Oral Fluency & Its Relationship to Reading Comprehension

Instructor: Ginna Wilkerson

Virginia has a Master's degree in Curriculum and Development and a Ph.D. in English

Oral reading fluency is an important element of reading comprehension. This lesson will explore that connection for teachers seeking to improve oral fluency with their students.

What Is Oral Fluency

Oral fluency is a term in the teaching of reading that refers to how smoothly and quickly a reader can read connected material aloud. Oral fluency also includes how much expression the reader has in reading the passage. This measure of pitch, stress, and timing is also called prosody.

Assessing oral fluency can provide information about a child's reading level, but is not a sufficient measurement of reading comprehension.

Decoding

Early readers begin with decoding written material using previous information acquired about the sounds of letters and letter combinations. Sight words learned by consistent repetition and recognition also play a part in the initial stages of reading for comprehension. Sight words are words that appear with regularity in early reading materials. Some examples include the, see, and we.

Learning to recognize sight words is important

Unfortunately, neither decoding ability nor oral fluency alone constitute the ability to read rapidly and with comprehension and recall of written information. Oral fluency contributes to reading comprehension, but is not the complete picture.

How Oral Fluency Works in Reading Comprehension

In order to make material sound smooth and flowing when read aloud, the reader must have moved beyond decoding individual words. Familiarity with the how the language sounds and the syntax of common sentences plays a large role. If the reader already speaks the language, especially from infancy, and learned to speak and recognize words and phrases and their meanings in this same language, learning to read is a much easier proposition. Familiarity leads to an appropriate rate of speed and accuracy in pronunciation.

That is why non-native speakers may have more trouble moving from decoding individual words to reading with comprehension. Oral fluency is an intermediary step in this process. Readers who read with automatic recognition of the words and their meaning, called automaticity, have a much greater chance of understanding what they read.

Perhaps this example will help illustrate the progression. Imagine a native English-speaking adult learning a second language - French or Arabic, for instance - and then never having much opportunity to speak the language after the instruction period was ended. He or she will probably retain some key words and expressions, and will find the language familiar-sounding, but will lose much of the ability to have a conversation, or read prose material with full comprehension.

Yet that same person can probably read a paragraph or passage aloud with proper pronunciation and inflection: oral fluency.

More practice would be needed with the same passage in order to return to a level in which comprehension comes with the reading of a word, and all of the words fit together quickly enough in the reader's mind to carry meaning for the reader.

Ways to Help

A practice often called slide and glide involves the instructor reading the first part of a passage and the gliding into the student finishing the task. Having the instructor model the level of oral fluency and then giving instructive feedback are critical in this strategy.
A similar practice is peer assisted reading, in which another student plays the role of the reading coach.
Tape-assisted reading, though lacking the element of immediate feedback, can provide valuable modeling and practice.
Perhaps the simplest strategy is simple practice, or repeated reading. As mentioned earlier, when oral fluency is present at a sufficiently high level, the reader is able to focus the brain on the meaning of the passage more readily.

Individual reading practice

Fluency in Speaking

Oral reading fluency refers to the specific skill of reading from print text smoothly and with appropriate pronunciation and inflection. As mentioned earlier, oral fluency is necessary for comprehension, but not sufficient. Remember the example of the adult language learner.

So what about oral fluency in speaking? Print text is merely a graphic representation of words that, for an infant language learner, are first heard and then repeated aloud. Understanding this relationship is part of print awareness for young children. Speaking and reading practice that provides long-term memory recognition of words and phrases is the bridge between simply reciting a passage smoothly and reading for comprehension.

Lesson Summary

Oral fluency refers to how smoothly and quickly a reader can read connected material aloud and how much expression the reader has in reading the passage. This measure of pitch, stress, and timing is also called prosody. Oral fluency is an intermediary step in reading comprehension. Readers who read with automatic recognition of the words and their meaning, called automaticity, have a much greater chance of understanding what they read.

Repeated practice, paired reading with peers or instructor, and feedback all help the reader connect oral fluency with meaning. The goal is to read aloud smoothly, and to read with comprehension of the text. Oral reading fluency is a key element of developing accuracy, rate of reading, and overall comprehension.

To unlock this lesson you must be a Study.com Member.
Create your account

Register to view this lesson

Are you a student or a teacher?

Unlock Your Education

See for yourself why 30 million people use Study.com

Become a Study.com member and start learning now.

Become a Member Back

What teachers are saying about Study.com

Try it risk-free for 30 days

Description

Summary:

Visit the MTEL Foundations of Reading (90): Study Guide & Prep page to learn more.

Earning Credit

Earning College Credit

Did you know… We have over 160 college courses that prepare you to earn credit by exam that is accepted by over 1,500 colleges and universities. You can test out of the first two years of college and save thousands off your degree. Anyone can earn credit-by-exam regardless of age or education level.

To learn more, visit our Earning Credit Page

Transferring credit to the school of your choice

Not sure what college you want to attend yet? Study.com has thousands of articles about every imaginable degree, area of study and career path that can help you find the school that's right for you.

Research Schools, Degrees & Careers

Get the unbiased info you need to find the right school.

Browse Articles By Category

Browse an area of study or degree level.

Area of Study

Degree Level

30 day money back guarantee
Starting Original Price		/yr	/mo
	Just Just	/day
Discount For months	- % -	/
Price after trial Starting Price starting today		/
	Just Just	/day

Oral Fluency & Its Relationship to Reading Comprehension

What Is Oral Fluency

Decoding

How Oral Fluency Works in Reading Comprehension

Ways to Help

Fluency in Speaking

Lesson Summary

Register to view this lesson

Unlock Your Education

See for yourself why 30 million people use Study.com

Become a Study.com member and start learning now.

Summary:

Earning College Credit

Transferring credit to the school of your choice

Research Schools, Degrees & Careers

Browse Articles By Category

Recommended Articles

Explore our library of over 75,000 lessons

Your selected plan:

You are joining:

Students Love Study.com

Earn College Credit

Teachers Love Study.com

What Is Oral Fluency

Decoding

How Oral Fluency Works in Reading Comprehension

Ways to Help

Fluency in Speaking

Lesson Summary

Register to view this lesson

Unlock Your Education

See for yourself why 30 million people use Study.com

Become a Study.com member and start learning now.

Summary:

Earning College Credit

Transferring credit to the school of your choice

Research Schools, Degrees & Careers

Browse Articles By Category

Recommended Articles

Oral Fluency & Its Relationship to Reading Comprehension Related Study Materials

Browse by Courses

Browse by Lessons

Latest Courses

Latest Lessons

Popular Courses

Popular Lessons

Math

Social Sciences

Science

Business

Humanities

Education

History

Art and Design

Tech and Engineering

Health and Medicine

Explore our library of over 75,000 lessons

You are joining: