Measures Of Reading Fluency Research Articles

Extending Research on Oral Reading Fluency Measures, Reading Speed, and Comprehension

Middle-school students completed a comprehension assessment. The following day, they read four, 120-word passages, two standard and two non-standard ransom-note passages with altered font sizes. Altering font sizes increased students’ reading time (i.e., reduced reading speed) by an average of 3 s and decreased students’ words correct per minute (WCPM) scores but did not reduce oral reading accuracy or increase the amount of comprehension score variance accounted for by reading accuracy, reading speed, and WCPM measures. While oral reading fluency (ORF) measures accounted for 32 and 36 % of the variance in comprehension scores, the measure of reading speed embedded within ORF measures accounted for almost all of this explained variance. The importance of reading speed and implications for those concerned that ORF measures non-functional aloud word reading accuracy are described.

Oral Reading Fluency Testing

AbstractAs school districts nationwide have moved toward data driven intervention, oral reading fluency measures have become a prevalent means to monitor progress by assessing the degree to which a child is becoming a fast (and therefore fluent) reader. This article reviews results of a survey of speech‐language pathologists (SLPs) working with children who stutter. The survey found that children on SLP caseloads are being referred for reading services when they do not actually have any trouble with reading fluently, but instead have trouble with any task that involves speaking fluently. The purpose of this article is to outline potential challenges in the use of oral reading fluency measures for children with speech disorders, and to provide practical solutions to those challenges.

Does Music Training Enhance Literacy Skills? A Meta-Analysis.

Children's engagement in music practice is associated with enhancements in literacy-related language skills, as demonstrated by multiple reports of correlation across these two domains. Training studies have tested whether engaging in music training directly transfers benefit to children's literacy skill development. Results of such studies, however, are mixed. Interpretation of these mixed results is made more complex by the fact that a wide range of literacy-related outcome measures are used across these studies. Here, we address these challenges via a meta-analytic approach. A comprehensive literature review of peer-reviewed music training studies was built around key criteria needed to test the direct transfer hypothesis, including: (a) inclusion of music training vs. control groups; (b) inclusion of pre- vs. post-comparison measures, and (c) indication that reading instruction was held constant across groups. Thirteen studies were identified (n = 901). Two classes of outcome measures emerged with sufficient overlap to support meta-analysis: phonological awareness and reading fluency. Hours of training, age, and type of control intervention were examined as potential moderators. Results supported the hypothesis that music training leads to gains in phonological awareness skills. The effect isolated by contrasting gains in music training vs. gains in control was small relative to the large variance in these skills (d = 0.2). Interestingly, analyses revealed that transfer effects for rhyming skills tended to grow stronger with increased hours of training. In contrast, no significant aggregate transfer effect emerged for reading fluency measures, despite some studies reporting large training effects. The potential influence of other study design factors were considered, including intervention design, IQ, and SES. Results are discussed in the context of emerging findings that music training may enhance literacy development via changes in brain mechanisms that support both music and language cognition.

Preliminary validation of FastaReada as a measure of reading fluency.

Fluent reading is characterized by speed and accuracy in the decoding and comprehension of connected text. Although a variety of measures are available for the assessment of reading skills most tests do not evaluate rate of text recognition as reflected in fluent reading. Here we evaluate FastaReada, a customized computer-generated task that was developed to address some of the limitations of currently available measures of reading skills. FastaReada provides a rapid assessment of reading fluency quantified as words read per minute for connected, meaningful text. To test the criterion validity of FastaReada, 124 mainstream school children with typical sensory, mental and motor development were assessed. Performance on FastaReada was correlated with the established Neale Analysis of Reading Ability (NARA) measures of text reading accuracy, rate and comprehension, and common single word measures of pseudoword (non-word) reading, phonetic decoding, phonological awareness (PA) and mode of word decoding (i.e., visual or eidetic versus auditory or phonetic). The results demonstrated strong positive correlations between FastaReada performance and NARA reading rate (r = 0.75), accuracy (r = 0.83) and comprehension (r = 0.63) scores providing evidence for criterion-related validity. Additional evidence for criterion validity was demonstrated through strong positive correlations between FastaReada and both single word eidetic (r = 0.81) and phonetic decoding skills (r = 0.68). The results also demonstrated FastaReada to be a stronger predictor of eidetic decoding than the NARA rate measure, with FastaReada predicting 14.4% of the variance compared to 2.6% predicted by NARA rate. FastaReada was therefore deemed to be a valid tool for educators, clinicians, and research related assessment of reading accuracy and rate. As expected, analysis with hierarchical regressions also highlighted the closer relationship of fluent reading to rapid visual word recognition than to phonological-based skills. Eidetic decoding was the strongest predictor of FastaReada performance (16.8%) followed by phonetic decoding skill (1.7%). PA did not make a unique contribution after eidetic decoding and phonetic decoding skills were accounted for.

