Teaching Reading Fluency

"Our job as teachers is to help them sound good, and that means not only matching texts to their ability but doing some very explicit teaching. they can only develop fluency by reading fluently." ~Fountas and Pinnell

When comparing the observable behaviours of fluent readers with those of nonfluent readers, you should notice differences in word-solving strategies, expression, pacing, and comprehension. In their book, When Readers Struggle: Teaching That Works, Fountas and Pinnell highlight the six dimensions of fluency, which will help you understand why you write the word "choppy" in your anecdotal notes on a daily basis but are unsure of what to do to fix it.

1. Pausing

The reader uses the visual information provided by punctuation to take pauses at appropriate points in the text. Improper pausing, or a lack of pausing, can create difficulties with comprehension.

Observable Behaviours in Nonfluent Readers: 

• Failure to pause at punctuation marks, such as a short pause at a comma and a longer pause at a period.
• No changes in the voice around punctuation marks, such as rising intonation at a question mark.

2. Phrasing

Moving beyond attending to punctuation, proper phrasing is about placing pauses at appropriate points in the text to create meaningful and logical phrases. Good phrasing helps the listener to understand the text.

Observable Behaviours in Nonfluent Readers: 

• The reader's words do not sound natural like we do when we are talking.  
• Pauses in reading are illogical or poorly placed.

3. Intonation/Rhythm

As the reader makes sense of the text, their voice changes in tone (rising and falling), pitch, and volume at different points. This is closely linked to expression, but expression requires that the six dimensions of fluency are all in place.

Observable Behaviours in Nonfluent Readers: 

• Rising and falling tones in acknowledgement of punctuation do not occur.
• Changes in pitch or volume do not occur, for example, to show excitement or anger.
• The reader makes no attempt to change their voice to sound like the characters in a story. 
• Reading sounds monotone.

4. Stress

When using proper stress, the reader emphasizes certain words to indicate his or her interpretation of the meaning of the text. Because this is based on interpretation, different readers might put stress on different words in the same text.   

Observable Behaviours in Nonfluent Readers: 

• The reader does not attend to text features that indicate stress should be used (boldface). 
• The reader does not make important words sound louder. 

5. Rate

The reader reads at an appropriate pace for the type of text being read. In general, it should be not too fast and not too slow.

Observable Behaviours in Nonfluent Readers: 

• Failure to use pauses, phrasing, intonation, and proper stress and using a very slow pace.
• Racing through a text with an inability to process the text for good comprehension.
• Robotic or choppy sounding.

6. Integration

The reader incorporates pausing, phrasing, intonation, stress, and rate seamlessly into the reading of a text. When they are all in place, the reader is reading with expression, and  they show evidence that they understand what they are reading.

Observable Behaviours in Nonfluent Readers: 

• Reading is not smooth.
• Reading does not sound interesting.
• The reader is not reading as if they are telling the story.

Resources For Teaching Reading Fluency

When Readers Struggle: Teaching That Works by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell

Fountas & Pinnell Prompting Guide Part 1 for Oral Reading and Early Writing by Irene Fountas and Gay Su Pinnell