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I won't bore with the personal details. I have a situation where I want to find out if some information exists. I've tried libraries of research papers in finding this information as well as Google.
This relates to a dispute between a literacy theories professor and me. It is not a fight just a difference of opinion and of course I'm fact checking a belief they have which they didn't backup with sources. I don't think there are sources for what we are disputing.
This is the dispute. A child's reading fluency has a direct affect upon their reading comprehension.
The professor thinks this premise is true and believes there are papers out their to support them. I've look for papers supporting this premise and can't find anything but weak (sounding to me) correlations between fluency and comprehension.
Anecdotelly, I know of many children who have good fluency but very poor comprehension as well as other children with good comprehension and very poor fluency.
The children with good fluency don't seem to qualify for as much help as the children with poor fluency. And the children with poor fluency are being helping with phonetics which is not what they are struggling with but site recognition and automating their decoding stills.
If anyone can point me to research or a paper which can prove that reading fluency fundamentally affects reading comprehension I would appreciate it very much.
This relates to a dispute between a literacy theories professor and me. It is not a fight just a difference of opinion and of course I'm fact checking a belief they have which they didn't backup with sources. I don't think there are sources for what we are disputing.
This is the dispute. A child's reading fluency has a direct affect upon their reading comprehension.
The professor thinks this premise is true and believes there are papers out their to support them. I've look for papers supporting this premise and can't find anything but weak (sounding to me) correlations between fluency and comprehension.
Anecdotelly, I know of many children who have good fluency but very poor comprehension as well as other children with good comprehension and very poor fluency.
The children with good fluency don't seem to qualify for as much help as the children with poor fluency. And the children with poor fluency are being helping with phonetics which is not what they are struggling with but site recognition and automating their decoding stills.
If anyone can point me to research or a paper which can prove that reading fluency fundamentally affects reading comprehension I would appreciate it very much.
Hey Elder Berry,
I probably won't have what you are looking for, but the subject is interesting. Could you help me understand it better?
What is meant precisely by "reading fluency"?
If reading comprehension means the ability to process and understand the meaning of text, then my old-fashioned way of understanding fluency is that a fluent reader is one who does reading comprehension well (quickly, fluidly, seemingly without effort). So in terms of your dispute a reverse formulation seems in order, that increasing reading comprehension leads to increasing reading fluency, a positive correlation. Obviously I'm not understanding something.
I probably won't have what you are looking for, but the subject is interesting. Could you help me understand it better?
What is meant precisely by "reading fluency"?
If reading comprehension means the ability to process and understand the meaning of text, then my old-fashioned way of understanding fluency is that a fluent reader is one who does reading comprehension well (quickly, fluidly, seemingly without effort). So in terms of your dispute a reverse formulation seems in order, that increasing reading comprehension leads to increasing reading fluency, a positive correlation. Obviously I'm not understanding something.
Here's what reading fluency means. It's a bit different from comprehension.
Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with expression. Fluency is important because it provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. When fluent readers read silently, they recognize words automatically. They group words quickly to help them gain meaning from what they read. Fluent readers read aloud effortlessly and with expression. Their reading sounds natural, as if they are speaking. Readers who have not yet developed fluency read slowly, word by word. Their oral reading is choppy.
Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately, quickly, and with expression. Fluency is important because it provides a bridge between word recognition and comprehension. When fluent readers read silently, they recognize words automatically. They group words quickly to help them gain meaning from what they read. Fluent readers read aloud effortlessly and with expression. Their reading sounds natural, as if they are speaking. Readers who have not yet developed fluency read slowly, word by word. Their oral reading is choppy.
Thanks No Mo.
Human Wrote:
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> So in terms of your dispute a
> reverse formulation seems in order, that
> increasing reading comprehension leads to
> increasing reading fluency, a positive
> correlation.
The funny thing is that for some kids this is simply not true.
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> So in terms of your dispute a
> reverse formulation seems in order, that
> increasing reading comprehension leads to
> increasing reading fluency, a positive
> correlation.
