Reading Fluency Tool

Scientific Base

Fluency, the ability to read text quickly and accurately with appropriate expression and phrasing, is a major key to comprehension. Studies show that lack of fluency is one of the areas that has contributed to low literacy rates in our schools (National Reading Panel, 2000).

Students achieve fluency, in part, through automaticity; automatic word recognition is one of the results of repeated exposure to text. At the same time that ongoing exposure to text makes students more fluent, it also empowers them to extend their independent exposure. As they peruse additional text, the cycle of skill improvement continues: they develop automaticity and an ever-increasing vocabulary.

The National Reading Panel found that while fluency is critical to reading comprehension, it is “often neglected in the classroom,” with a deleterious effect on comprehension. (National Reading Panel, 2000) The Panel’s research on efficacy of reading practice determined that two approaches are typically used in classrooms. One of these approaches is Independent Silent Reading, a classroom practice that develops a lifelong habit of independent reading as a leisure time activity as well as a dependable resource for gaining information. Independent Silent Reading (ISR), also known as Sustained Silent Reading (SSR), is based on the recognition that literacy, particularly lifelong literacy, is best attained “when engaged readers possess multiple skills that enable them to read independently and comprehend what they read” (Morrow, 2002).

The second instructional approach advocated by the National Reading Panel is guided repeated oral reading. Readers’ Theatre is a highly motivational activity for introducing guided repeated oral reading into the classroom. Readers’ Theatre helps to develop fluency (Blau, 2001; Rasinski, 2003b; Martinez, Roser, & Strecker, 1999; Broaddus & Worthy, 2001). Readers’ Theatre is a choral reading strategy that uses scripts of poems, plays, and children’s literature to create classroom performance. Not only does it allow students to experiment with expression and intonation, but students “are also given the opportunity to reflect on the text and to evaluate and revise how they interact with it” (Carrick, 2000).

Readers’ Theatre is an effective fluency-building activity because students engage in repeated readings while perfecting their parts. While struggling readers in particular may resist reading anything more than once, the motivation of participating in a performance with peers, and the opportunity to practice for that performance, can eliminate such hesitations (Tyler & Chard, 2000).

Why is Readers’ Theatre an effective tool for building reading skills? The National Reading Panel notes that a student’s recall and comprehension are impeded if “text is read in a laborious and inefficient manner.” Readers’ Theatre offers an already popular solution to a serious need for fluency interventions. Readers Theatre has the potential for a positive impact on fluency and thereby for reading comprehension.

The Readingpen assists in developing fluency in oral reading, easily and fluidly. Because it highlights text as it reads it aloud and provides definitions of unfamiliar words, students who use the Readingpen can focus on meaning rather than decoding. Readers who use the pen can recognize words accurately and automatically. This simple, easily accessible technology can help students achieve fluency.

The Readingpen is a valuable tool for students and teachers who are working to achieve national, state, and local reading standards. Table 1 details the reading fluency conclusions of the National Reading Panel and the ways in which the Readingpen provides support for fluency. Table 2 provides a representative state’s standards (Texas) and the areas of the standards that the Readingpen facilitates.

Table 1: National Reading Panel (2000) Fluency goals and the Readingpen

Table 2
TEKS English Language Arts and Reading, Fluency Standards and the Readingpen

The two scenarios that follow illustrate ways the Readingpen can be incorporated into ongoing classroom reading instruction.

Scenario #1: Readers’ Theatre/Repeated Readings

An important element of reading fluency is the reading and re-reading of decodable text. In a fifth-grade classroom, the teacher utilizes Readers’ Theatre to help improve his students’ reading fluency. Mr. R. is concerned that a group of six struggling readers will not be able to participate fully in the class Readers’ Theatre lessons and will experience anxiety during this activity. Therefore, to address his students’ needs, Mr. R. creates a learning center for these six students, equipped with the Readingpen and copies of the upcoming Readers’ Theatre passages.

