Hudson Lane Pullen Readingfluency 2005(1)

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702 2005 International Reading Association (pp. 702714) doi:10.1598/RT.58.8.1

R O X A N N E F. H U D S O NH O L LY B . L A N E

PA I G E C . P U L L E N

Reading fluency assessment andinstruction: What, why, and how?

Research has demonstrated the importance

of fluency in the development of reading

proficiency, and a variety of effective

methods for the assessment and instruction

of it have been developed.

R eading fluency is gaining new recognitionas an essential element of every readingprogram, especially for students who strug-gle in reading. Reading fluency is one of the defin-ing characteristics of good readers, and a lack of fluency is a common characteristic of poor readers.Differences in reading fluency not only distinguishgood readers from poor, but a lack of reading flu-ency is also a reliable predictor of reading com-prehension problems (Stanovich, 1991). Oncestruggling readers learn soundsymbol relation-ships through intervention and become accuratedecoders, their lack of fluency emerges as the nexthurdle they face on their way to reading proficien-cy (Torgesen et al., 2001; Torgesen, Rashotte,Alexander, Alexander, & MacPhee, 2003). Thislack of fluent reading is a problem for poor read-ers because they tend to read in a labored, discon-nected fashion with a focus on decoding at theword level that makes comprehension of the textdifficult, if not impossible.

The speed with which text is translated intospoken language has been identified as a majorcomponent of reading proficiency (Adams, 1990;Allington, 1983; Fuchs, Fuchs, Hosp, & Jenkins,2001; Hasbrouk & Tindal, 1992; Samuels,Schermer, & Reinking, 1992). Many strugglingreaders may not gain reading fluency incidentally

or automatically. In contrast to skilled readers, theyoften need direct instruction in how to read fluent-ly and sufficient opportunities for intense, fluency-focused practice incorporated into their readingprogram (Allinder, Dunse, Brunken, & Obermiller-Krolikowski, 2001). The National ResearchCouncil (Snow, Burns, & Griffin, 1998) recom-mended that reading fluency be regularly assessedin the classroom and effective instruction be pro-vided when dysfluent reading is detected. Despitethe importance of reading fluency and the need fordirect teaching (National Institute of Child Healthand Human Development [NICHD], 2000), it is of-ten neglected in reading instructional programs(Allington, 1983; Kameenui & Simmons, 2001).Teachers who are concerned about meeting theneeds of all students in their classrooms shouldconsider whether they know who their dysfluentreaders are and what types of instruction they planto provide for those readers.

What is reading fluency and why isit important?

Fluent reading comprises three key elements:accurate reading of connected text at a conversa-tional rate with appropriate prosody or expression(Hudson, Mercer, & Lane, 2000). A fluent readercan maintain this performance for long periods of time, can retain the skill after long periods of nopractice, and can generalize across texts. A fluentreader is also not easily distracted and reads in aneffortless, flowing manner.

The most compelling reason to focus instruc-tional efforts on students becoming fluent readers


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Reading fluency assessment and instruction: What, why, and how? 703

is the strong correlation between reading fluencyand reading comprehension (Allington, 1983;Johns, 1993; Samuels, 1988; Schreiber, 1980).Each aspect of fluency has a clear connection totext comprehension. Without accurate word read-ing, the reader will have no access to the authorsintended meaning, and inaccurate word reading canlead to misinterpretations of the text. Poor auto-maticity in word reading or slow, laborious move-ment through the text taxes the readers capacityto construct an ongoing interpretation of the text.Poor prosody can lead to confusion through inap-propriate or meaningless groupings of words orthrough inappropriate applications of expression.

Automaticity and working memory LaBerge and Samuels (1974) suggested that

there is a limited capacity of attention and work-ing memory in cognitive processing and that learn-ing one aspect of reading (word identification) to acriterion of automaticity frees the processing spacefor higher order thinking (comprehension).Attentional capacity is limited, so more resourcesare available for comprehension if word identifi-cation processes occur relatively effortlessly.Because comprehension requires higher orderprocesses that cannot become automatic, wordidentification must become the automatic process.The only other option (and the one most common-

ly attempted by beginning readers) is to switch at-tention rapidly back and forth from identifyingwords on the page to constructing meaning, thuslimiting the ability to do either one well.

