English Language Arts and Reading.6.3

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The student is expected to adjust fluency when reading grade-level text based on the reading purpose.

fluency and self-sustained reading TEKS talk image

Knowledge and Skills Statement

Developing and sustaining foundational language skills: listening, speaking, reading, writing, and thinking--fluency. The student reads grade-level text with fluency and comprehension.

Provide text in a script format for students to read fluently and with good expression. Instruct students to focus on reading the script and not memorizing the text.
 

Further Explanation

For this assessment, students should be able to demonstrate fluency while reading a script from a play. Practicing fluency with a script requires students to reread the text multiple times. In addition to reading their part of the script, students must also silently read along as others read in order to know when it is their turn. It is important that students read with appropriate speed, accuracy, and prosody (phrasing and proper expression). The speed with which students read should make the text easily understood by themselves and the audience. The decoding of words should be accurate enough to not impede comprehension. Prosody is important, especially in drama, in order to fully express the message a character is sharing. Students should not sound robotic. Fluency should be practiced with a variety of text types at students’ reading levels.

Students should understand how and when to purposely adjust the elements of fluency depending on what information they need to draw from the text. For example, students reading grade-level appropriate text will naturally move at a faster rate because there is less need for decoding complex, technical words. Students reading about a set of detailed instructions on how to assemble something should slow their rate and ensure they are connecting unfamiliar words with concepts to enhance comprehension.
Students must have the skills necessary to move through a text at a pace that matches the speed at which they can mentally process information. Students should be able to connect words and the ideas those words represent without significant interruption when they encounter new or complex information.
Students must have frequent and recurrent opportunities to read a wide variety of texts that are challenging but not overwhelming. The structure and content of the text should reflect the concepts students are expected to understand at their grade level. For example, sixth-grade students should be challenged but not overwhelmed when reading texts that include complex sentences or references to Ancient Greece because both appear in the curriculum for the grade level. However, texts with sentences that frequently incorporate use of semicolons or that include highly academic discussions of advanced concepts related to Ancient Greece would likely not be appropriate for most sixth-grade students.

Research

1. Hilsmier, A. S., Wehby, J. H., & Falk, K. B. (2016). Reading fluency interventions for middle school students with academic and behavioral disabilities. Reading Improvement, 53(2), 53+. Retrieved from https://link.galegroup.com/apps/doc/A457106412/PROF?u=tea&sid=PROF&xid=82cc6388

Summary: This study looked at reading fluency interventions and their impact on improving the reading fluency and motivation on middle school level struggling readers. Strategies included repeated reading and oral preview fluency intervention. All participants exhibited growth over baseline performance.

2. Grace Kim, Y. S. (2015). Developmental, component-based model of reading fluency: An investigation of predictors of word-reading fluency, text reading fluency, and reading comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 50(4), 459–481. doi:10.1002/rrq.107

Summary: The primary goal of this study was to explain the difference between text reading fluency, word reading fluency, and reading comprehension. The study also explores the relationship between each construct. Other concepts involved in the study included listening comprehension, emergent literacy predictors, and language and cognitive predictors. The study investigated the relationship and differences over time (longitudinal scale). The results of the study reveal how each construct interrelates to the development of text reading fluency, word read fluency, and reading comprehension.