Reading Fluency Training – Bridge Decoding to Comprehension | We All Can Read

One of the most crucial yet often overlooked aspects of reading instruction is fluency. Think of fluency as the bridge that connects decoding to comprehension. When students read fluently, they can focus on understanding the text rather than struggling with identifying individual words. All too often, teachers conclude that once students are able to read with accuracy, they will be able to read fluently. Research, on the other hand, has established the fact that the transference between decoding accuracy and reading fluency is not automatic. Students who receive explicit fluency training experience marked improvement in their ability to read with accuracy, fluency, and understanding.

Research consistently shows that fluency doesn’t develop automatically from accurate decoding. Even when students can read words correctly, they may still read in a choppy, labored way that interferes with comprehension. This is why explicit fluency instruction is essential. Picture a student focusing all their mental energy on sounding out each word. By the time they reach the end of a sentence, they’ve forgotten what the beginning meant. That’s what happens when fluency skills aren’t developed.

Guided oral reading practice for parents: Use text that matches your child’s current reading level. When your child misreads a word, pause and help him or her sound it out. Reread each section until it flows smoothly. Show the way; let your child hear you read the same text. Read with natural expression and pacing. Share stories you both enjoy. Remember, stay patient. Reading fluency takes time. Keep it positive and encouraging. Make reading time special for you both.

Now, let’s look at three key strategies for guided oral reading practice for the teacher: modeling, echo reading, and choral reading.

Teacher modeling: The teacher reads first while students follow along silently in their texts. The teacher demonstrates proper pace, showing natural pauses at punctuation, and uses expressive reading to show meaning. Questions sound like questions, excitement in exciting parts. Students observe how fluent reading should sound. The teacher can also point to words while reading to help students track.

Echo reading: The teacher reads one sentence or short paragraph. Students repeat that exact same piece, trying to match speed of reading, voice expression, natural pauses, and word grouping. The teacher gives immediate feedback. The process repeats with the next sentence or paragraph. Students get immediate practice after hearing the teacher read.

Choral reading: The entire class reads the same text together with the teacher. The teacher’s voice guides pace and expression. Struggling readers gain confidence as their voices blend with others. Students who might be shy about reading alone can participate fully. The teacher can still hear if particular students are struggling. Choral reading builds classroom community through a shared reading experience. The start can begin at a slower pace, then gradually increase to a more natural reading speed.

The single best instructional technique for developing reading fluency is to provide guided oral reading practice using decodable or controlled text. Decodable or controlled text is text that is composed of words that primarily contain only those phonetic elements that have been previously introduced. The “We All Can Read” program provides carefully sequenced decodable text that builds systematically. Each lesson introduces new phonetic elements while reinforcing previously learned patterns.

Our entire program is published in two books. Our core book, “We All Can Read, Third Grade to Adult Edition,” contains word lists, sentences, and paragraphs that provide decodable text for reading practice as students proceed through 720 lessons. Our supplemental reader for “Supplemental Reader: Third Grade to Adult Edition” provides additional reading practice containing sentences, paragraphs, and short stories. Passages are correlated to the 720 lessons published in our core book to provide students with additional reading material using controlled text.

The following series of screens will demonstrate how we use our curriculum to facilitate fluency practice.

In this screen, you see one-syllable words which all contain a consonant team and a consonant blend. This is Lesson 187. Students are asked to read each row of words three times. The first time, the focus is reading words with accuracy. The second and third time students read these words, they are asked to increase their pace. I will read the first row to illustrate this technique.Row one: brunch, fleck, shrill, switch, branch. And then we read it a second time: brunch, fleck, shrill, switch, branch. And finally, the third reading, we increase the pace slightly: brunch, fleck, shrill, switch, branch.In Lesson 195, we use sentences where a majority of words contain consonant teams and blends. Using the same process as we used in Lesson 187, I will use Sentence 1 to illustrate the technique. “The squid will flinch with a shrill splash of shrimp.” Then we reread this sentence at a slightly faster pace: “The squid will flinch with a shrill splash of shrimp.” Finally, we read the sentence a third time at a slightly faster pace: “The squid will flinch with a shrill splash of shrimp.”We apply the same fluency technique for reading this short story in Lesson 198. Because of its length, we read each paragraph only twice. The first reading, the focus is on accurately identifying the words, and the second reading, the pace increases and the focus is on reading with fluency.

This is a short story from our supplemental reader. We apply the same fluency technique for reading this short story as we did in the previous lessons. Because of its length, which is a number of pages, we read each paragraph only twice. The first reading, the focus is on accurately identifying the words, and the second reading, the pace increases and the focus is on reading with fluency.

Fluency is a skill that can and must be taught explicitly. Guided practice makes all the difference in developing confident, capable readers. Building fluency opens the door to lifelong reading success.Thank you for watching this video. If you have any questions, please visit our contact page to submit them.