Transcript Document

Delaware County Reading Council
April 29, 2009
Fluency: The Bridge between
Decoding and Reading Comprehension
John J. Pikulski, Ph.D.
Professor, University of Delaware
Author, Houghton Mifflin Harcourt Publishers
Nancy Quinn, Sales Representative
“Facility in the language arts is the
enabling skill that traverses academic
disciplines and translates into
meaningful personal, social, and
economic outcomes for individuals.”
California Reading/Language Arts Framework, p. 3
“Previously ‘unimportant’
reading difficulties may appear for
the first time in fourth grade when
children are dealing more
frequently, deeply, and widely with
nonfiction materials in a variety of
school subjects.” Snow, p.79
THE Fourth
Grade Slump
Research Based Reading Programs:
Six Essential Components
Phonemic Awareness
Phonics
Fluency
Basic
Advanced
Vocabulary
Comprehension
Motivation
Sort of Easy,
Part of a researched
based reading
program
Hard, Requires
much teacher
persistence and
creativity
Fluency: The Bridge Between Decoding to Reading
Comprehension:Quiz
Researchers and practitioners have
always considered fluency of primary
importance in reading.
Fluent readers can and do focus their
attention on both decoding and
comprehension.
The more time and energy a reader
must spend decoding the less capacity
they have for comprehension.
Fluency: The Bridge From Decoding to Reading Comprehension
Anticipation Guide
Word recognition or decoding must
be automatic to be a fluent reader.
Ehri reviews research that shows
that words can be easily and
correctly identified from context
about 90% of the time.
Teaching students to decode words
sequentially (e.g. /s/ /i/ /t/, sit) is
detrimental to fluent recognition of
words.
The speed with which one recognizes
Fluency: The Bridge From Decoding to Reading Comprehension
Anticipation Guide
High frequency words must be
recognized by configuration clues
since they are phonetically irregular.
The use of environmental print should
be used as the primary vehicle for
encouraging young children to
recognize words rapidly and
accurately as wholes.
Fluency: The Bridge From Decoding to Reading Comprehension
Anticipation Guide
Research suggests that achieving and
non achieving readers profit equally
from “repeated reading” procedures.
The NRP concludes that research
studies have shown that independent
reading has no significant impact on
reading fluency or success.
Stroop Effect
horse
Theory of Automaticity
LaBerge and Samuels, 1979
Theory of Automaticity
Humans can focus attention on only
one thing at a time.
Humans can do more than one thing at
a time if:
They fluctuate their attention from one
activity to another. This is often very
energy draining.
One of the activities is so automatic
that it doesn’t require attention
Fluency
“The ability to read text quickly, accurately, and
with proper expression.”
Report of the National Reading Panel. (p. 3-5)
“Freedom from word identification problems that
might hinder comprehension”
The Literacy Dictionary: The Vocabulary of Reading
and Writing, Harris and Hodges, 1995, p.85, IRA.
“The essence of fluency is not reading speed or
oral reading expression, but the ability to decode
and comprehend text at the same time.”
Samuels, S.J. (2006). Reading Fluency: Past, present, and future. In T. Rasinski, C.
Blachowica, and K. Lems. Fluency Instruction: Research-based best practices. IRA. PP.7-20.
A Comprehensive Definition
Fluency refers to efficient,
effective word recognition skills
that permit a reader to construct
the meaning of the text. Fluency
is manifested in accurate, rapid,
expressive oral reading and is
applied during, and makes
Pikulski and Chard, The Reading Teacher, 2003
possible, silent reading
comprehension.
Decoding/Fluency
Between
Comprehension
Reciprocal/Causal Relationship
Basic vs. Advanced Fluency
Prepare to read the
following list of words as
quickly as possible. They
all look rather similar.
stick
stink
slick
slink
sting
sling
string
sick
sing
sink
Each of the next two
slides will contain a single
word. Look at the word
and then read it aloud.
Claustrophobia
Onychophagia
The habit of biting your nails!
It Is Known That Proficient
Readers:
Look at all the words and almost all
the letters in those words
Have astonishing processing speed
(exceeds 5 words /second)
Can accurately and quickly pronounce
phonically irregular, infrequent words
Use spelling patterns and analogy to
decode words
Divide longer words into chunks
(syllables) based on inter-letter
Theory and Research
of
Professor Linnea Ehri
Ehri’s Stages of Word Recognition
Development
Pre-alphabetic
Partial alphabetic
Fully alphabetic
Consolidated alphabetic
Antifractuocity
Sequential Decoding
“The ability to perceive words and syllables
as wholes evolves only through complete and
repeated attention to sequences of individual
letters.”
Adams, 1990, p.130
Sequential Decoding
“Each time a child sounds out a word
successfully, it leaves an elaborate trace
in memory to be used again for the same
word or to be modified for any similarly
spelled word.”