Working Memory Training in Post-Secondary Students with ADHD: A Randomized Controlled Study.

ObjectivesTo determine whether standard-length computerized training enhances working memory (WM), transfers to other cognitive domains and shows sustained effects, when controlling for motivation, engagement, and expectancy.Methods97 post-secondary students (59.8% female) aged 18–35 years with Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder, were randomized into standard-length adaptive Cogmed WM training (CWMT; 45-min/session), a shortened-length adaptive version of CWMT (15 min/session) that controlled for motivation, engagement and expectancy of change, or into a no training group (waitlist-control group). All three groups received weekly telephone calls from trained coaches, who supervised the CWMT and were independent from the research team. All were evaluated before and 3 weeks post-training; those in the two CWMT groups were also assessed 3 months post-training. Untrained outcome measures of WM included the WAIS-IV Digit Span (auditory-verbal WM), CANTAB Spatial Span (visual-spatial WM) and WRAML Finger Windows (visual-spatial WM). Transfer-of-training effects included measures of short-term memory, cognitive speed, math and reading fluency, complex reasoning, and ADHD symptoms.ResultsPerformance on 5/7 criterion measures indicated that shortened-length CWMT conferred as much benefit on WM performance as did standard-length training, with both CWMT groups improving more than the waitlist-control group. Only 2 of these findings remained robust after correcting for multiple comparisons. Follow-up analyses revealed that post-training improvements on WM performance were maintained for at least three months. There was no evidence of any transfer effects but the standard-length group showed improvement in task-specific strategy use.ConclusionsThis study failed to find robust evidence of benefits of standard-length CWMT for improving WM in college students with ADHD and the overall pattern of findings raise questions about the specificity of training effects.Trial RegistrationClinicalTrials.gov NCT01657721

The Effects of an Intensive Reading Intervention for Ninth Graders with very Low Reading Comprehension

This experimental study examined the efficacy of a multicomponent reading intervention compared to a control condition on the reading comprehension of adolescent students with low reading comprehension (more than 1½ standard deviations below normative sample). Ninth–grade students were randomly assigned to treatment ( n = 25) and comparison ( n = 19). Reading teachers provided instruction for 90–min, five times every two weeks for approximately 80 sessions. Treatment effects for each outcome measure were estimated using repeated measure of analysis of covariance for measures of reading comprehension and fluency. Results indicate no statistically significant differences between treatment and comparison conditions. Repeated–measures analyses of variance between students with lower and higher decoding skills indicated a statistically significant interaction between treatment condition and decoding ability on the WJ–III PC and Bridge–IT, with large effect sizes ( ηp2. 16 and. 12, respectively), indicating that treatment was differentially beneficial for students with higher decoding skills.

Growth on Oral Reading Fluency Measures as a Function of Special Education and Measurement Sufficiency

For 30 years, researchers have investigated oral reading fluency as a measure of growth in reading proficiency. Yet, little research has been done with these measures in the context of progress monitoring in Tier 2 systems. First, we document teachers’ progress-monitoring decisions on type of passage (on-grade or off-grade) and how often to administer them. Then, we use a two-level hierarchical linear model to document the effects on both intercept and slope as a function of student special education status and measurement sufficiency. Across Grades 3 to 5, teachers diagnostically document student performance with different grade-level measures and also target a group of Tier 2 students to monitor early and systematically throughout the year. This latter group starts out much lower but has a significantly different slope than those for whom progress monitoring is more diagnostic and infrequent.