Mr. R.’s students go to the learning center and use the Readingpen to practice reading the passages. The Readingpen provides immediate and personal assistance to the students, because it can read sentences aloud for the students. Students can use the Readingpen to read, listen, and re-read the passages as many times as they like. This repeated reading of passages improves their fluency and helps prepare them to participate with their classmates in the Readers’ Theatre activity.

Scenario #2: Independent Silent Reading

An important element in reading fluency is reading for enjoyment and developing a positive attitude toward reading. Using the Readingpen, students can self-select books in their personal areas of interest for independent reading.

In Ms. L.’s third-grade class, eight students are provided with the Readingpen and headsets to use during Independent Silent Reading. The Readingpen helps these students feel confident, relaxed, and motivated—important contributing factors to developing reading fluency and finding pleasure in reading. Because the Readingpen enables them to find meanings and pronunciations of unfamiliar words, they are empowered to read texts in areas of interest that may be beyond their current independent reading level.

Ms. Lawson uses the Readingpen to support her students’ learning further by sending it home with them. Thus, she enables them to continue ISR time at home. The Readingpen helps these students enjoy reading and feel a sense of independence, both at school and at home.

These two scenarios, and the research and standards upon which these practices are based, illustrate how current classroom reading activities focused on fluency can be enhanced through the use of the Readingpen.

Appendix A: Pen Features and Specifications

Built in Text-to-Speech technology provides immediate word-by-word pronunciation of a scanned English word or full line of text.

Pen Scanning Language: English

Recognizes 6-22 point font size text (bold, italic, underlined, inverted).

Voice: The product's built-in Text-to-Speech technology provides immediate word-by-word pronunciation of a scanned English word or full line of text.

Size: ergonomic 6 inches x 1 1/2 x 1, lightweight three ounces.

Built in Text-to-Speech technology pronounces scanned English words aloud.

Optical character recognition at 97% (based on standard font and size average).

Appendix B: References

Blau, L. (2001). 5 Surefire strategies for developing reading fluency. Instructor, 110, 28–30.

Broaddus, K., & Worthy, J. (2001). Fluency beyond the primary grades: From group performance to silent, independent reading. The Reading Teacher, 55, 335.

Carrick, L.U. (2000). The effects of Readers Theatre on fluency and comprehension in fifth grade students in regular classrooms. Unpublished doctoral dissertation. Lehigh University. Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

Flood, J., Lapp, D., & Fisher, D. (2002). Reading comprehension instruction. In J. Flood, D. Lapp, J.R. Squire, & J.M. Jensen (Eds.), Handbook on research in teaching the English language arts (2nd ed.). Mahwah, NJ: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

Martinez, M., Roser, N. L., & Strecker, S. (1999). “I never thought I could be a star”: A Readers Theatre ticket to fluency. The Reading Teacher, 4, 32–334.

Morrow, L.M. (2002). Motivating lifelong voluntary readers. In J. Flood, D. Lapp, J.R. Squire, J.M. Jensen (Eds.), Handbook of research on teaching the English language arts. (2nd edition). New Jersey: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.

National Center for Technology Innovation. (2004). The Reading Matrix. www.nationaltechcenter.org

National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Washington, DC: National Institute of Health (NIH Pub. No.00-4754).

National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. Reports of the subgroups. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, Public Health Service, National Institutes of Health, National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. NIH Pub. No. 00-4754.

Rasinski, T. (2003). The Fluent Reader: Oral reading strategies for building word recognition, fluency, and comprehension. Reader's Theater, (pp. 104-109). New York: Scholastic Professional Books.

Rasinski, T., Padak, N., Linek, W., & Sturtevant, E. (1994). Effects of fluency development on urban second-grade readers. Journal of Educational Research, 87, 158-165.

Tyler, B. & Chard, D. J. (2000). Focus on inclusion: using readers theatre to foster fluency in struggling readers: a twist on the repeated reading strategy. Reading and Writing Quarterly, 16, 2.