Planning for Student Needs: Fluency Intervention

January 15, 2009Toni Wilson

Primary Literacy Project2nd/3rd Grade

OutcomesUnderstand the importance of reading fluency.

Be able to diagnose the underlying causes of a student’s lack of fluency.

Be able to prescribe an instructional plan for improving fluency.

Comprehensive Definition:Fluency

“Reading fluency refers to efficient, effective word recognition skills that permit a reader to construct the meaning of a text. Fluency is manifested in accurate, rapid, expressive oral reading and is applied during, and makes possible, silent reading comprehension.”

(Pikulski & Chard, 2005)

Hasbrouck & Tindal Norms (2004)Not too different from 1992 norms.

50 %ile:

1992 20042nd Gr: 94 wcpm 893rd Gr: 114 1074th Gr: 118 1235th Gr: 128 139

Factors that might potentially influence oral reading rate (Torgesen, 2004)

1. Proportion of words in text that are recognized as “sight words.”

2. Speed with which sight words are processed - affected by practice or individual differences in basic processing speed.

3. Speed of processes used to identify novel or unknown words -- phonetic decoding, analogy, context.

4. Speed with which word meanings are identified.

5. Speed at which overall meaning is constructed

6. Individual choices about the trade-off between speed and accuracy

Ehri’s Phases of Word Reading

Pre-Alphabetic Partial-Alphabetic

Fully-Alphabetic Consolidated Alphabetic

Prealphabetic PhaseWhen a child recognizes the word

“monkey” by looking at the ‘tail’ on the ‘y’.

When a child says “that says stop!” when they see a red octagonal traffic sign, but cannot read the word ‘stop’ in isolation.

Partial Alphabetic PhaseChildren begin to understand that

there is a relationship between letters and sounds, although they tend to rely on beginning and ending sounds so they continue to make errors in reading words.

Fully Alphabetic PhaseStudents are able to sound out words

successfully. They know the sound-symbol connections and move from guessing a word from the first or last letter in the partial alphabetic phase, to complete word decoding sound by sound. When they see the same word more than a few times, then that word becomes automatically recognized. As more and more words become “sight” words, students move into the Consolidated Alphabetic Phase.

Building sight word memory with spelling patternsReaders learn that words share

spelling patterns. For example, common vowel-consonant endings such as –ight and –eak.

They can form connections between 4 written and spoken syllabic units, IN-TER-EST-ING, rather than 10 graphophonemic units. (Ehri, 2004)

Moving toward the Consolidated PhaseThe fastest and least intrusive

way to read text is reading words from memory by sight. Readers read them without effort – automatically. The strength of this automatic learning can be shown with the Stroop effect.

Stroop Test

Consolidated Alphabetic PhaseStudents instantly recognize words. And they

are developing instant recognition of common word patterns which increases their sight word vocabulary. For example, in the word ‘bank’, a student in the consolidated phase may understand the word as ‘b’ plus ‘ank’, processing only 2 units. In the Fully Alphabetic phase, the student sounds out ‘bank’ as 4 units (/b/ /a/ /ŋ/ /k/).

Students in the consolidated phase are well prepared to move into fluent reading. However, as they increase their sight word skills, they must also develop vocabulary.

9 Steps to Building Fluency1. Develop orthographic/phonological

foundations (phonemic awareness, letter knowledge, phonics).

2. Increase vocabulary and oral language skills.

3. Effectively teach high-frequency vocabulary and provide adequate practice.

4. Teach common word-parts and spelling patterns.

(Pikulski, J.J., & Chard, D.J. (2005). Fluency: Bridge between decoding and reading comprehension. The Reading Teacher, 58 (6), 510-519.

9 Steps to Building Fluency (2)5. Effectively teach decoding skills and

provide adequate practice.6. Provide students with appropriate texts

to assist in building fluent reading.7. Use guided oral repeated reading

strategies for struggling readers.8. Support, guide and encourage wide-

reading.9. Implement appropriate screening and

progress monitoring assessments.