Quick and effortless word identification is im-portant because when one can read words automat-ically, ones limited cognitive resources can beused for comprehension (e.g., NICHD, 2000), andmany times the differences in comprehension be-tween good and poor readers can be attributed todifferences in the level of automatic decoding(Perfetti & Hogaboam, 1975; Torgesen, 1986).

Fawcett and Nicholson (1994) hypothesized thatthe difficulties experienced by students withdyslexia are due to an underlying deficit in auto-maticity (i.e., processing speed deficits). Fluentreaders are better at seeing a word in a single eyefixation and do not need as many refixations or re-gressions. The placement and overlap of the eyefixations of fluent readers are more efficient than

those of less skilled readers. Faster readers alsomake shorter fixations, longer jumps between fix-ations, and fewer regressions than slow readers(NICHD, 2000).

Link between reading accuracy and reading proficiency

Word-reading accuracy refers to the ability torecognize or decode words correctly. Strong under-standing of the alphabetic principle, the ability toblend sounds together (Ehri & McCormick, 1998),and knowledge of a large bank of high-frequencywords are required for word-reading accuracy. Poorword-reading accuracy has obvious negative influ-ences on reading comprehension and fluency. Areader who reads words incorrectly is unlikely tounderstand the authors intended message, and in-

accurate word reading can lead to misinterpreta-tions of the text. In the 2002 Oral Reading FluencyStudy, conducted as part of the National Assessmentof Educational Progress (NAEP), researchers foundthat when children made errors that changed themeaning of the text, there was a more direct rela-tionship to reading comprehension than the errorsthat did not result in a change of meaning (NationalAssessment Governing Board, 2002). They alsonoted that errors that do not affect meaning are rare.

When words cannot be read accurately frommemory as sight words, they must be analyzed. Thus

it is important to teach word-identification strategies,such as decoding and use of analogy (Ehri, 2002),to figure out unknown words. Decoding is a sequen-tially executed process where the reader blendssounds to form words from their parts. This can takeplace by blending individual phonemes (beginningdecoding) or phonograms (a more advanced formof decoding; Ehri, 2002). In order to accurately de-code words, readers need to be able to accurately(a) identify the sounds represented by the letters orletter combinations, (b) blend phonemes, (c) readphonograms (common patterns across words), and(d) use both lettersound and meaning cues to de-termine exactly the pronunciation and meaning of the word that is in the text (e.g., knowing how to cor-rectly pronounce bow in two different sentences:The dog had a bow tied around her neck. The bowof the ship was tall). Instruction in all of these sub-processes is necessary for the first part of readingfluency: accurate word identification.


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reading rate, accuracy, and comprehension in-creased, so did their prosodic reading on practicedand unpracticed passages, but she could not deter-mine which caused the other. Pinnell et al. (1995)rated a representative sample of fourth graders ac-cording to a prosody scale. They found that higherlevels of prosody were associated with higherscores on the main NAEP reading proficiency scaleand concluded that decisions about the causal re-lationships are unclear. It is unclear whetherprosody is a cause or result of comprehension(Kuhn & Stahl, 2000) or if the relationship is re-ciprocal; however, it is clear that the amount of cor-rect expression indicates to a trained ear how muchthe reader comprehended the text.

Assessing reading fluency

Teachers need to listen to students read aloudto make judgments about their progress in readingfluency (Zutell & Rasinski, 1991). Systematic ob-servation helps assess student progress and deter-mine instructional needs. Teachers observingstudentsoral reading fluency should consider eachcritical aspect of fluent reading: word-reading ac-curacy, rate, and prosody. Table 1 provides a sum-mary of assessments for oral reading fluency,including standardized assessments and assess-ments for monitoring student progress.

Assessing accuracy Measurement of students word-reading accu-

racy can take numerous forms. Simply listening tooral reading and counting the number of errors per100 words can provide invaluable information forthe selection of appropriate text for various instruc-tional purposes for an individual or group of stu-dents. A running record and miscue analysis (Clay,1984, 1993) provides more detailed informationabout the students accuracy. Through careful ex-amination of error patterns, a teacher can determinewhich strategies the student is using and whichstrategies the student is failing to use. For exam-ple, observation of a students attempts to figureout an unknown word might yield evidence of phonemic blending, guessing based on context, ora combination of decoding and contextual analysis.These observations can provide information aboutareas in need of further instruction to improveword-reading accuracy.