Predictors of Latino English Learners’ Reading Comprehension Proficiency

Poor literacy achievement among English learners has contributed significantly to their high dropout rates, poor job prospects, and high poverty rates. The National Literacy Panel on Language Minority Children and Youth has suggested that English learners benefit from the same direct, systematic instruction in the five essential components of reading shown effective for native-English-speaking students: phonemic awareness, phonics, oral reading fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension. Implementing effective reading instructional practices for English learners may reduce the literacy achievement gap between English learners and native English speakers. In this study, we used multiple regression to examine data for 1,376 third-grade Latino English learners to determine the strength of oral English proficiency, oral reading fluency, and academic vocabulary knowledge as predictors of reading comprehension proficiency. Findings of this study indicate a mismatch between English learners’ instructional needs and a widely used reading program component, assessment of words correct per minute (as a measure of oral reading fluency). Significant conclusions of this study suggest that educators seeking to promote the reading comprehension proficiency of Latino English learners consider using WCPM assessments and activities cautiously and strive to allocate more time for instruction and assessment of the prosodic dimension of oral reading fluency and academic vocabulary knowledge and skills.

Oral reading fluency and comprehension in Kenya: reading acquisition in a multilingual environment

Reading research has shown that variable relationships exist between measures of oral reading fluency and reading comprehension, depending on whether the language of the text is the reader's first language or an additional language. This paper explores this phenomenon, using reading assessment data for 2,000 Kenyan children in two or three languages: English, Kiswahili and one of two mother tongues, Dholuo or Gikuyu. The assessment data allowed us to compare reading and comprehension rates across languages. The data indicated that many children could read English words more easily than words in Kiswahili or their mother tongue; nevertheless, their reading comprehension was significantly lower in English than in Kiswahili, Dholuo or Gikuyu. The paper concludes that emphasising English reading fluency is an inefficient route to gaining reading comprehension skills because pupils are actually attaining minimal oral reading fluency in English and only modest comprehension skills in their own languages. The evidence also demonstrates that Kenya's national language policy of mother tongue as a medium of instruction in the early primary grades is consistently ignored in practice.

Effects of metalinguistic awareness on reading comprehension and the mediator role of reading fluency from grades 2 to 4.

PurposeThis study examined the contribution of metalinguistic awareness including morphological awareness, phonological awareness and orthographical awareness to reading comprehension, and the role of reading fluency as a mediator of the effects of metalinguistic awareness on reading comprehension from grades 2 to 4.MethodsFour hundred and fifteen elementary students in China mainland were administered a test battery that included measures of morphological awareness, phonological awareness, orthographical awareness, reading fluency, reading comprehension and IQ. Hierarchical regression and structural equation models (SEM) were used to analyze the data.ResultsMorphological awareness uniquely explained 9%, 10% and 13% variance of reading comprehension respectively from grade 2 to grade 4, however, phonological awareness and orthographical awareness did not contribute to reading comprehension; Reading fluency partially mediated the effect of morphological awareness on reading comprehension in grades 2-4.ConclusionsThese findings indicated that reading fluency and morphological awareness should be facilitated in the Chinese instruction. Morphological awareness played an important role in Chinese reading and affected reading comprehension in grades 2 to 4; Reading fluency was a significant link between morphological awareness and reading comprehension in grades 2-4.