The funny thing is that for some kids this is simply not true.
No, this is not true.
Example: if you put your foot on the brake pedal, a car slows and stops. If you take your foot off the brake the car will move on its own.
There are different skills involved in decoding—sound/symbol association— and comprehension—higher order cognitive abilities involving skills such as organizing chunks of information into order from first to last, recognizing the main idea of a paragraph, identifying salient details that support a conclusion or main idea, and so on.
Example: if you put your foot on the brake pedal, a car slows and stops. If you take your foot off the brake the car will move on its own.
There are different skills involved in decoding—sound/symbol association— and comprehension—higher order cognitive abilities involving skills such as organizing chunks of information into order from first to last, recognizing the main idea of a paragraph, identifying salient details that support a conclusion or main idea, and so on.
Can't cite a specific paper for you, but can give you some experience from my family. My son has both dyslexia and dysgraphia. He was diagnosed last year. We are lucky enough to live near a school that specializes in teaching dyslexics (The Bodine School www.thebodineschool.org). He started there in camp this summer and is in his first school year currently.
I keep trying to reply but for some reason the topic of reading comprehension sets the spam filter off :) And now I have lost my long reply e-mail to you.
At my son's school the teach all parts of reading - comprehension, encoding, decoding, fluency, sight words and more. They also use a multi-sensory approach.
They teach fluency and comprehension as two different parts of learning to read.
In my son's case, he is pretty good a fluency but has real issues with encoding and decoding. A boy who car pools with us has more issues with sigh words and fluency.
For instance, my son's homework each night includes:
Math - standard regular worksheet
Spelling - Choose one activity from a spelling menu - write each word 3 times, write the words backwards, use the word in a sentence, etc.
Fluency - We do this on line. He has to read a non-fiction passage. One night we read along with a narrator. One night he reads by himself. One night he takes a quiz on comprehension.
Independent Reading - Reads for 10 minutes by himself and has to write a sentence about what he read.
Comprehension - We read to him for 10 minutes and he fills out a log
Bird Words - Essentially sight words. They are printed on index cards. He looks at the card, sets the word in his mind, then spells it using his fingers. I then quiz him on the word, with him pointing out the letters. Then he gives a definition and a sentence using the word.
At my son's school the teach all parts of reading - comprehension, encoding, decoding, fluency, sight words and more. They also use a multi-sensory approach.
They teach fluency and comprehension as two different parts of learning to read.
In my son's case, he is pretty good a fluency but has real issues with encoding and decoding. A boy who car pools with us has more issues with sigh words and fluency.
For instance, my son's homework each night includes:
Math - standard regular worksheet
Spelling - Choose one activity from a spelling menu - write each word 3 times, write the words backwards, use the word in a sentence, etc.
Fluency - We do this on line. He has to read a non-fiction passage. One night we read along with a narrator. One night he reads by himself. One night he takes a quiz on comprehension.
Independent Reading - Reads for 10 minutes by himself and has to write a sentence about what he read.
Comprehension - We read to him for 10 minutes and he fills out a log
Bird Words - Essentially sight words. They are printed on index cards. He looks at the card, sets the word in his mind, then spells it using his fingers. I then quiz him on the word, with him pointing out the letters. Then he gives a definition and a sentence using the word.
If you go to the website for my son's school - www.thebodineschool.org - there is a great video on the home page that talks about how we use our brain when we read and how dyslexics have issues. You also might want to contact the director, Josh Clark. He could point you to more resources.
One thing that is really cool about my son's school is that they recognize that most dyslexics are really smart, even if they learn differently from others. When you walk in the hallway, there is a mural of photos. They are pictures of current students and famous dyslexics - Steve Jobs, Whoopi Goldberg, Ernest Hemingway, etc. The school has 4 School Houses (like Harry Potter) named after famous dyslexics - Jobs, Edison, Einstein, and DaVinci. They really understand these kids there.
