Understanding Reading Fluency
Teachers will often tell parents that their child needs to improve reading fluency. While part of fluency is simply speed, there is more to fluent reading than simply reading quickly.
In order for a teacher to determine the reading fluency of a child, the child has to read a passage aloud to the teacher. The teacher will time the child as he reads and then figure out the number of words read per minute. This is determined by multiplying the number of words in the passage by 60 and dividing that total with the number of seconds it took the child to read the passage.
So for example, if the passage has 221 words and the child took 3 minutes to read it:
221 x 60 = 13,260 / 180 = 7.3 words per minute.
In this example, the child has very poor fluency, and probably read the passage slowly and choppy, sounding out words along the way.
Reading fluency is more than simply the speed at which a child reads a passage, though. Teachers will also look at the number of errors a child makes while reading. This will affect the instructional level of the text.
What does this mean? If a child reads quickly but makes many mistakes, the text, or story that the child is reading, is too difficult. Conversely, if the child reads slowly but makes few to no mistakes, the text may not be at the right level either. Teachers are trained to make instructional decisions as to the proper reading level based on fluency and comprehension.
How Does Fluency Effect Comprehension?
This is the main reason why teachers are so focused on fluency. It has been shown through research that the student who reads more fluently (smoothly with few mistakes) will have better comprehension (understand what they are reading).
This is because the child who is so focused on saying the words correctly (causing him to read slowly, perhaps choppy) is not focused on the meaning behind the words. Alternately, the child who reads fluently does not have to focus as much on the individual words and can focus more on the meaning.
Average Fluency Rates
Reading Aloud:
First grade: 30-87
Second Grade: 52-102
Third Grade: 85-139
Fourth Grade: 78-124
Reading Silently:
Second grade: 58-122
Third Grade: 96-168
Fourth Grade: 107-175
Middle School: 73-370
High school: 65-334
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