Assessing rateContextual reading rather than reading words

in a list (Jenkins, Fuchs, van den Broek, Espin, &Deno, 2003) and oral reading rather than silentreading (Fuchs, Fuchs, Eaton, & Hamlet, 2000 cit-ed in Fuchs et al., 2001) were both found to be thebest measures of reading rate. Measuring readingrate should encompass consideration of both word-reading automaticity and reading speed in connect-ed text. Assessment of automaticity can includetests of sight-word knowledge or tests of decodingrate. Tests of decoding rate often consist of rapiddecoding of nonwords. Measurement of nonwordreading rate ensures that the construct being as-sessed is the students ability to automatically de-code words using soundsymbol knowledge.

Measurement of reading speed is most typical-

ly accomplished through timed readings. Timingsof a students reading of connected text allows ateacher to observe the number of words read cor-rectly and the number of errors made in a given timeperiod. Data from timed readings are usually record-ed on a timing chart (see Figure 1 for an example).

Timed readings (Samuels, 1979) can be used tomeasure and increase word-reading accuracy andpassage-reading rate. Timed readings are conductedusing books or passages the student has read beforethat are at an independent reading level (i.e., booksthe student can read with 95% accuracy or above).

To conduct timed readings, follow these steps:1. Record a baseline rate on a new passage by having

the student read the passage without knowing that heor she is being timed. The number of words read cor-rectly for that minute are recorded as the baseline.

2. Note the errors as the student reads. After thereading, discuss any errors and work on them byrereading the parts that were difficult or by doingword-study activities.

3. Set a goal for the next reading by asking the studentto read five or six more words, or maybe anotherline. The goal should be a reasonable one that canbe attained within the next few attempts. If the stu-dent made three or more errors in the first attempt,the goal may be to decrease the errors and keep thecorrect word per minute (CWPM) the same.

4. Record the goal on the graph with a highlighter.5. Time the student again for one minute and record

the CWPM and errors.6. Discuss the errors; set another goal and repeat the

process.



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7. Timings should be done at least three times perweek in order to build consistency.

8. When the student levels off and is no longer increas-ing the CWPM, it is time to select a new passage.

9. Select a new passage and begin the process againby taking a baseline reading.

10. Once students become familiar with the proceduresinvolved in timed readings, they can record theirown progress on the timing chart, record an audio-tape of their own oral reading and chart theirprogress, or work in pairs to listen and record thereading rate and accuracy of their peers.

The Reading Teacher Vol. 58, No. 8 May 2005706

TABLE 1Reading fluency assessments

Assessment Publisher Description

AIMSweb Standard Reading Edformation AIMSweb RAPs provide teachers with passagesAssessment Passages (RAPs) for quick but accurate formative assessment of

students oral reading fluency. Theseassessments are a Curriculum BasedMeasurement (CBM) system that is intended toassist teachers in making instructionaldecisions and monitoring student progress.RAPs have been field-tested and validated. TheAIMSweb system includes a Web-basedsoftware management system for datacollection and reporting.

Dynamic Indicators of Basic University of Oregon DIBELS contains a subtest of Oral ReadingEarly Literacy Skills (DIBELS) and Sopris West Fluency and Retell Fluency for students in the

first through third grades. The Oral ReadingFluency is standardized and individuallyadministered. Students read a passage aloudfor one minute. The number of correct wordsper minute is determined to provide the oralreading fluency rate. The Retell Fluency is ameasure of comprehension that accompaniesthe Oral Reading Fluency assessment.

Gray Oral Reading Test, PRO-ED The GORT-4 is a norm-referenced measure ofFourth Edition (GORT-4) oral reading performance. Skills assessed

include rate, accuracy, fluency (rate andaccuracy combined), comprehension, andoverall reading ability (rate, accuracy, andcomprehension combined).

National Assessment of National Center for Education The NAEP Fluency Scale provides a descriptiveEducational Progress (NAEP) Statistics (NCES) guide for oral reading performance based onFluency Scale the students naturalness of reading. The

students performance is rated on a four-pointscale, with emphasis placed on phrasing ofwords, adherence to syntax, and expressiveness(Pinnell et al., 1995). Accuracy and rate aremeasured and determined by calculating thecorrect words read per minute.

Reading Fluency Monitor Read Naturally The Reading Fluency Monitor is an assessmentby Read Naturally instrument that allows teachers to monitor

student progress. Fall, winter, and springadministrations are recommended. Grade-levelpassages are available for grades 18, as wellas a software program for reporting and recordkeeping.


