Fluency Education 573 University of Bridgeport Spring 2012

Fluency • Education 573 • University of Bridgeport • Spring, 2012 • Dr. S. Rosenberg

The Role of Fluency: It is the bridge between the ability to identify words and the ability to comprehend text. 64, 74 0006, 0007 Richer Vocabulary Fluency Automaticity Accuracy Identifying Words Practice Prosody Constructing Meaning

• Fluency is an important step in the development of good reading since those readers who are forced to pay most or all of their attention on word identification, have little or no ability to attend to the meaning of the text; Humans have limited capacity for attention.

Speech Fluency • What does it mean to be fluent in speech?

Fluency in Speech • Fluency is a speech and language pathology term that means the smoothness or flow with which sounds, syllables, words and phrases are joined together when speaking quickly.

Fluency in Reading • Fluency is a reading term that means the smoothness or flow with which sounds, syllables, words and phrases are joined together when reading quickly.

Conventional Definition of Fluency is defined as the ability to read text accurately, and rapidly with conversational prosody (expression; pitch, intonation, and stress).

Fluency in a Language • What does it mean to be fluent in a language?

Fluency in a Language • The ability to comprehend when it is spoken and the ability to communicate a message.

Fluency in Written Language • The ability to comprehend when it is read and the ability to communicate a message through writing.

Dr. Rosenberg’s Definition of Fluency • Since the goal of reading is comprehension, it may be better to add it to the definition of reading fluency; i. e. • Fluency is defined as the ability to read accurately, rapidly with comprehension and conversational prosody.

• Focusing only on fluent reading ignores the characterization of good readers as readers who preview and scan text before reading, use their background knowledge, stop and/or reread when they are confused and construct the meanings of the words, sentences and text as they read. • Such analysis of the text is not necessarily conducive to reading “fluently” as it is defined.

Oral Reading Fluency Rates Grade Percentile Fall WCPM Winter WCPM Spring WCPM 50 71 92 107 50 94 112 123 3 4

• Nevertheless, fluency (i. e. reading accurately, automatically and quickly) at the word level is a necessary prerequisite for allowing readers sufficient cognitive capacity to select and attend to the strategies that promote comprehension. • However, instruction that does not encourage comprehension of a text could send an unwanted message to the learner that fluent reading means “racing through” a text.

• Each process in learning to decode needs to be learned until the reader can do it automatically; i. e. accurately, effortlessly, rapidly, and unconsciously. – Letters have to be recognized and named automatically. – Letters have to be recognized and related to sounds automatically. – Written words have to be recognized and decoded automatically. – Written words have to be recognized and related to meanings automatically.

• Students can be provided with activities and games that increase their speed of letter recognition. • Students can be provided with activities and games that increase their speed of producing the appropriate sounds for letters and groups of letters (s, m, a, th, oa, igh, etc)

Students can be provided with activities to increase their speed of word recognition; i. e. Letter name cards Letter-sound cards Word Chaining: pot, hop, hit, etc. Heterogeneous lists for sorting: pot, bag, sip, ten, rug, etc. Board games Concentration games Letter, sound, and word activities at a center

• A a m t sh

a m t sh

Analogy/Families • sat tap flap • bat nap clap • cat lap snap • hat cap trap

a a ma fa ca fla mat fan can flat man fat cat mad fab cap flag flat

Early Alphabetic-Early Letter Name to Ø Ø Ø sat bag sap nap and Chaining 23

Word Sorts a i o tap man hot box bag fin job kiss top big

• Concentartation stove stop clock bone stop stove bone

Spelling Dictation: Sounds, Words, Sentences • Write letter(s) to represent sound(s). (Teacher says /sh/. Student writes (sh). • Students write words for spelling pattern(s) practice. • Students reread spelling to check for accuracy. • Spell words in a dictated sentence. 26

Suffix Endings • hunt ing • spin s • hat s ness rest spell ed (id) help ful ed (d) glad ly jump ed (t) sad

Suffix Endings • _ing _ ed _ful _s _ly • _ness

Syllable types/Spelling Patterns – a a–e ar oa

a–e oa ar

VC VCe stone shop trade step stand drop glide drip flag chase

• tan + fan + tic = _________ • der + kin + ten + gar = ________ First do with flash cards!

