Language Foundations Continuum for Reading and Writing

Grades 1–4: Overall Expectation B2

Reading Fluency: Accuracy, Rate, and Prosody

Overview

Definition

Fluency is the ability to read text accurately, at an appropriate pace, with expression. It is the bridge between word recognition and comprehension. As decoding is automatized, students increase their ability to read texts fluently, freeing cognitive resources to focus on the meaning of the texts. First and foremost, reading fluency relies on accuracy.

Students must integrate subskills such as fluent word recognition to read words accurately, which, in turn, supports their reading of sentences and paragraphs with accuracy and fluency. Additionally, students should be able to read texts with appropriate pacing, and with expression and intonation that facilitate comprehension and convey meaning.

Development

Reading fluency develops as a result of strong instruction in other core components of literacy: phonological awareness, phonics, and vocabulary. To read a text fluently, students must have accurate and automatic word reading skills (Hudson et al., 2009). Text-level fluency develops with extended opportunities to practice oral reading (Zimermann et al., 2021).

Knowledge and Skills

Kindergarten to Grade 4

Integrating fluent word recognition to read words accurately and to support their reading of texts with accuracy and fluency
Reading texts with appropriate pacing, with expression and intonation that facilitate comprehension and convey meaning

Looks like

Kindergarten / Grade 1

naming letters accurately and automatically
identifying the sound for a grapheme with increasing accuracy and automaticity beginning to develop accurate word reading at the single-word level based on knowledge of grapheme-phoneme correspondences
reading decodable text aloud with accuracy and beginning to develop automaticity

Grade 1

identifying the sound for a grapheme accurately and automatically
developing accurate and effortless word identification at the single-word level, based on learned grapheme-phoneme correspondences and learned irregular words
recognizing high-frequency words effortlessly
reading decodable text aloud with increasing automaticity and accuracy and with appropriate pacing to support comprehension

Grade 2

reading a variety of texts with automaticity and accuracy and with appropriate pacing for the grade to support comprehension of grade-level texts
recognizing irregular and high-frequency words
using decoding strategies to work through new words and demonstrating automaticity when reading all other words
recoding (rereading) words that were newly decoded to increase word reading fluency
using knowledge of punctuation to pause appropriately at longer phrase boundaries and to read with intonation and expression

Grade 3

reading a variety of texts with automaticity and accuracy and with appropriate pacing for the grade to support comprehension of grade-level texts
using decoding strategies to work through new words and demonstrating automaticity when reading all other words
recoding (rereading) words that were newly decoded to increase word reading fluency
using knowledge of sentence structure to parse sentences and to pause appropriately when punctuation is not provided

Grade 4

reading a variety of texts with automaticity and accuracy, with appropriate pacing for the grade, and using expression and intonation to support comprehension and in accordance with the purpose of reading
using decoding strategies to work through new words and demonstrating automaticity when reading all other words
recoding (rereading) words that were newly decoded to increase word reading fluency
using knowledge of sentence structure to parse sentences and to pause appropriately when punctuation is not provided

Why is this important?

Reading fluency is considered the bridge between two essential components of reading, decoding and comprehension. This relationship is reciprocal, with each fostering the other. A fluent reader can decode text automatically and can focus their attention on comprehending what they read (Pikulski & Chard, 2005). Fluency supports motivation to read (Hasbrouck, 2020).

In the nonfluent reader, weak word recognition slows the process and uses resources needed for comprehension (National Reading Panel, 2000). Students who score lower on fluency also score lower on comprehension (Jenkins et al., 2003).

Instruction

First and foremost, fluent reading is accurate reading. Early reading instruction should be focused on building students’ word-level reading skills through evidence-based, systematic and explicit instruction in phonemic awareness, phonics, and decoding.

Reading fluency is multifaceted; to fluently read passages, students must have automaticity with important subskills, including phonemic awareness, grapheme-phoneme correspondences, and word reading. Students become fluent readers when we teach all of the subskills involved in reading, and provide many opportunities for supported practice reading texts out loud.

Classroom practices that support the development of reading fluency include:

Repeated reading
Modelling fluent reading
Providing feedback
Choral reading
Partner reading

Assessment for Learning

“The primary purpose of assessment is to improve student learning.”
Growing Success, 2010, p. 28

A variety of sources of insight into students’ reading fluency, including early reading screening, diagnostic tools, and progress monitoring, can be used as assessment for learning to drive evidence-based explicit and systematic instruction.

Reading fluency is often measured as a combination of rate and accuracy, in words read correctly in one minute (Hudson et al., 2009). These brief, standardized measures of oral reading fluency (ORF) allow us to determine who is at-risk earlier, in order to provide appropriate instruction and timely intervention.

Diagnostic assessments, such as phonics and phonemic awareness inventories, allow educators to look more closely at students who struggle with reading fluency, in order to determine instructional needs.

For students receiving extra support, progress monitoring with ORF tasks allows for very brief probes to quickly and efficiently measure student progress. This allows educators to make decisions about intensifying or reducing support based on a student’s needs and progress.

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