Text Reading Fluency Research Articles

The contribution of language skills to reading fluency: A comparison of two orthographies for Hebrew

The purpose of the present study was to explore the contribution of phonological and general language skills to reading fluency of pointed and unpointed Hebrew scripts. Reading, language and memory tasks were performed by 48 fifth-grade monolingual native Hebrew speakers. Results showed that the most marked predictor for both pointed and unpointed reading texts was the morphological measure, whereas the phonological awareness measure contributed to neither of them. The semantic and syntactic measures contributed only to unpointed text reading fluency. The discussion highlights how readers in script, such as unpointed Hebrew, rely on general language skills in order to achieve fluent reading.

Differences in the correlates of reading accuracy and speed in young Dutch readers

In this study the differential relationships of phonological awareness and rapid naming (serial and discrete) with reading accuracy and speed were examined. Participants were 52 Dutch second grade children. Measures of phonological awareness, serial rapid naming (objects and digits) and discrete rapid digit naming were administered. Also, various aspects of reading ability were measured: reading accuracy and speed for words and nonwords, and text reading fluency. The results indicated that second grade Dutch children were not fully accurate readers. A clear dissociation was found between phonological awareness and serial rapid naming, the former being mainly related to reading accuracy and the latter to reading speed. However, both were related to text reading fluency. A dissociation was also observed between serial and discrete rapid digit naming. The latter was particularly associated with word reading speed. The implications for the interpretation of cross-linguistic studies on the correlates of reading are discussed.

Teaching Children to Become Fluent and Automatic Readers

The purpose of the study was to examine the effects of two instructional approaches designed to improve the reading fluency of 2nd-grade children. The first approach was based on Stahl and Heubach's (2005) fluency-oriented reading instruction (FORI) and involved the scaffolded, repeated reading of grade-level texts over the course of each week. The second was a wide-reading approach that also involved scaffolded instruction. hut that incorporated the reading of 3 different grade-level texts each week and provicled significantly less opportunity for repetition. By the end of the school year. FORI and wide-reading approaches showed similar benefits for standardized measures of word reading efficiency and reading comprehension skills compared to control approachcs. although the benefits of the wide-reading approach emerged earlier and included oral text reading fluency skill. Thus, we conclude that fluency instruction that emphasizes extensive oral reading of grade-level text using scaffolded approaches is effective for promoting reading development in young learners.

Monitoring Children with Reading Disabilities' Response to Phonics Intervention: Are There Differences between Intervention Aligned and General Skill Progress Monitoring Assessments?

This study investigated whether 2 different progress monitoring assessments differentially predicted growth in reading skills associated with systematic phonics instruction. Oral reading fluency (ORF) was compared with an intervention aligned word list (IAWL) as predictors of growth in untimed and timed decoding and word identification and text reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. Results from 40 children with reading disabilities, Grades 2–5, indicated that the IAWL accounted for unique variance in change on measures of decoding and word identification, whereas the ORF measure accounted for unique variance on passage reading fluency gains. Evaluation of the IAWL psychometric properties revealed adequate reliability and construct validity; however, additional analysis indicated that the hierarchical coding scheme used to determine each word's rank difficulty ordering was not as effective.

Putting Transfer Back on Trial: Modeling Individual Differences in the Transfer of Decoding-Skill Gains to Other Aspects of Reading Acquisition.

The authors explored a new means of assessing responsiveness to decoding-skill intervention to model individual differences in the transfer of decoding-skill gains to other aspects of reading acquisition in 35 children, Grades 3 through 5, with reading disabilities. Seven different parameters, representing responsiveness to decoding instruction, were estimated for each child and used to predict gains on standardized reading tests assessing word attack, word identification, and text reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension. Results indicated that several estimates of an individual's responsiveness to instruction were related to gains in other aspects of reading. Results also suggested that the most appropriate unit of analysis for examining transfer is the individual, not the group.