Tips for Building Reading Fluency

Do you have students sitting in your middle school class who struggle to read fluently? Sure. We all do. The problem is that most teaching programs do not prepare secondary teachers to address this issue. How can educators focus on improving reading fluency issues in elementary and high school? 

It’s important to emphasize that issues with reading fluency typically originate early on in students’ lives. Many secondary students with fluency problems were not exposed to literacy-rich environments as infants, toddlers, and elementary students.

Besides, poor fluency is not a dilemma that can be rectified with a few mini-lessons. It’s also important to note that it’s really not necessary to address fluency in the regular education classroom if it doesn’t impede students’ comprehension. Instead, teachers should recommend students who struggle with fluency for intervention services.

 So, what can teachers do in their classrooms to support students who struggle with fluency? What advice can we offer parents so that they can also work with their children at home?

CHOOSE APPROPRIATE TEXTS

When students have difficulty reading words out loud,  it’s likely a vocabulary issue, or the reader is focusing more on the individual words than on trying to comprehend while reading. If you notice a student consistently struggles with fluency, try a text with an easier reading level. When students don’t have to work so hard on vocabulary, they can focus more on understanding.

The movement to include more choice reading in the secondary classroom should help teachers to match students with books that are appropriate to their independent reading ability. When teaching whole-class novels, stories, or articles, consider using sites like Rewordify to simplify complex passages. Online sites like Actively Learn, Scholastic Scope, and NewsELA also differentiate text levels for the same article. 

READ TO STUDENTS

When teachers read out loud to students, students benefit from hearing what fluent reading sounds like. Many struggling readers weren’t read to outside of school as children, putting them at a disadvantage. Catch up a student who reads at a below grade level, we can make a difference by showing them the habits of good readers.

As teachers read out loud we can pause and model what to do when confronting difficult vocabulary. We can show students how we read a sentence differently by noting punctuation marks. Teachers can show students that readers tend to speed up the pace during suspenseful parts of the story and slow down during descriptive passages. We can show students how to use their finger to swipe under entire word groups to read them fluently instead of pointing at words as separate units.

Think about what good readers do without even being cognizant. Those are the tips we need to share with struggling readers as we read out loud.

READ WITH STUDENTS

When trying to improve fluency, teachers can use different strategies during whole-class read alouds. During each of these strategies, remember that modeling multiple times might be necessary, and it’s important that students can see the text as they read. Use a document camera, or simply have students follow along in their own copy of the book.

Echo reading. The teacher reads a sentence and model appropriate tone, pace, and volume. Students echo your example.  Prompt students to follow the text with their eyes as you read and listen for how you phrase and emphasize words.  I was really surprised at how effective this technique was!  Students who really struggled with fluency were able to mimic my phrasing and intonation.  That practice will slowly transfer to the reading in their head and when they read out loud individually. 

Choral reading. Everyone reads together. Students will naturally fall in line with the group.

Repeated reading. Have students read a short text out loud over and over (I wouldn’t recommend using more than a paragraph). As they gain more confidence with the vocabulary and sentence structure, they will be practicing reading more fluently.

Phrased reading. Helping students to focus on complete phrases instead of individual words can improve fluency. My favorite way to do this is by pointing out how sentences are structured grammatically. Teachers can show students how an introductory prepositional or participial phrase is used to improve the flow of a sentence.  I modeled by reading the page and pausing appropriately at the lines.  I then asked my students to do the same. Likewise, teachers can explain how dependent clauses function as a unit to lead into the main clause.

REDUCE THE PRESSURE

Readers theater. Allowing students the freedom to read out loud creatively and without concern for accuracy gives them a safe space to practice fluency. It’s fun to model how to read lines and then tell students just to have fun reading…not to stop and toil over a word if they think they mispronounced it. Just keep going! However, I’ve also taken guided reading books with a lot of dialogue and assigned characters and a narrator to read a section of the text, and it’s worked out great as well.

Partner up. Sometimes students are reluctant to read in front of their peers. It’s easy enough to assign two students to a role. Both teens read the same lines at the same time, which takes the pressure off of individual kids.

Don’t surprise struggling readers. Unexpectedly calling on struggling readers to read out loud can be traumatizing for students with fluency issues. Teens can be judgmental. Always give students a heads up when asking them to read out loud, or allow them to decline your invitation.

More Strategies:

Reread the same text until mastery: Of course, you want a variety of text but rereading the same text over and over for mastery is a great way to build fluency. The more times they read a passage, the better and faster they will get.

Rate Mover: Model to students how to read the paragraph slowly one time, get gradually faster the second time through, and then read at the perfect rate the third time through.  Next, have them give it a try.  After giving this technique a try, I have found it to be a great way for students who read too slow or too fast to really be able to focus on an appropriate rate. 

Self-Evaluation: I also think it’s important for students to be aware of their fluency.  I created the anchor chart below and have it displayed above my guided reading table.  I’ve talked with my students about the different questions to ask yourself while you’re reading, and I’ve also used it as a good reminder for myself to talk with students about their perception of their fluency.

 Focusing on breaking down word parts, reading to and reading with teenagers is most effective at improving reading fluency problems. Using a few of these strategies in the classroom can help to provide the interventions students need.

I hope these tips have helped you at least a little. But hopefully, you found a tip that will help you help your students build their fluency!

How do you build fluency in your students?? Any tips you'd like to share?