Whole Class or Small Group Fluency Instruction: A Tutorial of Four Effective Approaches

Melanie R Kuhn

doi:10.3390/educsci10050145

Abstract

Four scientifically validated approaches to fluency instruction (Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction, Wide Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction, Fluency-Oriented Oral Reading, and Wide Fluency-Oriented Oral Reading) are reviewed. Two for the whole class and two for small groups. Key components of fluency, automaticity, and prosody are defined, and their contribution to reading comprehension is discussed. Automaticity contributes through its freeing up of attention to attend to meaning, and prosody contributes through its addressing of pacing and expression that, in turn, reflect textual meaning. Four principles for effective fluency instruction are also presented: Modeling, extensive opportunities for practice, the use of scaffolding, and the incorporation of prosodic elements. The four instructional approaches presented in this article are based on two different strategies for integrating extensive opportunities to read: Repeated versus wide reading. All four approaches use challenging texts, or texts at the upper end of the learners’ zone of proximal development, thus providing learners with access to a broader range of vocabulary and concepts than would be the case if they read only instructional level texts. All four also provided highly effective procedures for either whole-class or small-group reading instruction. The goal of this summary is to provide readers with effective approaches for classroom instruction.

Highlights

Key components of fluency, automaticity, and prosody are defined, and their contribution to reading comprehension is discussed
The goal of the review is to provide a concise summary of these highly effective approaches. They are easy-to-implement additions to the reading instruction that occurs in the classroom
If you were reading about Mae Jemison, you might introduce terms like astronaut and space shuttle, talk about some of the work that occurs at NASA, or ask your students to think about the kinds of challenges faced by individuals who explore outer space

Summary

Introduction

Automaticity, and prosody are defined, and their contribution to reading comprehension is discussed. All four provided highly effective procedures for either whole-class or small-group reading instruction. The goal of this summary is to provide readers with effective approaches for classroom instruction. This article will briefly consider fluency’s role in terms of development and present a review of four research-based instructional approaches, two for the whole class and two a for small group, that have been shown to increase students’ word recognition, fluency, and comprehension. The goal of the review is to provide a concise summary of these highly effective approaches. They are easy-to-implement additions to the reading instruction that occurs in the classroom. Given the challenges many children face in their reading development and the importance of scaffolded reading in developing students’ reading, these approaches can be an important addition to your reading curriculum

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Conclusion