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Assessing prosody A students reading prosody can be measured

only through observation of an oral reading of aconnected text. During the reading of a passage, ateacher can listen to the students inflection, expres-sion, and phrase boundaries. The following is a sim-ple checklist of oral reading prosody observation:

1. Student placed vocal emphasis on appropriate

words.2. Students voice tone rose and fell at appropriate

points in the text.

3. Students inflection reflected the punctuation in thetext (e.g., voice tone rose near the end of a question).

4. In narrative text with dialogue, student used appropri-ate vocal tone to represent characters mental states,such as excitement, sadness, fear, or confidence.

5. Student used punctuation to pause appropriately atphrase boundaries.

6. Student used prepositional phrases to pause appro-priately at phrase boundaries.

7. Student used subjectverb divisions to pause ap-propriately at phrase boundaries.

8. Student used conjunctions to pause appropriately atphrase boundaries.

A more quantifiable scale that provides a scorethat can be used to compare a student against himor herself across time or between students in a classor school can be found in Zutell and Rasinski(1991). Prosody in oral reading should signal read-ing comprehension of the reader and enhance lis-tening comprehension of the listener. That is,prosodic readers understand what they read andmake it easier for others as well.


FIGURE 1Timing chart


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Evidence-based instructionalmethods to develop fluency

Fluency instruction is not a reading program it-self, but it is part of a comprehensive reading pro-gram that emphasizes both research-basedpractices and reading for meaning. As teachersconsider integrating fluency instruction into thatprogram, questions often arise. Once they knowwho the students in their classrooms with fluencyproblems are, what should they do? There are sev-eral research-based general recommendations forhow to provide reading instruction to build fluen-cy with struggling readers. Research with average,struggling, and learning-disabled students indicatesthat teachers should take the following steps:

Model fluent oral reading (Blevins, 2001; Rasinski,

2003) using teacher read-alouds and as part of re-peated reading interventions (Chard et al., 2002).

Provide direct instruction and feedback to teach de-coding of unknown words, correct expression andphrasing, the return-sweep eye movement, andstrategies that fluent readers use (NICHD, 2000;Snow et al., 1998).

Provide oral support and modeling for readers(Rasinski, 2003) using assisted reading, choral reading,paired reading, audiotapes, and computer programs.

Provide students with plenty of materials at their in-dependent reading level to read on their own(Allington, 2000).

Offer many opportunities for practice using repeatedreadings of progressively more difficult text (Chard etal., 2002; Meyer & Felton, 1999; Rasinski, 2003;Samuels, 1979).

Encourage prosody development through cueingphrase boundaries (Rasinski, 2003; Schreiber, 1980).

Instructional methods primarilyfocused on rate and accuracy

Repeated readingsThe repeated readings technique (Samuels,

1979) has many different approaches that vary inlevels of support and emphasis on building speed.Repeated readings emphasizes practice as a wayof working on all of the areas of reading fluencyaccuracy, rate, and prosodyand is one of themost-studied methods for increasing reading fluen-

cy (Kuhn & Stahl, 2000; Meyer & Felton, 1999;NICHD, 2000).

Timed repeated readings. Samuels (1979) was thefirst to describe the repeated readings method that isused so often today. It consists of (a) selecting ashort passage at the students instructional level,(b) setting a rate criterion, and (c) having the studentread and reread the passage over time until the ratecriterion is reached. The oral reading rate is deter-mined by timing the student for one minute andthen counting how many correct words were read.Charting of the rate is recommended as a means of record keeping and of maintaining motivation withthe student (Figure 1). Timed repeated readings arethe basis for several methods available to developreading fluency. These methods, which focus onincreasing rate and accuracy, typically measure thenumber of words correctly read in one minute andinvolve the student in charting data. For example,Great Leaps Reading uses phonics timings to in-crease decoding automaticity, sight-phrase timingsto increase recognition of high-frequency words,and story timings to increase the rate of readingconnected text. (See Table 2 for more information.)In a study with middle school students, Great Leapswas found to have significant positive effects onreading achievement (Mercer, Campbell, Miller,Mercer, & Lane, 2000). Other timed reading pro-grams include Jamestown Timed Readings Plus,which includes both narrative and related exposito-ry passages, and QuickReads, which focuses onnonfiction text (Table 2).

