel CoffinConcordia University, Nebraska

Submitted in partial fulfillment ofthe requirements for EDUC 565April 25th, 2015Portrait of a Disfluent ReaderWe have often encountered in the course of Language Arts instruction students who:require a much lower instructional level of text (1-2 years behind)are reluctant to read aloud in classread aloud at a slow pace, with irregular pauses, group words together inappropriately, and/or without appropriate expressiondo not seem to comprehend grade-level appropriate text after reading aloud.

It may be that these students weakness is not with comprehension per se, but with reading fluency.What is Fluency?Fluency can be characterized as the next step up from decoding and a precursor to comprehension, as seen in the graphic below (Huff, 2012).

Why Does Fluency Matter?The reading process requires two tasks: the reader must first recognize and make meaning of individual words (decoding). Secondly, the reader must make meaning of words grouped in sentences, paragraphs, and texts as a whole (comprehension) (Samuels, 2012, p. 5).

For a disfluent reader, reading is slow, inefficient and mentally-intensive because they must switch attention back and forth from decoding to making sense of what they decoded. This effort can preclude these struggling readers from applying the mental capacity necessary to make inferences, relate new information to background knowledge, and respond critically to text (Pikulsky & Chard, 2012, p. 2). Three Components of FluencyAs beginning readers continue to practice accurately decoding high-frequency words, the process of decoding these words becomes easier and easier to the point of automaticity. As the process of decoding becomes faster, easier, and less demanding mentally, the reader has greater mental resources to devote to making sense of words in context (Samuels, 2012, p. 5).

Is this context, then, which makes it apparent to readers how certain words and phrases should be understood and read aloud, enabling prosodic reading. Three Components of FluencyThe fluent reader understands that these following sentences, while similar in structure, should be read differently based on their context:

Oh, youre so smart! the teacher said, beaming at her student.Oh, youre so smart! the boy said, sneering at his sister.

One is genuine praise, the other is sarcasm, and both need to be read aloud with particular intonation and phrasing to make the meaning of the sentence clear. This reading with appropriate intonation, phrasing, and expression is prosody. Three Components of FluencyThese, then, are the three key components of reading fluency: accuracy, automaticity, and prosody. Readers learn first to accurately apply rules of phonics to make sense of individual words, then practice with decoding until it becomes automatic, at which point readers have the mental capacity to read with expression, intonation, and phrasing which is both indicative of and contributes to reading comprehension (Beers, 2003, p. 205; Paige, 2012, p. 63).

Fluent readers read with little conscious effort, devoting the majority of their cognitive capacity to making meaning of the text (Samuels, 2012, p. 5).Techniques for Fluency Instruction: Read-AloudsThe punctuation in written text in often insufficient to produce prosodic reading, and so readers are left to interpret on their own how an author intended their text to be read. Disfluent readers need modeling from experienced readers not only in reading expressively, but also in how to determine which sort of expression is appropriate for a given piece of text.

Read-alouds, incorporating repeated readings of a piece of text with varied expression and intonation to call attention to how expression changes the interpretation of text and teacher talk about strategies for determining appropriate expression, are a good way to provide disfluent readers with the guidance they need (Paige, 2012, p. 62-63).Techniques for Fluency Instruction: Paired ReadingJust like driving a car, fielding a ball, or any other complex task requires practice to done smoothly, correctly, and without conscious thought, so too do readers need practice reading fluently aloud, and lots of it (Beers, 2003, p. 205)!

Rather than engaging students in round robin reading (netting each of the 15 students in a class two minutes of oral reading practice in a 30 minute class and six hours of practice in a school year), students should be paired and each should read to the other (giving students 15 minutes of practice in a class and 45 hours of practice in a school year) (Shanahan, 2012, p. 27). Techniques for Fluency Instruction: Choral ReadingChoral reading, where a teacher and a group of students read a text aloud together, may help disfluent readers be more comfortable reading while also providing a model for fluent reading and tapping into the performance aspect of oral reading to generate student interest in reading (Paige, 2012, p. 63).