One thing that is really cool about my son's school is that they recognize that most dyslexics are really smart, even if they learn differently from others. When you walk in the hallway, there is a mural of photos. They are pictures of current students and famous dyslexics - Steve Jobs, Whoopi Goldberg, Ernest Hemingway, etc. The school has 4 School Houses (like Harry Potter) named after famous dyslexics - Jobs, Edison, Einstein, and DaVinci. They really understand these kids there.
Oops, wrong web address. It's bodineschool.org. No "the" in front of it. Sorry.
Interesting site and school. There are kids struggling with some form of reading fluency and comprehension who have lower IQs, come from low income and "interesting" backgrounds who have no hope for something like this school. I think this school would help them as well. It is nice that there is a school dedicated to this.
When I was in HS waaaay back when (60's) I took a speed reading class. I was already a good reader, but this put me up over the top.
I could read a book very quickly and still comprehend it. I didn't get bogged down in difficult passages. I still read that way most of the time. It's kept me interested in reading. I wish they still taught that in school. I think it may have been a huge help to my ADHD son. He would get bored very quickly while reading. This could have been a solution. I couldn't find anyone who taught it in the midwest in the 80's.
I could read a book very quickly and still comprehend it. I didn't get bogged down in difficult passages. I still read that way most of the time. It's kept me interested in reading. I wish they still taught that in school. I think it may have been a huge help to my ADHD son. He would get bored very quickly while reading. This could have been a solution. I couldn't find anyone who taught it in the midwest in the 80's.
Check with a local schools Resource Room teaching Elementary kids.
I worked with resource room and found that there were different kinds of dyslexia.
Sometimes when reading a person will switch things
Examples:
When reading out loud the sentence "barking dogs"
the person, who is an excellent reader, with high grades in English read "darking bogs".
When a 6th grade boy was told it is 80 miles from Pahrump to Las Vegas, how far is it from Las Vegas to Pharump? The boy could not answer the question because he could not reverse Las Vegas and Pahrump and get the same distance.
So someone who is very articulate in their speaking may not recognize the words they are reading.
There are words I will use in everyday speech, but to see them in print I've been known to stumble over them or say "so that's how that word is spelled!"
The people who work with word recognition and dyslexia can help you with where to find references to studies for your question.
I worked with resource room and found that there were different kinds of dyslexia.
Sometimes when reading a person will switch things
Examples:
When reading out loud the sentence "barking dogs"
the person, who is an excellent reader, with high grades in English read "darking bogs".
When a 6th grade boy was told it is 80 miles from Pahrump to Las Vegas, how far is it from Las Vegas to Pharump? The boy could not answer the question because he could not reverse Las Vegas and Pahrump and get the same distance.
So someone who is very articulate in their speaking may not recognize the words they are reading.
There are words I will use in everyday speech, but to see them in print I've been known to stumble over them or say "so that's how that word is spelled!"
The people who work with word recognition and dyslexia can help you with where to find references to studies for your question.
Fascinating.
I don't know of any sources but I get what you are talking about. The only scientific finding coming to my mind is that there is generally a correlation between different kinds of cognitive skills in all kinds of IQ tests and such. That is, if you are above average in one skill chances are you are above average in any other skill aswell. Just a general correlation, there's no rule that it's always the case.
I would imagine there's a correlation between fluency and comprehension aswell. It wouldn't prove anything though.
I would imagine there's a correlation between fluency and comprehension aswell. It wouldn't prove anything though.
brefots Wrote:
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> I would imagine there's a correlation between
> fluency and comprehension aswell. It wouldn't
> prove anything though.
There are several. If one uses fluency as a predictor of comprehension though it is only true for students without learning disablities and even for them it isn't as strong a correlation and one would think.
I believe it is just one of those things educators would like to believe and it is not a good thing to hold up. Many students with poor comprehension skills fly under the radar. The strategies for comprehension are good but many students don't or can't use them for a variety of reasons many of which aren't obvious.
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> I would imagine there's a correlation between
> fluency and comprehension aswell. It wouldn't
> prove anything though.