Repeated readings with recorded models. Usingaudiotaped text to support repeated readings is anefficient method because it provides the studentwith a fluent model without requiring individualteacher assistance. In a comparison of assisted (au-diotape) and unassisted repeated readings,Dowhower (1987) found that both resulted in sig-nificantly higher word reading accuracy, compre-hension, fluency, and prosody. The assistedcondition seemed to affect prosody more than theunassisted. There are several methods of repeatedreadings with recorded models.

Most recorded books found in classroom lis-tening centers are designed for listening rather thanfor reading along. They are read too fast for strug-gling readers to keep up, and the addition of music



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TABLE 2Instructional resources for developing reading fluency

Program/resource Publisher Description

Carbo Recorded Books National Reading Styles Carbo Recorded Books are audiotaped literatureInstitute for children and adolescents. These materials

provide a resource for audio-assisted repeatedreading.

Great Leaps Reading Diarmuid, Inc. Great Leaps is a tutorial program for studentswith reading problems. Programs are availablefor students in Grades K12 and adults. In theK2 edition, fluency practice is provided forsound awareness, letter recognition, phonics,sight words and phrases, and stories. Theeditions for beyond grade 2 are divided intophonics, sight phrases, and reading fluency

Jamestown Timed Jamestown Education, Jamestown Timed Readings Plus is a programReadings Plus Glencoe/McGraw-Hill designed to help secondary struggling readers

increase their reading rate and fluency with400-word nonfiction passages followed byrelated fiction passages and comprehensionquestions.

Phonics Phones Crystal Springs Books Whisper phones or Phonic Phones are pieces ofPVC pipe elbows connected to form a telephoneshape. This shape amplifies the sound of thestudents voice, which focuses the studentsattention on reading and allows the student toevaluate prosody and rate.

QuickReads Modern Curriculum Press QuickReads is a reading fluency program forstudents in grades 24. The lesson requiresapproximately 15 minutes and includes shortnonfiction passages. The program has beenfield-tested and has shown positive effects onstudents reading fluency and comprehension.

Read-Along Radio Dramas Balance Publishing Company This program includes a recording of a radio playwith full cast and sound effects, a word-for-wordread-along script and annotated script of theoriginal story, and a variety of student activities.

Read Naturally Read Naturally Read Naturally is an individually paced programfor improving students reading fluency. Asoftware version is available that guidesstudents through lessons and tracks individualprogress. An audio version is also available onCD or cassette tape with accompanying passageblackline masters.

Soliloquy Reading Assistant Soliloquy Learning Soliloquy Reading Assistant is a softwareprogram designed to increase studentsopportunities for oral reading practice. Thecomputer guides the reader by highlighting thewords to be read and changing the color as theyare read correctly. If a student hesitates on aword too long, Soliloquy supplies the challengingword. The computer also prompts the student toreread a sentence if it was read with poorfluency and includes a progress-monitoringfeature that the student or teacher can use.


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or other sound effects can be distracting. Therefore,although a listening center may be useful for de-veloping skills such as listening comprehension,vocabulary, or sense of story, it is unlikely to im-prove reading fluency, especially for strugglingstudents. Marie Carbo developed a method of recording books that makes it possible for a devel-oping reader to read along with the recording.Carbo Recorded Books are recorded at a muchslower pace than listening center books, yet theymaintain the expression and inflection necessaryfor understanding (see Table 2). Using this method,Carbo (1981, 1992) reported reading gains amongstruggling readers. Thus, adding a read-along cen-ter to a classroom reading program can promotereading fluency.

Read Naturally (Table 2) is a repeated readingmethod that includes both audiotaped and comput-er models. Read Naturally combines supported oralreading and independent repeated reading. The stu-dent begins with a one-minute cold reading to theteacher or computer. Then, the student practicesreading the same passage three or four times whilelistening to a recorded fluent model. The studentthen continues independent practice without therecording. Finally, the student reads to the teacheror computer again. In the computer version, thestudent can receive feedback during the independ-ent reading by clicking on difficult words and not-ing where they stopped during each timed reading.Hasbrouk, Ihnot, and Rogers (1999) found encour-aging improvements in reading fluency from ReadNaturally with both beginning readers and strug-gling older readers.

