Targeting Reading Fluency
By Michael Rabbidge
Most instructional practices that focus on teaching reading center on methods for improving general reading comprehension. This approach dominates off the shelf textbooks which have an abundance of class comprehension type questions such as true/ false (and even not given), multiple choice, short and long answer type questions. Answering these types of questions is said to demonstrate how well a student has comprehended a text, and therefore these question types are also found in assessment.
Unfortunately, this approach has does not do much to encourage fluency as much. Reading fluency has been defined as ‘the ability to read rapidly with ease and accuracy, and to read with appropriate expressions and phrasing’ (Grabe, 2009). This definition is useful as it highlights the need to develop automaticity in the reading process, something that the comprehension approach discussed above does not always address. Still, the definition itself does not say much about comprehension, which is why Anderson’s definition is considered an improvement, ‘reading at an appropriate rate with adequate comprehension’ (2018).
So then, as textbooks have the activities designed to improve reading comprehension covered, it is often up to the teacher to create activities designed to address the fluency matter. What does it take to be a fluent reader? Well, roughly speaking, every two seconds, fluent readers:
1. Focus on and access 8 to 10 words meanings
2. Analyze a clause for information and form a meaning unit
3. Realize how to connect new meaning units into the developing text they are reading
4. Verify understandings of the information according to potential purposes, feelings, attitudes, and background expectations they may have
5. Screen online comprehension, make appropriate inferences, shift reading strategies and repair any possible misunderstandings if they occur
6. Resolve uncertainties, address difficulties and critique text information
(Grabe & Stoller, 2011).
All of these processes are occurring at the same time, and for them to develop in a second language, they need to be practiced.
Activity types that work to promote fluency include simple activities involving sight words (for lower-level students) or phrases (for higher-level students).
An example activity is seen in the following. This activity simply requires students to read the key phrase and then mark the same phrase from the list as soon and as accurately as they can. As a timed activity, it creates a sense of urgency which can also be turned into a competitive endeavor.
Key Phrase
By the way By the time By the way On the way By the end
In addition to Additionally An addition to In addition to An addition of
On the other hand On the other hand On the one hand With the other hand
Number of correct:
Time taken: _________ seconds
Another activity that addresses fluency is the timed semantic connection activity. This activity focuses on words usually already familiar to students, and looks to expand their understanding of word meanings, as seen below.
Key word
Solve The bicycle His house A problem The school A lunch
Flower Red Flour Bank Rose Ring
This can be run in a similar fashion to the previous activity, with the number of key words determined by the teacher, and the focus ranging from collocations to synonyms.
These examples are relatively easy to put together and do not take too much time to do in the class, meaning they can be great additions to any lesson - either textbook based or otherwise. By focusing on fluency in addition to comprehension teachers can ensure greater improvements in their students reading of an additional language.
References
Anderson, N. J. (2018). Silent reading fluency. In J. I. Liontas (Ed.), The TESOL Encyclopedia of English Language Teaching (1st ed) pp. 2212–2221 John Wiley & Sons, Inc.
Grabe, W. (2009). Reading in a second language: Moving from theory to practice. Cambridge University Press.
Grabe, W. & Stoller, F. L. (2011). Teaching and researching reading (2nd ed.). Harlow, UK: Pearson.