Fluency (speech-language pathology)

Fluency concerns the "continuity, smoothness, rate, and effort in speech production," according to the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. The word "fluent" comes from the Latin fluere, meaning "to flow." Someone who has oral reading fluency is able to read aloud accurately, effortlessly, and in an expressive manner. Word recognition and comprehension are also parts of fluency. Proficient readers are able to recognize words and monitor their understanding. They can take cues from the text and read with appropriate phrasing and expression. In this way, fluency is considered a bridge from word recognition to text comprehension.

Background

In the past, teachers would often evaluate students’ reading levels based on their ability to recite a text and to otherwise memorize words and sentences. This went out of style when comprehension as the primary component of childhood literacy garnered more attention from concerned educators. Reading aloud is important in developing fluency—it is often used in daily life. When people watch a television show, for example, they encounter oral reading. Educators with expertise in fluency training believe schools should focus more on oral reading. Some literacy experts believe that effective reading programs should focus on oral reading in the curriculum.

At one time, fluency was a neglected part of the reading curriculum. However, it has become a central component of reading instruction. Literacy and fluency have been shown to correlate to life outcomes. In a Forbes article, Steve Cohen discussed the link between fluency and literacy, or lack thereof, and the US prison population. He noted that 67 percent of American fourth graders cannot read at grade level. Furthermore, Cohen found that 85 percent of "all juvenile offenders have reading problems," and 60 percent of incarcerated Americans were illiterate at the time of Cohen's research. Brain research on young children shows there are positive, long-term changes in their mental abilities when they receive more brain stimulation (verbal, visual, and tactile). Cohen also noted that several studies showed that "babies and toddlers" who were read to regularly had higher language ability, a wider vocabulary, and more advanced pre-reading skills than those who were not read to prior to starting school.

Further research supported Cohen’s conclusions, finding a strong correlation between literacy and fluency and various measures of positive life outcomes—higher educational attainment, better career opportunities, improved health and well-being, and community engagement.

Overview

According to the website Reading Horizons, there are three parts to developing fluency: "Ensure that students are reading using proficient phonologic pathways by teaching them with an effective, direct, systematic phonics program; . . . teach the students all of the necessary sounds and strategies so they can process print proficiently; . . . practice with strategies such as rapid word recognition, guided oral reading, speed drills, and/or choral reading."

Reading fluency can be approached in many ways, from repeated reading to reading in groups. Phonics is an important aspect of fluency and has been used since the beginning of the twentieth century in primary education in English-speaking classrooms. Phonics is a process in which beginning readers learn to decode words by sounding them out or by blending the sound-spelling patterns. Fluency is attained partly by consistently repeating a word and sounding it out accurately. Traditionally, reading instruction has involved teaching fluency separately from phonics and decoding. However, this is no longer considered an effective approach; researchers have found mixing fluency with phonics produces better results than separating the two skills.

Another approach that fuses phonics with fluency is rhyming poetry. There are some spelling patterns that have consistent pronunciations. Rhyming words, for example, are part of the same word family. Students who can recognize rhyme scheme in one word are able to see it in other words with the same root. This approach has been recognized as an appropriate tool for early fluency. Just as children’s literature is effective in teaching phonics, rhyming poetry is particularly suited for enhancing phonics and fluency through word families.

By studying the brain through neural imaging, scientists are learning how fluency is developed. Author and researcher Miscese Gagen notes that fluent and fast reading uses a neural pathway similar to an "expressway to process words." When someone reads fluently, a word or phrase will activate information stored in the brain that provides information such as correct pronunciation and word comprehension. Gagen says that fluency occurs after a person reads a word "at least four times using correct phonologic processing." When neural pathways are activated by a person repeatedly sounding out words, fluency is built. When a student progresses to fast reading, decoding becomes automatic. Literacy has a significant impact on the future course of one’s life. Fluency has gained prominence as a key component of literacy.

Many twenty-first-century research studies and educational plans aim to evaluate and improve fluency in young students, including the Accelerate Equitable Development of Reading Fluency (AERDF) program, the HFL Reading Fluency Project, and the large-scale 2018 NAEP Oral Reading Fluency (ORF) study. Research results from such studies continually inform improvements in educational methods and curricula.

Bibliography

Buswell, Amy, et al. Giggle Poetry Reading Lessons: A Successful Reading-Fluency Program Parents and Teachers Can Use to Dramatically Improve Reading Skills and Scores. Meadowbrook, 2014.

Cohen, Steve. "A $5 Children’s Book vs. a $47,000 Jail Cell—Choose One." Forbes, 25 Dec. 2010, www.forbes.com/sites/stevecohen/2010/12/25/a-5-childrens-book-vs-a-47000-jail-cell-choose-one. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

"Fluency Disorders." American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, www.asha.org/practice-portal/clinical-topics/fluency-disorders. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.

Hegde, M. N. Hegde’s Pocketguide to Treatment in Speech-Language Pathology. 4th ed., Plural Publishing, 2018.

Heine, Carl, and Dennis O’Connor. Teaching Information Fluency: How to Teach Students to Be Efficient, Ethical, and Critical Information Consumers. Scarecrow, 2013.

Moskal, Mary Kay, and Camille Blachowicz. Partnering for Fluency. Guilford, 2006.

Rasinski, Timothy. The Fluent Reader: Oral and Silent Reading Strategies for Building Fluency, Word Recognition, and Comprehension. 2nd ed., Scholastic, 2010.

Rasinski, Timothy V., et al., editors. Fluency Instruction: Research-Based Best Practices. Guilford, 2012.

Rasinski, Timothy, and Nancy D. Padak, editors. From Fluency to Comprehension: Powerful Instruction through Authentic Reading. Guilford, 2013.

Shipley, Kenneth G., and Julie G. McAfee. Assessment in Speech-Language Pathology: A Resource Manual. 7th ed., Plural Publishing, Inc., 2024.

"The 2018 NAEP Oral Reading Fluency Study." National Assessment of Educational Progress, 3 Apr. 2024, nces.ed.gov/nationsreportcard/studies/orf. Accessed 10 Dec. 2024.