Soliloquy Reading Assistant (Table 2) is a soft-ware program designed to increase students op-portunities for oral reading practice. Soliloquyemploys speech recognition software to recordwhat a student reads and to measure progress overtime and offers a variety of text genres, includingfiction, poetry, biographies, and folktales. AlthoughSoliloquy was developed on a solid research base,as of this writing, no studies of its effectivenesshave been published.

Common instructional questions related to developing reading rate

What type of text should I use? We recommendpracticing with text at an independent level

(95100% accuracy). We also suggest using rela-tively short passages, texts from a variety of genres,and text that is motivating to the individual student.The accuracy, speed, and expressiveness of poorreaders are more affected by text difficulty thanaverage readers (Young & Bowers, 1995), andmaking proper text selection is much more criticalwhen working with struggling readers. The numberof shared words facilitates transfer from practicedtext to unpracticed text (Dowhower, 1987; Rashotte& Torgesen, 1985). Rashotte and Torgesen foundthat passages that shared many of the same wordsled to transfer of training from repeated readingsto another passage.

How do I know when to move my student to anew passage? A question many teachers ask is

How fast should they have their students read?Another is How much progress should they ex-pect? These questions do not have definitive an-swers and depend on the students age, the type of text the student is reading, and the purpose forwhich he or she is reading. However, Howell andLorson-Howell (1990) suggested that fluency aimsbe determined by sampling the performances of successful students working in the target setting.Using similar reasoning, reading rates were estab-lished in norming studies designed to determinehow varying fluency rates related to levels of read-

ing achievement among large samples of students(Good, Simmons, & Kameenui, 2001; Hasbrouk & Tindal, 1992; School Board of Alachua County,1997). Recommendations from these studiesshould serve as a general guide for determining stu-dents goals for oral reading rate (Table 3).

Fuchs, Fuchs, Hamlett, Walz, and Germann(1993) suggested that an essential step in assess-ing reading fluency was to establish how muchweekly growth a teacher should expect. A standardfor weekly improvement helps teachers decidewhether a students rate of progress is sufficient orwhether an adjustment in teaching strategies isneeded. Using data from their norming study,Fuchs et al. (1993) suggested that on average, thefollowing are reasonable expectations for improve-ment among average, poor, and disabled readers:

First grade: 23 words per week increasein CWPM



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Second grade: 2.53.5 words per week increasein CWPM

Third grade: 13 words per week increasein CWPM

Fourth grade: .851.5 words per week increase

in CWPM

Is isolated word reading practice a good idea?Single-word training, either in a list or on flash-cards, appears to be valuable for helping strugglingreaders develop reading fluency. Several re-searchers (e.g., Levy, Abello, & Lysynchuk, 1997;Tan & Nicholson, 1997; van den Bosch, van Bon,& Schreuder, 1995) have found that with poorreaders, practice reading words in isolation led toimproved reading fluency in context; the practiceof the words generalized to textual reading.

Instructional methods focused onprosody

In addition to reading with recorded books,several methods have been designed with the spe-cific goal of improving prosody. These methods

emphasize how a students reading soundsits in-flection, expression, and phrasing.

Repeated reading practice for performance

Readers Theatre. Readers Theatre is a popularmethod of reading practice that can be a powerfulway to increase prosody. For Readers Theatre, theteacher creates scripts from selections of childrensliterature that are rich in dialogue. The teacher be-gins by reading aloud the story on which the scriptis based and leads a discussion of the charactersemotions and how they might sound at differentpoints in the story. Students then practice readingthe entire script before the teacher assigns roles.Rehearsing and performing the play for peers pro-vides an authentic purpose for rereading the textmultiple times. Readers Theatre can help studentsdevelop accuracy, rate, and prosody.

Radio reading. Radio reading is a variation of Readers Theatre for older students that adds soundeffects to make the performance sound like an old-time radio show. Groups of students can createrecorded versions of their radio shows that canbecome listening center readings for their class-mates. Students can even generate questions topose to listeners at the end of the recording. Radioreading reinforces the importance of prosody, be-cause so much information from the story must becommunicated through vocal variation. NationalPublic Radio has an old-time radio show calledTheatre of the Mind. From these radio shows, aninstructional program called Read-Along RadioDramas was developed. This program includes arecording of a radio play with full cast and soundeffects, a word-for-word read-along script, an an-notated script of the original story, and a variety of student activities (see Table 2).

