Helping Students Become Accurate, Expressive Readers: Fluency Instruction for Small Groups

Abstract

Effective approaches to fluency instruction should facilitate automatic and accurate word recognition as well as the ability to read with expression. The study reported in this article focused on instructional approaches that can be used with small groups of learners within a broader literacy curriculum, one that is suitable for flexible grouping. It also explored the relationship between fluent reading and comprehension. Twenty‐four struggling second‐grade readers were selected to take part in the interventions. The research evaluated two approaches for assisting learners who were making the transition to fluent reading: a modified repeated reading approach, and a scaffolded wide‐reading approach in which learners read equivalent amounts of text without the use of repetition. A listening‐only group, designed to serve as a Hawthorne control, and a control group were also included. Results indicate that the students in the wide‐reading and repeated reading groups demonstrated growth in terms of word recognition in isolation, prosody, and correct words per minute, and that the wide‐reading group also demonstrated growth in terms of comprehension. Suggestions for integrating these approaches with the literacy curriculum are discussed.