The Relationship between Reading Fluency, Writing Fluency, and Reading Comprehension in Suburban Third-Grade Students

Abstract

The topic of reading fluency is of great importance in education today. Research has shown a significant positive relationship between reading fluency and reading comprehension. However, little is known about writing fluency and its connection with reading comprehension. The purpose of this study was to examine the relationships between reading fluency, writing fluency, and reading comprehension. First, using the principles of assessing reading fluency, I designed a writing assessment and measured the writing fluency of 54 3rd graders. I examined the writing assessments as they related to the students' reading fluency and reading comprehension scores. Secondly, I performed a quasi-experimental scientific study with 3rd grade students. The control group (n=36) were taught the board-adopted language arts curriculum, while the experimental group (n=18) had systematic direct instruction in reading and writing fluency in addition to the regular language arts curriculum. The research questions were: What is the relationship between students' reading comprehension and reading fluency among a group of third graders? What is the relationship between their reading comprehension and writing fluency? What is the relationship between their reading fluency and writing fluency? Will the experimental group of students with direct instruction in reading and writing fluency outperform the control group in reading comprehension? What other factors are involved in increasing reading comprehension? Pearson's correlation statistic, paired t-tests, independent samples t-tests, and multiple linear regression analysis were used to analyze the data. All statistical analyses were performed using PASW (formerly SPSS) for Windows. Consistent with reading research, the results showed there was a strongly positive correlation between reading comprehension and reading fluency. This study also found a correlation between reading comprehension and writing as well as a correlation between reading comprehension and writing fluency. However, the link between reading comprehension and writing fluency was not found in pretest measurement, or the posttest-pretest measurement. The ANOVA results showed that reading and writing fluency explained a statistically significant 50% of the total variance in reading comprehension scores. This study also showed a strong positive correlation between reading fluency and writing fluency in the posttest measurement. In the quasi-experimental study, the experimental group did not outperform the experimental group: both groups made significant progress. The major implication of this study is that writing could help increase reading comprehension, which results in another tool for teachers to use in teaching reading comprehension. This could result in an additional emphasis in teaching writing skills in the