A synthesis of fluency interventions for secondary struggling readers

Abstract

Previous research studies examining the effects of fluency interventions on the fluency and comprehension outcomes for secondary struggling readers are synthesized. An extensive search of the professional literature between 1980 and 2005 yielded a total of 19 intervention studies that provided fluency interventions to secondary struggling readers and measured comprehension and/or fluency outcomes. Findings revealed fluency outcomes were consistently improved following interventions that included listening passage previewing such as listening to an audiotape or adult model of good reading before attempting to read a passage. In addition, there is preliminary evidence that there may be no differential effects between repeated reading interventions and the same amount of non-repetitive reading with older struggling readers for increasing reading speed, word recognition, and comprehension.

Repeated reading and vocabulary‐previewing interventions to improve fluency and comprehension for struggling high‐school readers

“…The results from the current study also are consistent with previous research indicating that RR strategies can improve reading comprehension (Therrien, 2004;Wexler et al, 2008). Researchers have suggested that, when fluency is improved, students are able to focus more cognitive resources on understanding the material (LaBerge & Samuels, 1974).…”

“…Although the exact procedures used across studies have varied, overall, the research indicates that RR interventions can improve not only fluency, but also comprehension (NRP, 2000;Therrien, 2004). The majority of research on RR and other fluency interventions in general has primarily focused on elementary school students, however (Biancarosa & Snow, 2004;Wexler et al, 2008). Additional research is needed on fluency and comprehension-building strategies for high-school students.…”

Learning to Read Spanish

“…Sin embargo, los estudios correlacionales no definen si la automaticidad en la lectura de palabras afecta a la comprensión lectora. De hecho, algunos estudios de entrenamiento en fluidez con malos lectores concluyeron que las mejoras obtenidas en la tasa de lectura no se generalizaron necesariamente a la mejora de la comprensión lectora (ver Kuhn y Stahl, 2003;Wexler, Vaughn, Edmonds y Reutebuch, 2008, para una revisión). En la misma línea, estudios previos han mostrado que enseñando a los niños a identificar las palabras con rapidez, aunque unido a ganancias en la velocidad, no estaba unido a ganancias en la comprensión de textos que incluían las palabras entrenadas (p.…”

“…Como hemos visto, algunos estudios muestran que la técnica de lectura repetida produce mejoras en la comprensión lectora (Chard et al, 2002), mientras que otros no muestran beneficios Wexler et al, 2008;Wexler et al, 2010;Kuhn y Stahl, 2003 Así, algunas cuestiones importantes en torno a la intervención en fluidez atañen a qué tipo de práctica es la más efectiva y en qué nivel lector tendrá más beneficios. En muchos estudios no se aportan datos sobre el nivel lector.…”

Response to Student Literacy Needs at Mother of Sorrows Catholic School

“…The third component involved passages that began with 30 readily accessible words and gradually increased by word number and word difficulty. The program was designed for students to master a passage after they read it one time in under a minute, but Wexler, Vaughn, Edmonds, and Reutebuch (2008) recommended that students should be encouraged to read low-word difficulty passages with the same word rate that is required of their grade level. To reflect this research, students were asked to continuously reread a Great Leaps passage until they had achieved their grade-level target rate within one minute.…”