There are several. If one uses fluency as a predictor of comprehension though it is only true for students without learning disablities and even for them it isn't as strong a correlation and one would think.
I believe it is just one of those things educators would like to believe and it is not a good thing to hold up. Many students with poor comprehension skills fly under the radar. The strategies for comprehension are good but many students don't or can't use them for a variety of reasons many of which aren't obvious.
These were within the first five or six articles that came up on Google scholar:
http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2008-05694-005
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1598/RT.58.6.2/abstract
http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/edu/95/4/719/
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220671.1993.9941225#.VEBHtfldU1I
If you are interested in this, read these full studies using your university library access. The great thing about research papers is that they explain and cite other research papers that their research is built upon. In other words, just by reading these papers, you'll probably find a few dozen other papers to read.
I'm not an expert in the field, but reading comprehension is important for other fields that I am an expert in. As far as I know, and could tell by reading these papers, your professor is correct. Reading comprehension and reading fluency have a direct relationship with one another. The only thing that I can think of that might confound these results is that fluency and comprehension might be symptoms of a child's cognitive development and that is why it seems like they are connected. Like I said, I'm not an expert, or incredibly well read on the subject and I don't know if that has been examined. It probably has.
One thing about phonetics is that it does help both reading fluency and reading comprehension. I can get you some studies speficially on that too if you are interested.
http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/2008-05694-005
http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1598/RT.58.6.2/abstract
http://psycnet.apa.org/journals/edu/95/4/719/
http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/00220671.1993.9941225#.VEBHtfldU1I
If you are interested in this, read these full studies using your university library access. The great thing about research papers is that they explain and cite other research papers that their research is built upon. In other words, just by reading these papers, you'll probably find a few dozen other papers to read.
I'm not an expert in the field, but reading comprehension is important for other fields that I am an expert in. As far as I know, and could tell by reading these papers, your professor is correct. Reading comprehension and reading fluency have a direct relationship with one another. The only thing that I can think of that might confound these results is that fluency and comprehension might be symptoms of a child's cognitive development and that is why it seems like they are connected. Like I said, I'm not an expert, or incredibly well read on the subject and I don't know if that has been examined. It probably has.
One thing about phonetics is that it does help both reading fluency and reading comprehension. I can get you some studies speficially on that too if you are interested.
snb Wrote:
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> One thing about phonetics is that it does help
> both reading fluency and reading comprehension. I
> can get you some studies speficially on that too
> if you are interested.
Very much so thank you.
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> One thing about phonetics is that it does help
> both reading fluency and reading comprehension. I
> can get you some studies speficially on that too
> if you are interested.
Very much so thank you.
Some of these deal with phonology as well as phonetics, but here is some of the research (and one book) I was able to find:
http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1987-18273-001
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=gVdfsStbgnQC&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=phonetics+and+reading+comprehension&ots=lBE_j5giX5&sig=OHkjN5YNnYSzGnGFAicLLeSRj34#v=onepage&q=phonetics%20and%20reading%20comprehension&f=false
http://jlr.sagepub.com/content/12/3/177.short
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/089892904322984580#.VEBO__ldU1I
http://psycnet.apa.org/psycinfo/1987-18273-001
http://books.google.com/books?hl=en&lr=&id=gVdfsStbgnQC&oi=fnd&pg=PA3&dq=phonetics+and+reading+comprehension&ots=lBE_j5giX5&sig=OHkjN5YNnYSzGnGFAicLLeSRj34#v=onepage&q=phonetics%20and%20reading%20comprehension&f=false
http://jlr.sagepub.com/content/12/3/177.short
http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/abs/10.1162/089892904322984580#.VEBO__ldU1I
Thank you.
You last article had this in the Abstract.
"Although moderate-to-strong correlations between developing reading fluency and improved reading comprehension have recently been reported, no study has shown that direct training of students' reading fluency would result in improved reading comprehension ability."
"Although moderate-to-strong correlations between developing reading fluency and improved reading comprehension have recently been reported, no study has shown that direct training of students' reading fluency would result in improved reading comprehension ability."
