Diagnosis of Korean EFL High School Students’ Reading Fluency Using Informal Reading Inventory

Abstract

The study attempts to examine and diagnose Korean EFL high school students’ English reading fluency using an informal reading inventory (IRI). In performing IRI reading tasks, 68 eleventh grade high school students were asked to read aloud the graded texts across 14 levels and answer the reading comprehension questions. As a result of the IRI administration, the data of the 68 students’ oral reading fluency levels, word reading accuracy, decoding errors, and oral reading rate were collected. The results revealed that the students’ ORF levels are widely dispersed. Notably, about 40 percent of the students seemed to be able to read the text of Levels 2 and 3 independently, while approximately 50 percent of the students showed a frustration level in reading at Levels 3 through 5. Besides, less variability was demonstrated in word reading accuracy except for the lower fluency group. The reading rates were found to increase as the participants’ reading levels were higher despite the fact that there exists a significant difference in reading rate within and across the three reading fluency groups. These findings shed light on different aspects of L2 learners’ reading development and allow us to draw pedagogical implications in the Korean EFL context.