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Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction
Journal of Literacy Research, Spring 2005 by Stahl, Steven A, Heubach, Kathleen M
Friendship was the most important relationship for the students. When asked how a certain person became a partner, the majority of students responded with remarks that were categorized as "friendship." For example, when asked how Peter became his partner, one student responded "I play kickball with him every day." With only one exception, children accepted the partner who had chosen them even if that person was not someone they would have chosen themselves. Data from the teacher interviews confirmed that children tended to pick partners with whom they were getting along at the moment.
Although friendship was the main property of the relationship category, other factors were involved as well. Students were likely to work with others who had the same working style as their own. For example, a nononsense type reader who wanted to get started immediately tended to choose another no-nonsense type. Gender did not play much of a role in determining who was chosen for partner reading. Although same-gender pairs were the norm, it was not uncommon to find boys and girls working together by choice.
Each new pair of students had to work out procedures for reading the story. Decisions were necessary about where to go in the room for reading, whether to read sitting or lying on the floor, who would go first, and how turns would be taken. This decision-making was greatly affected by the nature of the relationship already established. If there were disagreements about procedure, the self-selected pairs worked these out without including the teacher or wasting time. Often there was no need to discuss procedures. For example, one pair was so in tune that when one child rolled over on his stomach, the other followed.
One of the key features of paired reading is the assistance that one child gives another when fluent reading breaks down. The most frequent form of assistance took place when a child could not read a word. The reader would stop, wait for the partner to provide the word, and then continue reading. Assistance appears to be connected to the relationship that was established before a partner reading session began. Children who already have a working relationship are more likely to ask for help when it is needed, and assistance is given in a more efficient manner.
When off-task behaviors were noted, they often did not interrupt the reading of self-selected pairs. This is because the pairs had already established routines and ways of relating to one another. These behaviors became more frequent and were more likely to hinder smooth sailing when the partners were not self-chosen.
Study 4-Choice Reading
One of the assumptions in developing this program was that children would have ample time devoted to reading material at their instructional level. To develop fluency it is important that children read material at or near their instructional level, which we defined initially as roughly 95% accuracy. Because we were required to provide whole class instruction using the basal reader, most children read material at or above their instructional levels during that time. Relatively few second-graders actually read at a second-grade level. For example, only 42 of the 152 students assessed at the beginning of the second year actually scored at a second-grade instructional level.
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