Yeah, and what of it? Read the study and see if what they are saying seems legitimate. A single line in the last sentence of the abstract of one of the studies I showed you neither confirms nor denies your original argument.
It looks like those authors are claiming that researchers have only posited that fluency and comprehension are related. The great thing about this paper is that it cites many other papers that are related. I bet you could find some papers that do more than merely posit that there is a relationship.
It looks like those authors are claiming that researchers have only posited that fluency and comprehension are related. The great thing about this paper is that it cites many other papers that are related. I bet you could find some papers that do more than merely posit that there is a relationship.
snb Wrote:
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> I bet you could find some papers that
> do more than merely posit that there is a
> relationship.
I've looked into the Educators database but I forgot about Google Scholar.
I wish I could say I had an argument. It is just a hunch and I have not premises other than an absence of them and not much convincing literature to review to support the antithesis of my hunch.
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> I bet you could find some papers that
> do more than merely posit that there is a
> relationship.
I've looked into the Educators database but I forgot about Google Scholar.
I wish I could say I had an argument. It is just a hunch and I have not premises other than an absence of them and not much convincing literature to review to support the antithesis of my hunch.
No worries. We're all students. :)
The only disagreement I have is whether or not there are articles out there that support the notion that fluency and comprehension are reciprocal and affect one another. I linked you to several, but that was only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what was out there.
The only disagreement I have is whether or not there are articles out there that support the notion that fluency and comprehension are reciprocal and affect one another. I linked you to several, but that was only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what was out there.
I appreciate your help. I don't have a lot of research time and I burn too many candles here.
I'm also motivated to believe there isn't a link since I can't see it. Not a very logical way of thinking.
I'm also motivated to believe there isn't a link since I can't see it. Not a very logical way of thinking.
I am a teacher with 18 years experience. I have taught all grades from 1-7. My specialty is reading and English language arts.
As a general rule of thumb, if a child can read with reasonable fluency, I can teach that child to comprehend. It's not a perfect correlation, but it's there. That is why schools are very concerned with reading fluency, particularly in 1st and 2nd grade. The major work of teaching reading comprehension starts in 3rd grade and continues from there. When I taught reading in the 3rd grade, I used to have a saying: fluency IS comprehension. That it because it is generally very easy to teach children comprehension who have good fluency. There is the *rare* exception to this rule. The exceptions are not as common as you think.
There are certain reading skills that most children will find challenging such as making inferences.
As you noted, the rare child can comprehend despite poor fluency. And an experienced teacher should know that some kids will never learn to read through the use of phonics. Such children are known as "whole word readers" and have to be taught vocabulary by sight.
Letter reversals are generally not a huge concern in first or sometimes even second grade. By third grade they likely signal some sort of learning disability. Learning disabilities are varied and occur across a spectrum from barely noticeable to severe. They often occur in combination with other issues.
If I can find the relevant research, I'll let you know.
Okay, here's a start:
Dowhowser, S.L. (1987) Effects of repeated reading in second-grade transitional reader' fluency and comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 22, 389-406.
[Fluency instruction resulted in improved reading achievement assessed through measures of comprehension.]
Rasinski T.V. & Padak, N.D. (1996) Holistic reading strategies: Teaching children who find reading difficult. Columbus, OH: Merrill.
[Struggling young readers in a large urban school district particularly lagged on measures of reading fluency. Their comprehension was below grade level, but their reading fluency was drastically below grade level.]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2014 08:45PM by summer.
As a general rule of thumb, if a child can read with reasonable fluency, I can teach that child to comprehend. It's not a perfect correlation, but it's there. That is why schools are very concerned with reading fluency, particularly in 1st and 2nd grade. The major work of teaching reading comprehension starts in 3rd grade and continues from there. When I taught reading in the 3rd grade, I used to have a saying: fluency IS comprehension. That it because it is generally very easy to teach children comprehension who have good fluency. There is the *rare* exception to this rule. The exceptions are not as common as you think.