High Frequency Word Deck and/or Lists • • • was could want why your Flash cards and games

• When struggling readers received programs that emphasized phonemic awareness and phonics their decoding accuracy approached that of the ability of their peers, but their decoding was not fluent. • When kindergarten and grade one children were identified as being at risk for reading difficulties (but before experiencing failure) were provided systematic phonics instruction their reading fluency approached that of their peers in later elementary grades.

• Phrases need to be read and related to meaning automatically. (Phrase identification and reading can lead to appropriate of prosody): in the backyard the little, black puppy ran quickly Sentences need to be read and related to meaning automatically. Paragraphs have to be read and related to meaning automatically. Texts need to be read and related to meaning automatically.

Identifying words that tell “who, ” “what, ” or “where. ” in the kitchen where______ the baby who______ was crawling ________ a police officer ________ some children ________ at the beach ________ will do her homework ________

Identifying words that “where” and “when. ” tell Where? When? _____________________________________________ during the morning before the bridge at the beach before lunch in an hour between classes

Analyzing Sentences • Tom went to the park after school because he had soccer practice = + Who? ____________ + What? ____________ + Where? ____________ + When? ____________ + Why? ____________ Why

Text Comprehension • Narrative Macro Structure • • Characters Setting/Set up Initiating Event Internal Response Plan Events/Attempts Consequence Resoluton

Text Comprehension • Narrative Micro Structure • • Thinking verbs Linguistic verbs Feeling words Cohesive ties (additive, temporal, causitive, adversative) • Noun phrases • Verb phrases

• • • Expository/Informational Texts Macro-Structure Description Time Order Problem-Solution Comparison/Contrast Micro-Structure Additive cohesive ties (and, also, in addition) Temporal cohesive ties (first, then, next, after, finally) Causative cohesive ties (because, since, so) Advesitive cohesive ties (however, although, etc. )

Comprehension Strategies • Reading to make predictions • Reading to answering questions (literal and inferential) • Reading to generate questions • Reading to write retells/summaries • Re-rereading to clarify meaning

The ability to read fluently is developmental. For example, a second grade student may be able to read second grade texts fluently, but not third.

• Reading prosody may be the result of being able to read words rapidly and automatically. • Reading prosody (i. e. expression; pitch, intonation and stress) may be the result of comprehension. That is, a reader may only be able to read with expression if they are comprehending the text. • Prosody does not seem to be significantly related to comprehension either as a cause or as an effect.

Repeated Readings • Repeated and monitored oral reading improves overall reading achievement. • Repeated oral reading substantially improves word recognition, speed, accuracy and fluency and comprehension to a lesser degree.

Repeated Readings • The NRP concluded that reading fluency and comprehension (to a lesser degree) can be increased through repeated oral reading with teacher feedback and guidance. • *(These studies measured growth only on passages that were part of the instruction; transfer to novel passages was not measured. )

• Fluency is important for comprehension, but does not guarantee it. • The NRP was unable to conclude that wide reading promotes fluency. Although it is common sense that wide reading would contribute to fluency, the relevant studies did not meet the methodological standards that the NRP had set (I. e. experimental or quasiexperimental studies).

• Fluency instruction needs to be incorporated into a comprehensive reading program that includes systematic instruction in word identification (phonics and high frequency words), systematic instruction in comprehension, and wide reading.

• Students need to reread text for the purpose of improving their comprehension, and/or improving their meta -cognitive awareness of reading strategies: • Previewing background knowledge. Previewing the genre and structure of the text.

• Listening to the teacher read the text with appropriate fluency. • Previewing/reviewing new or difficult vocabulary for decoding and/or meaning. • Retelling orally and or in writing, and/or summarizing the text.

• Rereading for a particular purpose or to answer questions (i. e. Main Idea and details). • Rereading text with a partner for the purpose of evaluating each other’s performance. Remembering more of the text, and understanding the text better after multiple readings can result in encouraging the reader to reread texts for comprehension independently.

• Students need to be aware that repeated reading of the same text improves their memory of the text, their comprehension of the text, and their ability to read the text fluently. “That’s what good readers do!”

Fluency Components • Teacher models • Students practice