Adams, M. (2001). Alphabet Anxiety. In S. Neuman and D. Dickenson. Handbook of early
literacy research. Guilford Press. p.76
a
s
t
a t
at
sat
Decoding Strategy
Kindergarten – Early First Grade
1. Look at the letters from left to
right.
2. As you look at the letters, think
about the sounds for the letters.
3. Blend the sounds together to read
the word.
4. Ask yourself: “Is this a word I
know?” “Does it make sense in what
I am reading?”
Decoding Strategy
First Grade and Beyond
1. Look at the letters from left to
right.
2. As you look at the letters, think
about the sounds for the letters
and look for word parts you know.
3. Blend the sounds together to read
the word.
4. Ask yourself: “Is this a word I
know? Does it make sense in what I
am reading?”
5. If not, ask yourself: “What else can
What else can I try?
Reread sentence or sentences.
Read ahead for other context clues.
Look at pictures or other graphics.
Ask someone for help.
They give the word.
They give strategies.
It is critically important, and very practical to
remember that when coaching the decoding of a word
that the teacher’s major responsibility is NOT to
have the child decode THAT word, but to give that
child the skills needed to decode any word in the
future --- that build INDEPENDENCE!
Decodable Texts
“If children are expected to sound out new
words while reading, the text must be
considerately designed and leveled with that in
mind…. The reason for teaching children to
pause and attend to unfamiliar words in one text
is so that they will not need to in the next. The
goal of helping children to recognize words
quickly and easily is to ensure that word
recognition will feed rather than compete with
comprehension.”
Adams, M. (2001). Alphabet Anxiety. In S. Neuman and D. Dickenson.
Handbook of early literacy research. Guilford Press. p.77-78.
Deep, Advanced
Activities for Building Fluency
Systematic, explicit phonics
instruction
A sound decoding strategy
Attention to high frequency
vocabulary - word wall activities
Coordinated writing and spelling
Teacher guided reading
Deep, Advanced
Activities for Building Fluency
(Continued)
Partner Reading
Independent Reading
Coached Instructional Rdg
Building decoding skills and high
frequency vocabulary into daily
routines
Vocabulary/Langua
Mostly Basic, Surface
Activities for Building Fluency
(ADDITIONAL CONSIDERATIONS)
Repeated Readings
Teacher Model
Recordings
Cross Age tutoring
“Chunking” of Text
Proficient Reader modeling
Visible Chunking by marking texts
Words in isolation
Readers’ Theatre - Reading Teacher,
October 2004
The Classic Method of Repeated
Readings
 A meaningful, moderately challenging selection is
broken into passages of about 150 words.
 A group of similar non-fluent readers is assembled.
 The students are given a pep talk about the
importance of practice in sports, music, driving,
etc. Whatever will appeal to them. Draw the
analogy to success in reading.
 A fluent reader (or recording) offers a fluent
reading of the passage.
 Each student works individually to build reading
speed and accuracy.
 When the student feels he is ready, he reads the
passage aloud to the teacher or a volunteer who
records accuracy and speed.
The Classic Method of Repeated
Readings: Simplified
 .The same first four steps as in the Classic
Method
 Passage selection, group, pep talk, fluent model.
 Students are grouped in pairs instead of
working individually.
 Students alternate taking the role of the
teacher and the student.
 Each passage is read 4 times, two times by
each student.
 Research shows that by 2 readings and 2
listenings, most of the gain has been achieved.

Students
to the
nexton passage.
Samuels,
S.J. (2006).move
Looking on
backward:
Reflections
a career in reading.
Journal of Literacy Research, 38, 327-344
Readers’ Theatre Resources
Griffith, L.W. and Rasinski, T.V. (2004). A focus on
fluency: How one teacher incorporated fluency into her
curriculum. The Reading Teacher, 58, 126-137.
Rasinski, T.V. (2000). Speed does matter in reading.
The Reading Teacher, 54, 146-151.
Martinez, M., Roser, N., & Steckler, S. (1999). I never
thought I could be a star: A reading theatre ticket of
reading fluency. The Reading Teacher, 52, 326-334.
www.aaronshep. Com/rt/index.hmtl
(Source for free scripts)
Guidelines for rates of oral reading
fluency
Words/Minute
Grade
Beginning
End
1
2
50- 80
40- 60
95- 125
3
80-110
115- 140
4
5
115-125
120-130
120- 145
130- 150
6
120-140
130- 150
Fluency is critically Important
Allows students to complete
assignments
Allows students to complete
tests
Is vital to comprehension
Is vital to reading interest and
motivation and for Matthew
Effects
“Whoever forms a reading habit will never
lose it. It is a treasure no one can take away. It
contains wealth that neither poverty, nor old age, nor
misery can tarnish. Youth cannot steal it nor storms
destroy it, and like vintage wine, it can only
improve with age. To help a child to learn to read
and to develop a love for worthwhile books are
among the finest things one human being can do for
another. It is a reading world, and the road ahead is
lined with books.”
Anonymous