What oral text reading fluency can reveal about reading comprehension

Abstract

Text reading fluencythe ability to read quickly, accurately and with a natural intonationhas been proposed as a predictor of reading comprehension. In the current study, we examined the role of oral text reading fluency, defined as text reading rate and text reading prosody, as a contributor to reading comprehension outcomes in addition to decoding efficiency and language comprehension. One hundred and six Dutch primary school children from fourth grade participated in this study and were assessed on decoding efficiency, vocabulary, syntactic ability, reading fluency performance and reading comprehension skills. Regression analysis showed that text reading prosody, not text reading rate, explained additional variance in reading comprehension performance when decoding efficiency and language comprehension were controlled for. This result suggests that the inclusion of text reading prosody as an aspect of text reading fluency is justified and that a natural intonation is associated with better comprehension of what is read.The National Curriculum for Primary English (Key stage 2) states that 'To develop understanding and appreciation of literary texts, pupils should be taught to read stories, poems and plays aloud' (National Curriculum for England, 1999, pp. 25-26). In this study, we examined the importance of reading aloud, and what this can tell us about the level of reading comprehension. From the simple view of reading, it is proposed that decoding and language comprehension strongly predict reading comprehension (Gough & Tunmer, 1986;Hoover & Gough, 1990). However, it is also claimed that oral text reading fluency, or the ability to read quickly, accurately and with a natural intonation, contributes to successful reading comprehension. Two issues make it difficult to interpret findings in this area. First, studies so far have used many different definitions of the concept of reading fluency. Second, when evaluating the contribution of reading fluency to reading comprehension performance, other predictors (decoding and language comprehension) have not always been taken into account. In the current study, we investigate whether oral reading fluency defined as text reading rate and text reading prosodypredicts reading comprehension performance over and above predictors specified by the simple view of reading.When children first start to read, their reading will not be very fluent and smooth. The child first has to learn how to decode the written words, that is, to learn how to connect the appropriate sounds to letter combinations. Only when children become more proficient in decoding and learn how to quickly recognise words, their reading performance starts to

Developing Reading Automaticity and Fluency: Revisiting What Reading Teachers Know, Putting Confirmed Research into Current Practice

“…This definition of decoding follows research from Castles & Nation (2008), Ehri (2005, Hoien-Tengesdal andTonnessen (2011), andVeenendaal, Groen, andVerhoeven (2015) who describe decoding as the ability to connect letters and spelling-patterns to the proper sound translation.…”

“…Studies also show a connection between proper oral expressive reading (prosody) and improved reading comprehension (Keyes, Cartledge, Gibson, Lenwood, & Robinson-Ervin, 2016;Paige, Rasinski, & Magpuri-Lavell, 2012;Veenendaal et al, 2015). (Adams, 1990;Kuhn et al, 2010;Samuels, 1979).…”

“…When children are first learning to read, the speed of oral reading is individualized (Wolf, 1998;2014). Veenendaal et al (2015) note when children are learning to read, the reading is not fluent. Further, reading teachers should not expect first reading attempts to be fluent because children are learning to decode (Veenendaal et al, 2015).…”

“…Veenendaal et al (2015) note when children are learning to read, the reading is not fluent. Further, reading teachers should not expect first reading attempts to be fluent because children are learning to decode (Veenendaal et al, 2015). Yet children must eventually develop reading fluency (Veenendaal et al, 2015).…”

“…Beginning reading teachers must concern themselves with the types of strategies children are encouraged to use when first learning to read. When learning to read, children will utilize the reading strategies they are exposed to first (Castles & Nation, 2008;Juel & Roper/Schneider, 1985;Veenendaal et al, 2015). Unless taught to decode words from the beginning of instruction, children will use other strategies to recognize words (Juel & Roper/Schneider, 1985).…”