Fluency is the ability to read quickly and accurately. A fluent reader also reads with prosody, which is expression and inflection in the voice. When children are able to read fluently, it connects word recoginition to comprehension. However, fluency does not come without practice. Fluency must be modeled and practiced in order to develop it.
Research says that fluency is important for reading to be automatic and meaningful. When reading is automatic, students can quickly group words together and read without pause. This quick reading helps them sound natural and decreases the focus put on decoding words. This helps students actively make connections and understand what they are reading.
Strategies to increase reading fluency in the classroom include repeated readings, modeling fluent reading, and echo reading. By repeating the same text many times, students start to memorize words and become more comfortable with reading automatically. This helps them build prosody in their voices to sound natural as they read. Modeling fluent reading helps students learn what it is supposed to sound like when they read. Echo reading gives students an immediate opportunity to practice reading in the way that is being modeled to them. In echo reading, the teacher would read a phrase or sentence then the student would directly read that text back in the same way the teacher read it.
Watch the video to learn more about reading fluency.