Effects of Culturally Relevant Materials on the Reading Performance of Second-Grade African Americans with Reading/Special Education Risk

The use of culturally relevant material for urban students with special education/reading risk is frequently promoted in the literature; however, the empirical evidence appears limited. This study included eight African American urban second-grade students who scored within the at-risk range on the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency measure. The students read culturally relevant and non-culturally relevant passages to assess differences in reading fluency, comprehension, and passage likeability. Results from an alternating treatment design and the Wilcoxon test indicated that students were more fluent on passages that were culturally relevant. Comprehension and passage likability assessments favored the culturally relevant passages but were not statistically significant. Findings are discussed relative to the beneficial effects of culturally relevant materials for culturally diverse populations.

Effects of Culturally Relevant Materials on the Reading Performance of Second-Grade African Americans with Reading/Special Education Risk

The use of culturally relevant material for urban students with special education/reading risk is frequently promoted in the literature; however, the empirical evidence appears limited. This study included eight African American urban second-grade students who scored within the at-risk range on the DIBELS Oral Reading Fluency measure. The students read culturally relevant and non-culturally relevant passages to assess differences in reading fluency, comprehension, and passage likeability. Results from an alternating treatment design and the Wilcoxon test indicated that students were more fluent on passages that were culturally relevant. Comprehension and passage likability assessments favored the culturally relevant passages but were not statistically significant. Findings are discussed relative to the beneficial effects of culturally relevant materials for culturally diverse populations.

Applying a Teacher-Designed Response to Intervention to Improve the Reading Among Struggling Third Grade Students

This study sought to examine the effects of a teacher-designed, differentiated instructional model on the reading skills (i.e., fluency and vocabulary) of struggling third grade readers. Participants included eight struggling third grade students in the intervention classroom and a comparison group of eight struggling third grade students in a control classroom. Participants completed measures of reading comprehension, vocabulary, and oral reading fluency. Participants in both groups received core reading instruction (i.e., 90 minute instructional block). In addition, participants in the intervention group received an additional 20 minutes of individualized, intensive intervention focused on vocabulary and fluency. This was done one-on-one. Results indicated that the children in the intervention group outperformed those in the control group on summative measures. Implications for individualized instruction in classrooms is provided.

Effectiveness of a Collaborative, Multi-Component Intervention for Adolescent Students with Severe Reading Disabilities

The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness of a collaborative, multi-component reading intervention approach for adolescent students in high school with severe reading disabilities. Students in the experimental condition received 24 weeks of multi-component, differentiated small group interventions from a special-education teacher, a speech pathologist, and a paraprofessional with time to engage in cooperative groups and practice skills to mastery. Monthly progress monitoring informed the instructors of ongoing progress and drove instructional components based on student learning. The control group received whole classroom instruction combined with traditional, special educational supports. The results showed significant differences in growth between conditions on standardized measures of word reading fluency, oral reading fluency, and reading comprehension with medium effect sizes. No differences were noted in standardized vocabulary growth. Grade level progress in reading was not observed for either the experimental or the control groups; however, outcomes indicated only three nonresponders in the experimental group compared to six in the control. Findings are discussed in regard to practical application, limitations, and future research.

Applying Generalizability Theory for Making Quantitative RTI Progress-Monitoring Decisions

Language in the Individuals With Disabilities Education Improvement Act (IDEIA) allows the use of response-to-intervention (RTI) methodology in the identification of specific learning disabilities. However, there is no consensus on decision rules using curriculum-based measurement of oral reading fluency (CBM-R) for defining responsiveness. The purpose of this article is to describe how to apply generalizability (G) theory for making quantitative high-stakes RTI decisions. A sample of 68 first-grade students (36 females and 32 males) was randomly administered the first-grade Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills oral reading fluency probes and correct words per minute (CWPM) were calculated for conducting both a generalizability (G) study and a decision (D) study using G theory. The results showed that the average raw scores (CWPM) across 20 probes encompassed a wide range from a low of 69 CWPM to a high of 88 CWPM. In addition, 90.2% of the variance was due to student reading skill, 7.0% was due to unaccounted sources of error, and only 2.8% was due to passage or probe variability. Also, the increasing number of probes administered (from 1 to 9) considerably reduced the values of standard error of measurement and increased the reliability coefficients. An example is provided to demonstrate how to apply G theory in using CBM-R data to guide psychometrically valid RTI decisions at the individual student level.

