Phonic And Fluency
Phonic And Fluency
Researchers have carried out studies to identify how phonic and fluency affect student reading. The studies showed that most students have difficulties in vocabulary and fluency. This is because the students do not get enough aid on how to study words and develop fluency. A large percentage of students in learning institution have difficulties in using words and reading fluency. This is according to a research carried out to determine problems faced by young children when reading. The research showed that students have difficulties in reading words and this affects vocabulary development. Phonic and fluency are important in teaching students how to read. Phonic and fluency help the student develop reading skills. Most students have problems in identifying phonic sounds. Also, the students have problems in reading comprehensions and other materials. This has affected the performance of most students in elementary schools.
Researchers claim that leaving out phonic and fluency in reading affects the students reading. It makes it difficulty for the child to decode words and develop fluency. Thus, teaching students how to identify phonic sounds and develop fluency is important as it helps overcome difficulties in comprehension reading (Stahl &Heubach, 2010)
Moreover, the research carried out to determine the effects of fluency and phonic in reading showed that children having difficulties in phonic and fluency perform poorly in overall reading. To avoid such problems, teachers need to teach the children phonic and fluency from a tender age. This is because children will grow up knowing what is needed in a reading lesson.
Some researchers argue that phonic and fluency should be taught separately. This is because children need to learn how to decode before becoming fluency in reading. Others think that phonic and fluency should be taught at the same time. Teaching phonic and fluency at the same time helps the child develop reading skills. The child is able to identify vocabulary from a comprehension and also read the comprehension in an organized manner. Some students have difficulties in reading as they are unable to recognize some words and they omit certain words when reading (Stahl &Heubach, 2010).
Assessment activity
Teachers can assess students’ word knowledge using assessment tools. The teacher should identify what the student know and what they do not know. This will make it easy to design instruction materials. Assessment is important as it helps teachers understand their students better. To determine student’s proficiency in decoding words, the teacher has to calculate the percentage of words the student has decoded. If the percentage is 90-95 then, the student is said to have decoded the words well. A student who decodes words well is able to read a comprehension that has 100 words. The students should not have more than 10 words uncorrected when reading. If the student has more than 10 words corrected then, the student does not have reading fluency and she needs more instructions and practice.
Teachers can use an assessment activity to determine fluency. The teacher should provide the students with a paragraph to read. Then the teacher should monitor the students as he or she reads and record the observations. A student who is fluent in reading should be able to decode 100 percent. Moreover, the student should not have more than 10 uncorrected words. If the student has more than 10 uncorrected words then the teacher should provide instructions to the student (Stahl &Heubach, 2010).
The teacher should observe the student reading rate. The reading rate improves as the student progresses from one level to another. Students at first grade have more difficulties in reading. This is because the students do not have the knowledge to identify words. Also, the students are not able to read comprehensions fluently. The teacher should allow the students to read a passage for 60 seconds. The passage should be inline with the level of the student as students have different needs and require different instructions. Then he should calculate the number of words the student has read correctly (Rasinski, 2003).
Words corrected during comprehension reading are considered as words read correctly. After calculating the words read correctly, the teacher should compare the score of the student with the target rate for the lesson. If the student scores less than 30 percent, then the teacher should provide the student with additional instructions (Rasinski, 2004).
The teacher should assess prosodic reading. They should listen to a student read a comprehension. The teacher should judge the quality of the reading using a rubric score. The student should be graded using different elements like expression and phrasing. Also, the student should be graded on pace. Students who perform poorly should be provided with extra instructions (Rasinski, Rupley &Nichols, 2008).
A timeline to improve fluency
The time line helps students improve their fluency in a period of five weeks. During this period, students will be required to work in whole group, small groups and individually. In week one the students will read a script aloud. This will enable the students learn how to read. It will help improve fluency among the students. The scripts will be divided among the students in the class. Then in week two the students will be required to perform the script in class. The students will perform the script in front of other students. Performing helps the student improve speaking skills and listening skills. Researchers argue that drama motivates students to perform well. It helps students who are not interested in reading start reading (Rasinski, 2004).
In week three and four, students will group themselves into small groups. Then they will choose a story and turn it into a script. The small groups are required to perform the story in the class. The teacher will evaluate the performance of the students. In week five, the students will read a phrase and analyze it in groups. This will help determine whether the students have developed reading fluency or not (Williams, Phillips-Birdsong, Hufnagel& Hungler, 2009).
Activities
There are various activities that can be used to improve fluency. For example, teachers can use Readers Theater. Reader’s theaters help students become fluent. This is because students are allowed to read a script or a story orally or in silent and perform it in class. The teacher should allow the students to choose a script and read it and perform it in class. The reader’s theaters are an example of an individual activity and whole activity. It can also be used as a group activity (Williams, Phillips-Birdsong, Hufnagel& Hungler, 2009).
Another activity is poetry anthologies. Students should be encouraged to read poems so as to develop reading fluency. Poems help students know when to pause between paragraphs and when not. This improves their reading skills. Teachers can use rhyming poetry to help students develop reading fluency. The poem can be used for elementary students. Poetry anthologies can be done in small groups or at an individual level (Kuhn &Stahi, 2000).
Teachers can use short fluency phrases for small group activities. The teacher should provide students with short phrases so as to help students learn how to decode and develop fluency. Reading the phrases regularly helps the student practice reading decodable and non decodable words with fluency (Kuhn &Stahi, 2000).
Reference
Kuhn,M.R.,&Stahi,S.A.(2000).Fluency: A review of developmental and remedial practices(CIERA Rep No.2-008).Ann Arbor,MI: centre for the improvement of early reading achievement.
Rasinski, T. (2004). Creating fluent readers. Educational Leadership, 61(6), 46–52.
Rasinski, T., Rupley.W.H.,&Nichols .W.D. (2008) Two Essential Ingredients: Phonics and Fluency Getting to Know Each Other. The Reading Teacher, 62 (3) 257-260.
Rasinski,T.V.,&Hoffman,J.V.(2003).Oral reading in the school reading curriculum. Reading research quarterly, vol38, page 510-522.
Stahl, S., &Heubach, K.(2010).Fluency oriented reading instructions. Elementary school journal.
Williams, C., Phillips-Birdsong, C., Hufnagel, K., Hungler, D .,& et. al., (2009). Word Study Instruction in the K-2 Classroom. The Reading Teacher, 62 (7) 570-578.
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