Reader as fluent model

Self-recordings. Hearing ones own voice on au-diotape can be an eye-opening experience. Forstruggling readers, having the opportunity torecord, listen, and rerecord can be a powerfulmethod for increasing reading fluency. This ap-proach promotes independent judgment and goalsetting, along with ownership of the process.


TABLE 3Recommended reading fluency rates

in connected text

Grade Correct words per minute

First grade Winter 39Spring 4060

Second grade Fall 53Winter 7278Spring 8294

Third grade Fall 79Winter 8493Spring 100114

Fourth grade Fall 9099Winter 98112Spring 105118

Fifth grade Fall 105Winter 110118Spring 118128

Note . Adapted from Good, Simmons, & Kameenui (2001);Hasbrouk & Tindal (1992); and the School Board ofAlachua County (1997).


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Amplification. Whisper phones or phonic phonesare a low-tech method of amplifying ones ownvoice. Whisper phones are pieces of PVC pipe el-bows connected to form a telephone shape. Thisshape amplifies the sound of the students voice,but only to the student. The whisper phone alsomasks other extraneous noises for the distractiblereader. Whisper phones can be modified by twist-ing one end to form an S shape. With this modifi-cation, the whisper phone can be used for quietpartner reading. One student reads into the mouth-piece of the phone while the other student listens inthe other end.

Calling the readers attention to phraseboundaries

Appropriate placement of pauses around

phrase boundaries can contribute substantially tomeaning. For example, Rasinski (2003) used thefollowing example of a sentence that can conveymeaning or appear as a nonsensical string of words:The young man the jungle gym. Most readerspause after man , which results in nonsense. Bypausing after young , the reader can construct mean-ing from those words.

The concept of phrase boundaries can betaught by cueing pauses in text with slashes. Singleslashes represent shorter pauses, and double slash-es indicate longer pauses. Table 4 illustrates a pas-

sage cued for phrase boundaries.

Assisted reading methodsThere are several effective methods for im-

proving prosody through assisted reading with flu-ent models. For example, echo reading is atechnique in which the teacher reads a phrase orsentence and the student reads the same material

just behind him or her. In unison reading, theteacher and student read together, and in assistedcloze reading, the teacher reads the text and stopsoccasionally for the student to read the next word

in the text.

Explicit teaching of intonationBlevins (2001) suggested a variety of ways to

teach appropriate intonation. For example, studentscan be taught to recite the alphabet as a conversa-tion, using punctuation to cue inflection (e.g.,ABCD? EFG! HI? JKL. MN? OPQ. RST! UVWX.

YZ!). By reciting the same sentence using differentpunctuation (e.g., Dogs bark? Dogs bark! Dogsbark.), students learn the importance of punctuationto meaning. A similar activity, in which the stu-dent places stress on different words in the samesentence (e.g., I am tired. I am tired. I am tired .),emphasizes the importance of inflection.

An essential skillResearch has clearly demonstrated the signifi-

cance of fluency in the development of reading pro-ficiency, and a variety of effective methods forassessment and instruction of reading fluency havebeen developed. Opportunities to develop all threeareas of reading fluency are important for all read-ers, but teachers of struggling readers in particularmust recognize the importance of incorporating ex-plicit fluency-based instruction into their readingprograms. Reading fluency has long been ac-knowledged as an essential skill that proficientreaders need to have, and now is the time to focusattention on all areas to be developedaccuracy,rate, and prosodyfor truly effective, comprehen-sive reading instruction for all children.

Hudson teaches at Florida State University (227 N. Bronough St., Suite 7250, Tallahassee,FL 32301, USA). Lane teaches at the University of Florida in Gainesville, and Pullen teaches atthe University of Virginia in Charlottesville.

ReferencesAdams, M.J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning

about print . Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Allinder, R.M., Dunse, L., Brunken, C.D., & Obermiller-

Krolikowski, H.J. (2001). Improving fluency in at-riskreaders and students with learning disabilities. Remedialand Special Education , 22 (1), 4854.

Allington, R.L. (1983). Fluency: The neglected reading goal.The Reading Teacher , 36 , 556561.


TABLE 4Example of phrase boundaries

My favorite season / of the year / is summer.//I am so glad / we dont have school / in the summer.//I would rather / spend my time / swimming, / playing, /and reading.//


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Allington, R.L. (2000). What really matters for strugglingreaders: Designing research-based programs . Boston:Longman.

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