Mr. Lam is addressing fluency on multiple levels: modeling and demonstration, repeated readings and paired readings, teaching strategies for word recognition in context, and the embedding of formative assessment throughout the learning process. He...
Students need differentiated instruction to understand what is involved in fluency, strategies to develop fluency, and many opportunities to practice. Technology tools that foster marking text and making video and audio recordings can support the strategies described below.
Best Practices with Technology
Step 1: Provide Clear Explanations
- Explain that fluency means recognizing and pronouncing the words accurately; reading at the right level of speed for the purpose and level of text; and using the voice to express meaning (e.g., character, plot, tone), including pausing and phrasing in line with the punctuation.
- Explain to students that you will help them to use different strategies that will help them build fluency.
Ways to build fluency
- Read a lot online and offline, including books, e-books, websites, newspapers, and magazines.
- Repeat read some texts (or passages) to work on accuracy, expression, and rate.
- Learn techniques for reading aloud with expression, such as dramatic reading of character dialogue and pausing for suspense in a breaking news report.
- Learn strategies for decoding words in context.
- Monitor how well you understand what you read.
- Show students how to use online and offline tools to track their oral reading performance as a way to set goals and show improvement.
View evidence behind this recommendation
IES Recommendations
Provide explicit vocabulary instruction
Evidence:
Strong
Source: IES Practice Guide: Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices
Provide direct and explicit comprehension strategy instruction
Evidence:
Strong
Source: IES Practice Guide: Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices
Teach students how to use reading comprehension strategies
Evidence:
Strong
Source: IES Practice Guide: Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade
Step 2: Give Students Strategies and Models
- Model fluent and expressive reading daily by taking advantage using audiobooks, e-books, online videos, and podcasts.
- Model how to address different types of oral reading issues, stopping to think aloud about what isn’t working right and then trying again.
Ways of addressing oral reading issuesIf the student is reading:
- slowly and in a boring monotone, then increase rate and add dramatic expression.
- too fast without pausing for punctuation, then slow down and pause appropriately at punctuation.
- at the right speed and accuracy but without expression, then vary your voice to communicate the character, plot, and tone of the text.
- with without stopping to self-correct miscues, then use self-monitoring and word recognition strategies to self-correct.
- without understanding, then think aloud about how to draw on textual information and prior knowledge.
- Demonstrate and model how students can self-assess fluency by using a graph or qualitative checklist to monitor and improve expressive reading, creating a video podcast showing the self-assessment process, and posting podcasts on the class website and inviting feedback.
View evidence behind this recommendation
IES Recommendations
Teach students to identify and use the text’s organizational structure to comprehend, learn, and remember content.
Evidence:
Moderate
Source: IES Practice Guide: Improving Reading Comprehension in Kindergarten Through 3rd Grade
Teach students how to use reading comprehension strategies
Evidence:
Strong
Source: IES Practice Guide: Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices
Step 3: Provide Opportunities for Practice
- Teach students how to select texts that are at the appropriate instructional or independent level, depending on the fluency goal.
Helping students select appropriate texts
- If the text is for repeated reading, choose a text that is worth rereading.
- Vary the type of text to include fiction, poetry, and informational text.
- Comics and graphic novels are good for expressive reading.
- Provide struggling readers with options for assisted reading and paired reading (reading aloud together, alternating reading, echo reading). Students can work with an older student reading buddy, special education teacher, literacy specialist, or adult volunteer.
- Use technology tools to engage students in performing text. Introduce technology by showing videos of students performing choral readings and readers’ theater. Have students audiotape and/or videotape while practicing so that they can see and hear what needs to be improved before performing for an audience. Post final performances on the school website.
View evidence behind this recommendation
IES Recommendations
Teach students how to use reading comprehension strategies
Evidence:
Moderate
Source: IES Practice Guide: Improving adolescent literacy: Effective classroom and intervention practices
Discover Lessons in Action:
Fluency #2: Create Fluency Logs
Resource Type: Lesson in Action
Ms. Talt’s 2nd grade class has been engaged in repeated readings. In this lesson, students will create a My Fluency Log PowerPoint slide and audio record repeated readings of the same text, leading to a group discussion.
