Fluency+Development

Fluency Development in Shared Reading
//**Initiated by Lisa Greenway **//

The National Reading Panel (2000) notes fluency as being a critical component to the reading process. Rasinski (2003) describes fluency as expressive reading that is quick and effortless. Students are able to read the words easily and use a more conversational tone when reading fluently. According to Chall (1996), fluency begins to develop in the third stage of reading development building on the word recognition skills developed in the second stage. Learners read words with more automaticity (Laberge & Samuels, 1974) and meaning, or prosody (Chall, 1996). In their fluency study, Kuhn and Stall (2003) compared students using the repeated reading approach to those who read the same amount of teacher-supported text and noted that both groups made equal gains. Shared reading offers scaffolded support for building the learners’ fluency through exposure to high frequency words, instruction in decoding skills, and expressive oral reading, while offering opportunities for repeated readings of the text after the reading (Lipson & Wixson, 2003).

“Shared reading provides repeated readings of predictable texts and poems, building students’ sight-word vocabularies, fluency, and phonics knowledge during enjoyable and successful reading experiences” (Gill, 2005). During shared reading lessons, children are exposed to enlarged print in the Big Books. The teacher guides the reading while displaying the printed text to the students and pointing to words during the reading. Because the teacher reads aloud to the students, the text has “become less difficult by virtue of the shared experience...[and] students often have the opportunity to read and experience sight vocabulary within the context of much more challenging words” (Lipson & Wixson, 2003). After the group reading, students can have access to smaller books with the same text for repeated readings, which Rasinski (2003) notes as one of the principles for effective fluency instruction. The more students are exposed to sight words, the easier it is for them to recognize those words.
 * Building recognition of sight words and decoding skills **

A two year study of at risk pre-schoolers, identified for reading difficulties based on socioeconomic disadvantage, suggests that shared reading with explicit reference to print can increase word recognition (Piasta, Justice, McGinty, & Kaderavek, 2012). Students who were instructed in shared reading four times per week showed slightly higher gains than those who received instruction only two times per week (Piasta, et al., 2012). Piasta et al. (2012) noted that the frequency of the lessons and instruction of print were key components of an effective shared reading experience. By increasing print knowledge at the emergent level, an early literacy program that includes shared reading with explicit interaction with print may increase print knowledge, which is a necessary foundation for word recognition (Piasta et al., 2012; Chall, 1996).

The National Reading Panel (2002) concluded that systematic phonics instruction was a necessary component for literacy instruction. By teaching phonics in a shared reading experience, students have the benefit of seeing the words in context, which is particularly helpful for English language learners (Herrera, Perez, & Escamilla, 2010) and struggling readers (Allington, 2001). One such method of phonics instruction is teaching spelling patterns through onsets and rimes, with the onset being the letter/letters prior to the vowel and remaining letters in the word, ie. l- is the onset and –ake is the rime (Goswami & Bryant, 1990). Gill (2006) shares her method for teaching onset and rimes through shared poetry reading with 2nd grade students. After repeated readings, Gill (2006) begins her skills lesson by having students identify rhyming words in the poem, and she writes them on a poster vertically arranged for all to see. She may write the rime in a different color marker from the onset. She uses the rimes, such as –ight in night or light, to suggest other words that may have the same sound with different letters, like –ite in white (Gill, 2006). She displays the rime posters in the classroom as a reference for students. The onset- rime approach is more reliable than the part-to-whole instruction since there are so many exceptions to the phonics rules (Freeman & Freeman, 2007). In addition, this method is helpful for English language learners due to more reliable patterns and its contextual nature (Herrera et al., 2010). Repeated exposure to sight words and explicit teaching of decoding strategies in shared reading help students build word recognition skills leading to reading fluency.

