Building Fluency in Reading

• What is fluency?
• How is reading fluently helpful?
• How can fluency be developed?
• Repeated Reading Exercises
• Basic Repeated Reading routine
• Fluency Skill Building Topics
• Tracking Fluency Progress

What is fluency and how is it helpful?

“Fluency is defined as the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and proper expression. In order to understand what they read, children must be able to read fluently whether they are reading aloud or silently. When reading aloud, fluent readers read in phrases and add intonation appropriately. Their reading is smooth and has expression. “(WETA)

Fluency can be developed by concentrating on five key components:

• accuracy (correct pronunciation, emphasizing syllables correctly, vocabulary development)
• rate (matching reading speed with type of reading, using punctuation correctly)
• phrasing (using your voice to group words together so reading is not choppy)
• expression (using your voice to express feeling)
• intonation (rise and fall in pitch of voice to match what is read; use proper rhythm, raising sound of voice for words and phrases which should be emphasized/stressed)

It is best to teach these concepts in the context of the actual reading passage you are working on rather than in general.

Fluency can be developed in the following ways:

• reading!!!!!
• repeated reading practice with feedback/guidance (and mini lessons)
• vocabulary development

Repeated Reading Exercises

I first started doing repeated reading with my oldest daughter years ago. Since then, it has always been a very helpful tool to build up fluency for my kids. My kids have always seemed to enjoy it as well.

Basic Routine(what we do)

1. Prep: In the beginning, prepare or make a copy of a progress graph chart to record speeds.

2. Prepare the reading selections (weekly)

      Pick the reading passage(s) for the week and mark off:

• the length of the passage (100-150 words approximately, but don’t stop mid paragraph)
• chunks (phrases)—use slashes to show phrase boundaries   (The dog / walked  down / the street--A lot of times, I leave off chunking due to forgetfullness or laziness but it is very helpful when you have kids who just read each word one at a time without chunking so that it sounds choppy)
• fluency skills to work on; words to be emphasized (note why they should be emphasized);  
• vocabulary student may not know

What should you use for reading passages?

Really anything—stories, news articles, poems. It is a good idea to vary the reading material each week to give student practice reading different types of written works.

Here are a few free suggestions for reading passages:

McGraw Hill has a series of Language workbooks called On Level Practice Books for grades 1-6, which is what we currently use. Each unit contains passages for the purpose of practicing fluency.

TpT Free Reading Passages Grades 1-4

Anything you have around the house, story books, poetry, even textbooks are good. Just be sure not to make the portion selected for repeated reading too long, try 100-150 words, but of course, if the 100-150 words end in the middle of a paragraph, complete the paragraph. You can use longer selections for older students. ( I use passages of less than 100 words for my younger kids).


3. Repeated Reading Drills:

At the very beginning, establish a baseline of fluency in terms of speed and accuracy by having student read a passage in one minute and record the speed, correcting for errors:

(Total number of words - # errors = Words correct/minute)

“Typical” first graders read 60 wpm.
“Typical” second graders read 70 wpm.
“Typical” third graders read 80 wpm.)

(There's a fluency standards table here which shows typical fluency rates for grades 1-6 over the course of a school year). I just use these as a guide.

Typical Session (3 times a week or so):

1. MODELING: Read the passage to the student to model fluent reading of the passage. (also, model nonfluent reading sometimes so student an see the difference)


2. DIRECT INSTRUCTION: Go back over the passage, discuss with student the fluency skills which will be targeted (see fluency building topics below ) in that session as well as vocabulary (meaning and pronunciation) student may not know.

As a general rule and quick helper during your sessions, keep these five elements in mind for what to concentrate on:

• accuracy 
• rate
• intonation
• expression
• phrasing

3. REPEATED READING: Let student read the passage orally to you (do not interrupt); mark down words student struggled with, places that should have been emphasized based upon previous lessons and places that should have been emphasized based upon this lesson’s foci.

4. FEEDBACK: Look over the passage with student and point out words that should have been emphasized (but weren’t) and why; words read incorrectly. Do pronunciation drills on words that are hard for student to read (show student how to pronounce correctly and have them repeat the words several times. Have student repeat the reading several times, making sure to offer feedback as appropriate (making sure not to interrupt student until a sentence is complete).You can also time each reading which may help motivate the student more if necessary as well as help student see progress.

5. MEASURE/TRACK PROGRESS: At the end of the week or so, take a timed reading (on the week’s passage, without feedback) and record the speed on student’s progress graph.

You may want to select a multiple paragraph reading selection for the week and work your way through the paragraphs during the week, one at a time, sticking with one until several, consistent fluent readings have been achieved for each paragraph.

You may also want to record the first repeated reading of the week and the last one to notice progress/improvement.

Fluency Skill Building Topics

Things you can focus on in fluency exercises. Choose one or more to focus on each time in a mini lesson during the repeated reading routine.

• Tone should change to match type of reading
• Do not read in a monotone voice
• Pauses – end of sentence (long pause, count of two)
• Pauses – after commas (short pause, count of one)
• Pronunciation (sounds, syllables); do drills to practice pronouncing vocabulary that is difficult to read
• Emphasize words in quotation marks (dialogue/terms)
• Emphasize strong verbs, adverbs (eg. “so”), and adjectives
• Don’t run words together, enunciate each word separately, don’t omit syllables
• example, don’t say “dirtand” for “dirt and”
• Use punctuation to cue the rise and fall of voice at the end of sentences (raise voice on the last word of a question); read exclamations with excitement
• Emphasize words in a series (except “and” ) – daisies, roses, and daffodils
• Emphasize negative words such as “no/not” or positive words such as “yes”
• Emphasize signal words (e.g. first, next, last)
• Emphasize conjunctions such as but, or, however
• Emphasize contrast words when trying to emphasize contrast
• Emphasize repeated words (eg. “more and more”)
• Emphasize numbers and years (stretch out or rise)
•  Emphasize time words (today, yesterday, etc)
• Read parts slowly when you want to give greater effect
• Use rise and fall (inflection) to give variety as well, not just to emphasize words, but to keep interest
• Emphasize amazing facts (the only, the biggest, etc)
• Emphasize superlatives (eg. better, bigger, smallest)
• Read in chunks/phrases
• Emphasize the preposition in prepositional phrases
• Emphasize specific words to convey a certain mood or show importance
• Pause for emphasis or to show hesitation.
• Stretch out voice for emphasis
• Pause to express a decided opinion or give a conclusion, to make a strong point or lasting impression
• Practice reading the same sentence repeatedly putting emphasis on each of the words in the sentence one at a time to see the effect (in meaning/mood/emphasis)

Tracking Fluency Progress

This is a fluency progress tracker that I made up for my kids.

My Fluency Progress Tracker