Fluency Teaching

Fluency is an incredibly important part of learning how to read well which cannot be overlooked. Being able to read fluently means more than just being able to read quickly. Fluency means ‘fluid’ and can be broken down into three skills which interlink.

1.       Automaticity - reading quickly with ease. We want our children to be able to read a text appropriate for their age at around 110wpm. Lower than this and the ability to comprehend is hindered. Being able to read automatically and smoothly, instantly applying phonics to reading without the need to decode, reduces cognitive energy allowing us to focus on comprehending the meaning of the text. Some children who complete the phonics programme are able to decode words accurately- but to be a good reader, they need to be able to do so automatically. Rasinski 2011 noted the strong correlation between reading automaticity and reading comprehension.

2.       Accuracy - rarely making errors and when they do, spotting them and rereading the text.

3.       Prosody - reading with expression and rhythm. We want our children to be able to read with appropriate rhythm and phrasing which reflects the meaning of the text. This needs to be explicitly taught through fluency lessons, modelled by the teacher.

Fluency is important because the ability to read well orally is linked to how well a person reads and comprehends when doing so in silence. When we read a book to ourselves, we are not reading it flat- we hear the voices in our heads, pause, imagine some parts to be louder than others. According to Christopher Such, author of The Art + Science of Reading, fluency is the biggest challenge for readers in primary schools. We must teach children to develop the ‘author’s voice’.

Fluency is the stepping stone from decoding to understanding.

The teaching of fluency is built into our phonics programme but it doesn’t stop there: the teaching of fluency continues right up to year 6. Fluency is modelled daily during DEAR Time where our teachers read to the class, ensuring their own reading is expressive and fluent. However, fluency also has its own slot within our timetables. From Year 2 once our children have completed the Read Write Inc Programme, fluency is taught daily in all classes through activities such as repeated oral reading and echo reading.

We assess our pupil’s fluency through the use of DIBELS assessments.