Fluency #3: Formative Assessment
Resource Type: Lesson in Action
Mr. Mepp is working with his 2nd grade class to help them with fluency, so he has introduced repeated reading and fluency logs. In this lesson, students will create a My Fluency Log PowerPoint slide and audio record repeated readings of the same...
Watch Our Quick View Technology Videos:
Quick View: Captioning
(Get More Info)
Resource Type: Quick View
Captions can provide struggling readers with additional print exposure, improving foundational reading skills. In a typical classroom, a teacher may find many students who are struggling readers, whether they are beginning readers, students with...
Quick View: Embedded Supports to Differentiate Instruction for Struggling Students
(Get More Info)
Resource Type: Quick View
To ensure that your students are college and career ready, you may need to incorporate a variety of supports into your English Language Arts (ELA) instruction, including Universal Design for Learning (UDL), explicit instruction of evidence-based...
Quick View: Improving Fluency with Technology - Assisted Reading
(Get More Info)
Resource Type: Quick View
Fluency is reading with accuracy, speed, and understanding. Students who struggle with fluency may read slowly, in a monotone, ignoring punctuation, or in choppy start-and-stop rhythms. Support these students with tools that allow for repeated...
Quick View: Improving Fluency with Technology - Repeated and Performance Reading
(Get More Info)
Resource Type: Quick View
Fluency is reading with accuracy, speed, and understanding. Students who struggle with fluency may read slowly, in a monotone, ignoring punctuation, or in choppy start-and-stop rhythms. Support these students with tools that allow for repeated...
Quick View: Using Multimedia to Support Reading in Social Studies
(Get More Info)
(Watch the Video)
Resource Type: Quick View
As students advance to upper elementary grades, there is a shift from "learning to read" to "reading to learn", particularly with regard to content-area reading in history, social studies, and science. Students are expected to read primary and...
Quick View: Using Multimedia to Support Reading Instruction
(Get More Info)
Resource Type: Quick View
Part of preparing students to become college and career ready involves helping them become adept at integrating and evaluating information in a variety of different media formats. To help students become comfortable with multimedia, it is useful to...
- 1 of 2
- next ›
Review the Research:
Effectiveness of reading and mathematics software products: Findings from two student cohorts—Executive Summary (NCEE 2009-4042)
Resource Type: Research
A 2003 design effort by ED working with educational technology and research experts recommended focusing the study on software products used to support reading and math instruction. The study team set up a competitive process and worked with ED to...
Fostering the development of vocabulary knowledge and reading comprehension through contextually-based multiple meaning vocabulary instruction
Resource Type: Research
The purpose of this study was to test the effects of vocabulary instruction, using words with multiple meanings (i.e., contextually-based multiple meaning vocabulary instruction), on the vocabulary and reading comprehension of students. Over a three...
Research on Reading Practices
Resource Type: Bibliography
The PowerUp WHAT WORKS Team at the Center for Technology Implementation, has conducted extensive reviews of the literature on the teaching reading. View our bibliography for a collection of references on evidence-based reading practices.
The effects of instruction using semantic mapping on vocabulary and comprehension
Resource Type: Research
The study compared the effectiveness of semantic mapping and context clues on students’ vocabulary and comprehension. In the semantic mapping group, the students learned new words using related known words. In the context clue group, students...
The effects of strategy instruction on the comprehension performance of at-risk students
Resource Type: Research
The study examined the effects of two interventions on improving student reading comprehension. The first intervention was strategy instruction. In this condition, students were taught how to strategically use their knowledge of text structure...
Using graphic organizers to improve at-risk students’ reading comprehension of expository text
Resource Type: Research
The study employed a randomized controlled trial design to examine the effectiveness of using student-completed or researcher-completed graphic organizers on students’ comprehension of expository text. The intervention was given 30 minutes a day,...