There are certain reading skills that most children will find challenging such as making inferences.
As you noted, the rare child can comprehend despite poor fluency. And an experienced teacher should know that some kids will never learn to read through the use of phonics. Such children are known as "whole word readers" and have to be taught vocabulary by sight.
Letter reversals are generally not a huge concern in first or sometimes even second grade. By third grade they likely signal some sort of learning disability. Learning disabilities are varied and occur across a spectrum from barely noticeable to severe. They often occur in combination with other issues.
If I can find the relevant research, I'll let you know.
Okay, here's a start:
Dowhowser, S.L. (1987) Effects of repeated reading in second-grade transitional reader' fluency and comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 22, 389-406.
[Fluency instruction resulted in improved reading achievement assessed through measures of comprehension.]
Rasinski T.V. & Padak, N.D. (1996) Holistic reading strategies: Teaching children who find reading difficult. Columbus, OH: Merrill.
[Struggling young readers in a large urban school district particularly lagged on measures of reading fluency. Their comprehension was below grade level, but their reading fluency was drastically below grade level.]
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 10/16/2014 08:45PM by summer.
Yes, those are great references. Rasinski I believe calls what he advocates in reading fluency as "deep reading" repeated reading and reading repetition usually increases both comprehension and fluency of a text. The problem in repeated reading is engagement from what I've read. If a child has no desire to repeat the reading (making it deep) then they can't improve.
"They often occur in combination with other issues."
So true.
"There are certain reading skills that most children will find challenging such as making inferences."
Also very important in comprehension which I believe puts the breaks on fluency for some kids. There are kids who given more time than they "should" have in their reading assessments will make inferences. Fluent readers (with disabilities) really struggle with this "strategy." It is one of the most important comprehension skills and I don't know how more fluent readers could acquire this skill in becoming more fluent.
"They often occur in combination with other issues."
So true.
"There are certain reading skills that most children will find challenging such as making inferences."
Also very important in comprehension which I believe puts the breaks on fluency for some kids. There are kids who given more time than they "should" have in their reading assessments will make inferences. Fluent readers (with disabilities) really struggle with this "strategy." It is one of the most important comprehension skills and I don't know how more fluent readers could acquire this skill in becoming more fluent.
I did a paper on socioeconomic status and cultures a good long while ago, and I found that the lower the status of a person, the less they comprehended in general, not just reading or other skills. Some were unable to receive medical care, because of their status in society.
They felt that if they were to tell a doctor about any subject, such as they could not see clearly, that they would not understand the different classes of doctors that would need to be seen in order to correct the problem.
I believe this to be true, would this be in error?
Socioeconomic status may play into the issue also, because if they can't comprehend what is going on around them, asking them to grow comprehension-wise is looked at by me, as impossible to some degree.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2025 02:14PM by lousyleper.
They felt that if they were to tell a doctor about any subject, such as they could not see clearly, that they would not understand the different classes of doctors that would need to be seen in order to correct the problem.
I believe this to be true, would this be in error?
Socioeconomic status may play into the issue also, because if they can't comprehend what is going on around them, asking them to grow comprehension-wise is looked at by me, as impossible to some degree.
Edited 2 time(s). Last edit at 01/18/2025 02:14PM by lousyleper.
LL, what you are talking about is a deficit in vocabulary. Better educated parents impart a much wider vocabulary to their children. Poor parents have a much more limited vocabulary. It does make a difference when it comes to instruction in reading. Schools are aware of this and try to find materials with a rich vocabulary. But that doesn't entirely make up for the lack of a rich vocabulary in the home.
Children also need a solid exposure to science and social studies content in order to further comprehension. This too is well known, and forms a basis of the Common Core.
Children also need a solid exposure to science and social studies content in order to further comprehension. This too is well known, and forms a basis of the Common Core.
I have three dyslexic children and have been involved extensively with the International Dyslexia Association where I hob-nobbed with some reading researchers and neural psychologists working in the field. I do not have their background, but I can tell you that it is common for reading fluency to heavily impact reading comprehension.
