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Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction
Journal of Literacy Research, Spring 2005 by Stahl, Steven A, Heubach, Kathleen M
These five components have all been studied individually but not as part of a total reading program. Implementing a total fluency-based program over a full school year creates a unique set of problems. One problem is maintaining interest in a program that involves rereading of the same text. Most evaluations of programs that involved repeated reading were either short-term or did repeated reading for only a portion of each day. In our program, we worried that repeated reading both at home and in school would bore students and teachers alike. Another problem is dealing with diverse reading abilities. In our classrooms, for example, children ranged from virtual nonreaders to children who could handle fourth-grade level material comfortably. These classes were in schools representing mixed to lower socioeconomic status children and were probably representative of similar populations in the state. Providing both material and instruction that is appropriate to the different levels requires new organizational modes.
Developing a Reading Program
During the summer of 1992, two university-based researchers met with four elementary classroom teachers to discuss how these principles could be instantiated into a reading program. Our goal was to develop a plan for teaching reading throughout the year that would be flexible, adaptable to different classes and different stories, and focused on fluency. The plan also needed to have enough variety for both teacher and student so that it would not become tedious. Because of the need to make this instruction practical, we relied heavily on the teachers' experience in developing the program. Certain aspects, most notably monitoring children's reading using running records, were dropped or heavily modified based on teacher input. Other elements had to be part of the program. For example, all teachers were committed to using basal reading programs, through both district policy and personal choice. Therefore, we had to design lessons around the basal material. Moreover, a new county school superintendent mandated whole class reading instruction. Therefore, we had to deliver lessons to the whole class. In another county, the classes were organized homogeneously; one class was high-achieving and one was low-achieving. These different levels had to be taken into account.
Our meetings stressed one principle per week. We read descriptions of other fluency-based programs, such as Hoffman (1987), and discussed how those ideas would fit into the teachers' classrooms and into our overall goals. At the end of the summer we had a general plan for reading instruction. The general plan had three components-a redesigned basal reading lesson, a home reading program, and a daily free-choice reading period. These are discussed, in turn, below.
A Redesigned Basal Reading Lesson
Since all of the students in one school were required to read the same basal reading lesson, the one at their grade placement, and many were reading significantly below grade level, we used repeated reading of the same material to help children be successful with more difficult material. We followed the logic of an Oral Recitation Lesson format, which has been effective in supporting children with reading difficulties (Hoffman, 1987), but made significant modifications.
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