Fluency is the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. It is an essential, but often neglected, component of reading. Readers who have not yet developed fluency produce slow, choppy reading. Reading disfluently will naturally impede children’s comprehension since more effort is exhausted in decoding rather than focusing on understanding what is being read. Fluency is often recognized as the bridge to comprehension. If a child does not need to concentrate on decoding, he or she can focus on the meaning of a text much better.
Fluency develops gradually with a great deal of practice. The most effective approach to improving a child’s fluency is repeated oral reading practice. This might include reading the same story aloud multiple times independently or with a partner, practicing lines from a play or reader’s theater, listening to audiobooks read with expression, and recording oneself reading with fluency while paying close attention to the use of punctuation in the text.
Resources
What is Reading Fluency and How to Improve it
Developing Fluent Readers – article
Choral Reading video