(Pikulski & Chard, 2005)

Speed Drills Students can begin doing speed drills as

soon as they are reading a couple of words. You can make a speed drill with just 3-4 words (e.g., the, at, am) if a student is struggling with blending and can’t really read yet.

For other students, consider drills with word families (such as the –am, -at, -ame, -ate lists.

Or change the ending consonant in a speed drill (e.g., man, mat, map, mad).

Rate is usually 50-120 words per minute. (from Fischer, Concept Phonics. Oxton

House)

To Be a Fluent Reader:A child must be able to recognize most

of the words in a passage “by sight”;A child must correctly pronounce

words 5-10 times before they become “sight words”;

A child must make accurate first guesses when they encounter new words, or the growth of their sight word vocabulary will be delayed – they will not become fluent readers.

Torgesen, 2003

Phrasing and Chunking Text (from Hook, 2001)

Students who read word-for-word may benefit initially from practicing phrasing with the alphabet rather than words since letters do not tax the meaning system.

The letters are grouped, an arc is drawn underneath, and students recite the alphabet in chunks (e.g., ABC DE FGH IJK LM NOP QRS TU VW XYZ). Once students understand the concept of phrasing, it is recommended that teachers help students chunk text into syntactic (noun phrases, verb phrases, prepositional phrases) or meaning units until they are proficient themselves.

Text can be formatted for the student or the student may write the phrases on an erasable sheet. There are no hard and fast rules for chunking but syntactic units are most commonly used.

Chunking and PhrasingHook, 2001

Once upon a time / in a land far, far, away / there lived / a beautiful princess.

Chunking and Paired Reading Pair readers (more proficient readers with

less proficient readers)Select passage at the instructional level of

less proficient readerPrepare passage by taking sentences and

placing slash marks between phrases such as: The fast horse/ won the race.

Model the phrasing for all students first.Have students take turns reading aloud the

chunked passages.(U. of Texas Center for Reading and Language Arts)

Wide-Reading and Fluency-oriented Oral Reading

Kuhn study (04-05). Second grade students in 4 groups of 6 students each reading at or below first-grade level (QRI).

Wide reading (w/echo and choral reading), fluency-oriented oral reading (FOOR), listening, and control.

Wide reading and FOOR outperformed other 2 groups in prosody and word recognition.

Wide reading outperformed all groups on comprehension. Wide reading group read 18 texts and FOOR group read 6. Listening group heard 18 texts.

Echo Reading

Give students copies of instructional-level texts.

Explain that you will read some of the text, and students will then ‘echo read’ the same text, modeling your rate and exression. Read 2-4 sentences. Then, pause for them to echo read, then read 2-4 more sentences.

You can tape the 2-4 sentence sections, or have a student serve as the model reader.

(from National Institute for Literacy, 2001)

Choral ReadingCopies of instructional level passages.Give students copies of texts.Model the task by reading the first

part of the text out loud. Set the pace and read with proper pacing, phrasing and expression.

Read the same part of the text again and have students read along with you.

(Vaughn, Linan-Thompson, 2004. Research-based methods of reading instruction, grades K-3. Alexandria, VA: ASCD.)

Partner Reading

Prepare copies of short texts at the level of the less proficient reader’s level.

Pair more proficient readers with less proficient readers.

Model and explain partner reading procedures.

Assign roles and have students take turns reading. Student A reads for 1 min. and Student B reads along. Then, Student B reads aloud the same text for one minute.

You can have students chart their rate and accuracy.

(from U. Texas, Center for Reading and Language Arts)

Readers Theatre - CautionToo often, children who need the

most practice with guided oral repeated reading are given the fewest words to learn in Readers Theatre because they struggle so much. It is a time consuming activity.

Consider whether there are more efficient ways to improve fluency.

Read NaturallyComputerCD or tapeGroup Model

Parent SupportForms on Santa Maria Bonita siteReading logs

Implement appropriate screening and progress monitoring assessments.

•Use running record conventions on Oral Text Reading.

• Informally assess using other passages.

Other Ideas?