When a dyslexic child is struggling to decode text, they can become so focused on that task that they neglect to pay attention to the meaning. When the reading gets slow and labored, they often lose their place and skip words compounding comprehension problems. Reading with my daughter last night, she misread or skipped several words that completely altered meanings like gnawed read as yawned and almost read as also. When they test her for fluency, it is scored on a combination of reading rate and accuracy. (Reading words incorrectly fast, doesn't count as being a fast reader.)
Her sister is not dyslexic, but a slow reader. She is a methodical type of personality and likes taking her time with everything. Her fluency rate does not impact her comprehension at all. In fact, her reading teacher tested this in specific because she was worried.
When a dyslexic child is struggling to decode text, they can become so focused on that task that they neglect to pay attention to the meaning. When the reading gets slow and labored, they often lose their place and skip words compounding comprehension problems. Reading with my daughter last night, she misread or skipped several words that completely altered meanings like gnawed read as yawned and almost read as also. When they test her for fluency, it is scored on a combination of reading rate and accuracy. (Reading words incorrectly fast, doesn't count as being a fast reader.)
Her sister is not dyslexic, but a slow reader. She is a methodical type of personality and likes taking her time with everything. Her fluency rate does not impact her comprehension at all. In fact, her reading teacher tested this in specific because she was worried.
This is a great personal perspective. I'm glad she has a reading teacher.
Many years ago I saw a great video of a girl whose fluency was awful and comprehension great. So let’s look at the issue.
1. Reading out loud is different than reading silently. Reading to be assessed is different than reading for yourself.
W. Many words can be understood for meaning by context. Accuracy in decoding is not necessary. Ex: it was a dark, cold kalafa. Marion dibbled her coat around her.
3. However, some folks struggle so mightily with decoding (figuring out what the letters say) that they have little or no cognitive room to also understand and retain the content of the text.
4. Here is some shocking information: if you are reading independently to learn content—science, history, a novel, etc., you need to be able to read 95% of the words correctly to not have the task exhaust you. If you are reading in an instructional setting to improve your reading, fluency or comprehension, you need to be able to already be able to read/understand 75% of the words or all you will remember is that you hate to read.
Over half a century teaching reading has taught me that fluency assessment has become some sort of assessment of overall reading ability. This is a great disservice. While being able to decode words phonetically is important, a fluency assessment only assess rate and accuracy (words per minute read correctly). There is no record of what error are made in decoding. A running reading assessment is better because you note not only correct words per minute, but also the types of error made—omissions, substitutions, repetitions, etc. Much more helpful for instructional purposes. And it certainly does not speak to comprehension, which is really why we read.
Fluency testing is easy and fast so has been adopted as a global assessment of reading ability. Big mistake.
1. Reading out loud is different than reading silently. Reading to be assessed is different than reading for yourself.
W. Many words can be understood for meaning by context. Accuracy in decoding is not necessary. Ex: it was a dark, cold kalafa. Marion dibbled her coat around her.
3. However, some folks struggle so mightily with decoding (figuring out what the letters say) that they have little or no cognitive room to also understand and retain the content of the text.
4. Here is some shocking information: if you are reading independently to learn content—science, history, a novel, etc., you need to be able to read 95% of the words correctly to not have the task exhaust you. If you are reading in an instructional setting to improve your reading, fluency or comprehension, you need to be able to already be able to read/understand 75% of the words or all you will remember is that you hate to read.
Over half a century teaching reading has taught me that fluency assessment has become some sort of assessment of overall reading ability. This is a great disservice. While being able to decode words phonetically is important, a fluency assessment only assess rate and accuracy (words per minute read correctly). There is no record of what error are made in decoding. A running reading assessment is better because you note not only correct words per minute, but also the types of error made—omissions, substitutions, repetitions, etc. Much more helpful for instructional purposes. And it certainly does not speak to comprehension, which is really why we read.
Fluency testing is easy and fast so has been adopted as a global assessment of reading ability. Big mistake.