Work

Insights into Fluency Instruction: Short- and Long-Term Effects of Two Reading Programs

Year: 2009

Type: article

Abstract: The purpose of the study was to examine short- and long-term effects of two instructional approaches designed to improve the reading fluency of second-grade children: Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction (or FORI; Stahl & Heubach, 2005 Stahl, S. A. and Heubach, K. 2005. Fluency-oriented reading instruction. Journal of Literacy Research, 37: 25–60. [Crossref], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]) and a wide reading approach (Kuhn et al., 2006 Kuhn, M. R., Schwanenflugel, P. J., Morris, R. D., Morrow, L. M., Bradley, B. A.Meisinger, E. 2006. Teaching children to become fluent and automatic readers. Journal of Literacy Research, 38: 357–387. [Crossref], [PubMed], [Web of Science ®] , [Google Scholar]). By the end of second grade, children in the wide reading classrooms showed better fluency and self-concept compared to children in control classrooms. Classroom observations indicated children in FORI classrooms were more likely to be off-task than controls. However, by the end of third grade, children in both programs displayed better comprehension. We conclude that extensive and long-term focus on the oral reading of complex texts using practices that scaffold reading in second grade is beneficial for the long-term development of reading comprehension skills.

Source: Literacy Research and Instruction

DOI: 10.1080/19388070802422415