Print Skills (Alphabetics)
Rate & Fluency

Oral reading can also be called "word recognition in context" and refers to the ability to read connected text aloud with accuracy, speed, and appropriate phrasing.

For most readers, accuracy, speed, and phrasing in oral reading are strongly related to reading comprehension. In fact, generally speaking, as oral reading skill increases, so too does reading comprehension. One reason for this might be that when word recognition becomes automatic (that is, oral reading rate goes up), a reader can dedicate more cognitive resources to understanding what he or she is reading. Conversely, when a reader has to spend time decoding words (that is, oral reading rate goes down), that reader is devoting cognitive resources to word analysis instead of comprehension.

Adult beginning readers' fluency, as measured by their reading rate (or speed), is frequently poor,^RR and, consequently, their comprehension may suffer.

The aim of reading instruction is to increase the level of silent reading comprehension. In order to be able to release attention to the meaning of sentences and paragraphs, learners have to be fluent readers. Hesitations caused by a need to decode unfamiliar words interrupts the flow of the author's intended meaning. Fluent reading requires that word recognition ability be automatic for the particular reading level being assessed. Researchers have found high correlations between oral reading fluency and reading comprehension.

Oral Reading Rate

How do we measure reading rate?
Following is the process and formula that the ARCS^RR researchers used.

Reading rate is most often given as the number of words read correctly in one minute (wpm). It is found by a straightforward method that can be applied to any GE level passage. Follow these steps:

1. Select a short, easy passage that is one or two GEs below the learner's present oral reading GE level. If you have not given a graded oral reading test, choose a passage one or two GEs below his/her Word Recognition GE. The purpose here is to see how easily someone can read orally when she/he doesn't have to pause to decode unfamiliar words.
   
   
2. Count the words in the passage.
   
   
3. Have the learner read the passage once through orally so that both of you can see that there are no troublesome words.
   
   
4. Tell the learner to read the passage once more, but that now you are going to time the reading. The learner will read fast and may not pay any attention to punctuation. That's all right.
   
   
5. Record the time in seconds and compute the following:

   words per minute = (number of words in passage ÷ reading time (in seconds)) x 60

"...[I]t is important for teachers to assess adult readers fluency. Also, because oral reading, not silent reading, is one of the most important methods used to teach fluency, completion of assessment studies of ABE students' oral reading fluency (accuracy and rate) should be a priority."^RR BUT, speed and word recognition accuracy are only part of fluent reading.

Fluency^RR

Attention to punctuation helps the reader to chunk words and phrases. Getting the phrasing right brings a rhythm to the text, and understanding the rhythm helps the reader understand the author's intended meaning. Appropriate intonation is an important aspect of fluent reading and an indication that the reader is paying attention to meaning.

"Successful decoding requires the reader to translate printed words into their spoken equivalents, whereas successful fluency requires the reader to connect the flow of printed text to the flow of spoken language....The fluent translation of the flow of print to the flow of spoken language enables the reader to attend to the meaning rather than to the features of the printed text. Fluency is vital to comprehension, which is the main goal of reading."^RR

"Pausing Scale"^RR
"The National Assessment of Educational Progress fluency study ... calculated speed and accuracy but performed most analyses on the basis of a four-point pausing scale. This scale provided a description of four levels of pausing efficiency with one point assigned to readings that were primarily word by word with no attention to the author's meaning, to four points for readings that attended to comprehension and that paused only at the boundaries of meaningful phrases and clauses."

Developing fluency:
Developing fluency is important at any reading level; readers at any level may benefit substantially from fluency instruction.^RR

Practicing fluent oral reading at a mastered level of decoding and word meaning will aid an understanding of the close relationship between speech and print. Readers grow to understand that there are markers in text that help bridge some of the differences between written and spoken language. Ask readers to read aloud as if they were giving a talk or were in a play: reading to an audience highlights the communication conventions of spoken language.

Repeated reading, a process where the teacher models oral reading and the learner then reads the passage repeatedly until some measure of fluency is reached, will only be effective if there is guidance and feedback during the successive readings. Repeated reading has been shown to be effective in increasing fluency and comprehension for both adults and children.^RR

Other names for "repeated guided reading oral reading from the NRP^RR are:

• Paired reading
• Shared reading
• Collaborative oral reading
• Assisted oral reading
• Neurological impress

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