When students read word-by-word without using expression, it can interfere with their comprehension because it does not replicate natural language (Allington, 1983). In order to deliver effective fluency instruction, Rasinski (2003) suggests students need fluent reading to be modeled by their teachers and/or other fluent readers, and students need oral support as they are reading. In shared reading, the teacher begins each lesson by modeling prosody in his or her reading of the text. In subsequent readings, the students are invited to join in the activity through choral reading or predicting upcoming words. Students tend to mimic the phrasing and intonation of the teacher as they read along or repeat the story. In addition, teachers can select from a variety of literature types to encourage expressive reading. Poetry or Mother Goose rhymes provide text choices that promote rhythmic reading with many opportunities for expression and phrasing. Teachers may choose books with some dialogue to encourage students to use intonation and phrasing. The oral and repetitive nature of shared reading provides many opportunities for students to practice expressive, meaningful reading. Below is a videotaped example of a kindergarten teacher modeling fluent reading for kindergarteners using the book //Chicka Chicka Boom Boom// by Bill Martin Jr.:
 * Developing prosodic reading **

[|Fluent reading in Shared Reading] media type="youtube" key="MtHGI6irkpI" height="315" width="560" align="center"

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(Picture from:[]) Schickedanz and McGee (2010) examined 19 studies from the National Early Literacy Panel (NELP) report on shared story reading. The studies indicated that the shared reading intervention group showed greater gains in expressive language than with receptive language, even when more complex language patterns were present. “This result might be due to the nature of the talk elicited in both shared reading and the expressive assessments, because children respond[ed] to open-ended questions with elaborated responses” (Schickedanz & McGee, 2010, p. 327). It appears that the conversational nature of shared reading is also helpful in supporting prosody in reading, thus having a positive effect on fluency development.

**References ** Allington, R. L. (1983). Fluency: The neglected reading goal. //The Reading Teacher//, 37, 556–561.

Allington, R.L. (2001). //What really matters for struggling readers//. New York: Longman.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Chall, J.S. (1996). //Stages of reading development//. Orlanda, FL: Harcourt, Brace & Company.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Freeman, D. E. & Freeman, Y.S. (2007). //English language learners: The essential guide//. New York: Scholastic.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Gill, S. R. (2006). Teaching rimes with shared reading. //The Reading Teacher//, 60(2), 191-193.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Goswami, U. & Bryant, P. (1990). //Phonological skills and learning to read//. New York: Psychology Press Ltd.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Herrera, S. G., Perez, D. R., & Escamilla, K. (2010). //Teaching reading to English language learners: Differentiated literacies//. Boston, MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Kuhn, M. R., & Stahl, S. a. (2003). Fluency: A Review of Developmental and Remedial Practices. //Journal Of Educational Psychology//, 95(1), 3.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Laberge, D., & Samuels, S.A.(1974). Toward a theory of automatic information processing in reading. //Cognitive Psychology//, 6, 293-323.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Lipson, M. & Wixson, K. (2003). //Assessment & instruction of reading and writing difficulty: An interactive approach//. Boston,MA: Pearson Education, Inc.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">National Institute of Child Health and Human Development. (2000). //Report of the National Reading Panel. Teaching children to read: an evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction//. Retrieved March 6, 2011, from http://www.nichd.nih.gov/publications/nrp/smallbook.htm.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Piasta, S. B., Justice, L. M., McGinty, A. S., & Kaderavek, J. N. (2012). Increasing young children’s contact with print during shared reading: Longitudinal effects on literacy achievement. //Child Development//, 83(3), 810-820.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Rasinski, T. V. (2003). //The fluent reader: Oral reading strategies for building word recognition, fluency, and comprehension//.New York: Scholastic Professional Books.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Schickedanz, J. A., & McGee, L. M. (2010). //The NELP Report on Shared Story Reading Interventions (Chapter 4//): Extending the Story. Educational Researcher, 39(4), 323-329.

**<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Literature Cited ** <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman',Times,serif; font-size: 120%;">Martin, B. (1989). //Chicka Chicka Boom Boom//. New York: Simon & Schuster.