How Does Rapid Automatized Naming (RAN) Correlate with Measures of Reading Fluency in Arabic

The main goal of this study was to investigate the relationship between naming speed and reading in Arabic language. For this purpose, Arabic-speaking children of third and fifth grades were given a battery of tests including two measures of naming speed and a test of pseudo-word reading and single word reading. Correlations analyses were carried out to explore this relationship. The result of this study revealed a significant relationship between naming speed measures and fluency. This suggests that naming speed ability is a key component in reading acquisition in Arabic and this was discussed with regard to the cross-linguistic research literature as well as the specific features of Arabic language.

Oral Reading Fluency Measures and Accommodations for School-Age Students Who Stutter

The American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA) Ad Hoc Committee on Oral Reading Fluency Measures in School-Aged Children who Stutter developed and disseminated a survey examining the types of evaluation tools used when measuring oral reading fluency, district policies for students who stutter, the use of accommodations for students who stutter, and the confusion of stuttering with oral reading fluency problems. This article summarizes the survey questions and the outcomes of this survey. The Ad Hoc Committee included members of three Special Interest Groups (SIGs): SIG 4, Fluency & Fluency Disorders; SIG 1, Language & Language Disorders; and SIG 16, School-Based Issues.

Taking a Different Route: Contribution of Articulation and Metacognition to Intervention With At-Risk Third-Grade Readers

This study compared the impact of 2 types of small-group interventions targeting below-level 3rd-grade students. The study compared WordWork decoding and spelling instruction (Calfee, Miller, Norman, Wilson, & Trainin, 2006; Calfee & Patrick, 1995), which includes attention to articulation and metacognition, with a more traditional phonological awareness program (Torgesen & Bryant, 1993). University education students delivered the interventions with equal instructional time and fidelity, to both groups. Students in both intervention groups engaged in repeated readings of connected text to promote transfer. The impact of training was assessed through decoding, spelling, and oral reading fluency measures. Results indicated that WordWork produced more positive results in decoding, spelling, and fluency, and had significantly fewer treatment resisters.

An Independent Evaluation of the Technical Features of the Basic Reading Inventory

The present study investigated some psychometric properties of the Basic Reading Inventory (BRI), a widely used informal reading inventory. The BRI and Dynamic Indicators of Basic Early Literacy Skills (DIBELS) probes were administered to 149 third, fourth, and fifth graders. Test–retest and alternate forms reliability analyses indicated adequate levels of reliability for low-stakes decisions. Concurrent validity analyses indicated strong correlations with DIBELS, an established measure of reading fluency. These results are discussed in light of implications for use of the BRI for making instructional grouping, universal screening, and progress monitoring decisions.

B-29 * The Relationship between Cognitive Efficiency and Reading Fluency in School-Referred Children

Objective: Research suggests that Cognitive Efficiency (CE) is a distinct factor important to the development of reading fluency (RF) skills, however, it is not well established which component(s) of CE are most predictive of RF in children. This study investigates which components of CE (working memory and processing speed) are most predictive of RF, and if CE accounts for unique variance in RF beyond other well-established predictors of reading (phonemic awareness). Method: 130 school-referred subjects, with equal numbers of male and female students ranging in age from 7 to 16 years (M = 10), were administered tests from the Woodcock-Johnson III. The battery consisted of measures of verbal ability, phonemic awareness, processing speed, working memory, and RF. Children with IQ's below 80 were not included. Results: Hierarchical multiple regression analysis results indicated a significant relationship, accounting for 25% of the variance between processing speed and RF, that is independent of other cognitive factors (p < .001). Results did not find a significant relationship between measures of working memory and RF in this sample. Conclusion(s): Findings suggest that the processing speed component of CE is the most significant contributor of RF in this sample. The findings further suggest that this relationship extends beyond what is explained by verbal ability and phonemic awareness. Moreover, a composite score CE does not better predict RF over a single measure of processing speed.