While the class read aloud, the teacher can move through the room to listen for miscues or mispronunciations and provide individual feedback to readers as needed after the reading (Paige, 2012, p. 66). Techniques for Fluency Instruction: Repeated ReadingRepeated reading, in which students reread the same section of text multiple times, gives students the opportunity to practice challenging text, each time building automaticity with difficult words and phrases and developing fluency with the text as a whole. Students wont just get really good at reading one particular selection aloud, as these benefits are transferrable to other text selections (Rasinski, 2010, p. 88-89).Techniques for Fluency Instruction: Performance ReadingPerformance reading, whether in the form of recorded student read-alouds, readers theatre, or poetry recitation, requires students to practice expressive reading, which promotes repeated reading (Rasinski, 2010, p. 116). Students like to perform, and readers theatre or poetry recitation are entertaining and motivating for students, particularly if they can perform for a real audience (Rasinski, 2010, p. 118). Techniques for Fluency Instruction: Chunking TextsAnother strategy to help build fluency is to provide students with modified text in which difficult words have been chunked, or broken into their constituent syllables, in order to provide students with cues for appropriate pronunciation (e.g. IN-ter-sti-tial for interstitial) (Pikulsky & Chard, 2003, p. 7).

This modification can be gradually phased out as readers grow in decoding accuracy. Techniques for Fluency Instruction: Vocabulary DevelopmentIn addition to reviewing word meaning when introducing new vocabulary terms, teachers should also explicitly teach pronunciation and spelling of new vocabulary words, to help reinforce patterns of spelling which will enable students to quickly recognize and decode the words (Samuels, 2012, p. 7).

Explicit instruction in Greek/Latin word parts can be beneficial as knowledge of how words work and specific roots and affixes can help students to unlock the meanings of words not yet taught (Beers, 2003, p. 187-188) and will reinforce the concept of chunking words into identifiable pieces. Assessing FluencyThere are three key aspects of oral reading to assess diagnostically, formatively, and summatively:

oral reading accuracy (Is the student decoding correctly?)oral reading rate (Is the student decoding quickly?)oral reading quality (Is the student reading with prosody?)

It is also important to ensure that students are reading with comprehension, as the ultimate goal for intervention is to support reading for meaning-making (Pikulsky & Chard, 2003, p. 8-9). Identifying Students and Implementing Strategic Reading InterventionIt is my proposal that we target all students one year or more behind in summer MAP Reading or Language Usage scores. Students in this population can be enrolled in Reading Intervention during the time frame typically reserved for DEAR. Students can be enrolled for the semester, with the potential to test out if supported by the winter MAP scores and ongoing fluency assessments.

Sustained silent reading is an important part of the curriculum, but if students are less likely to read independently anyway due to disfluency, then using the DEAR period for intervention would present less of an impact on the rest of the school schedule while still providing a valuable reading experience to students. Portrait of a Fluent ReaderStudents who successfully complete the program will:read 100-160 words correct per minute (WCPM). have automatic word-recognition skills.group words into meaningful phrases.read with meaningful expression.read accurately and self-correct when errors are made.understand and be able to critically respond to grade-level appropriate text.

In short, students will be able to read with little conscious effort, freeing them to focus on comprehending text (Denton, Vaughn, Wexler, Bryan, & Reed, 2012, p. 191). ReferencesBeers, K. (2003). When kids can't read, what teachers can do: A guide for teachers, 6-12. Portsmouth, NH: Heinemann.Denton, C.A., Vaughn, S., Wexler, J., Bryan, D., & Reed, D. (2012). Effective instruction for middle school students with reading difficulties: The reading teachers sourcebook. Baltimore, MD: Paul Brookes Publishing Co.Huff, E. (2012). Why should parents care about phonics instruction? Retrieved from http://goo.gl/fgAuBn.Paige, D. (2012). The importance of adolescent fluency. In Rasinski, T., Blachowicz, C., & Lems, K. (Eds.), Fluency instruction, second edition: Research-based best practices (pp. 55-71). New York, NY: Guilford.Pikulsky, J.J. & Chard, D.J. (2003). Fluency: the bridge from decoding to reading comprehension. Retrieved from http://goo.gl/llwvpZ. ReferencesSamuels, S.J. (2012). Reading fluency: Its past, present, and future. In Rasinski, T., Blachowicz, C., & Lems, K. (Eds.), Fluency instruction, second edition: Research-based best practices (pp. 3-16). New York, NY: Guilford.Shanahan, T. (2012). Developing fluency in the context of effective literacy education. In Rasinski, T., Blachowicz, C., & Lems, K. (Eds.), Fluency instruction, second edition: Research-based best practices (pp. 17-34). New York, NY: Guilford.Rasinski, T. (2010). The fluent reader: Oral and silent reading strategies for building fluency, word recognition & comprehension. New York, NY: Scholastic.