There's a really good article in the October 2000 issue of "The Reading Teacher" about readers who have problems with reading fluency. Fluency is generally described as a reader's speed, phrasing and expression when reading. Not only is slow, disfluent reading excruciating to listen to, but it can cause the reader many problems as well:

• very slow readers tend to have comprehension problems (it's hard to remember something you read 10 minutes ago when you're reading word by word, and reading with a monotone voice can make it even worse)
  
• disfluent readers tend to get frustrated while reading more often than better readers. Although a slow reader may begin assignments with good intentions, when he realizes that his classmates are finishing up when he's only halfway through, he will oftentimes skim the rest of the reading and guess at the answers.
  
• excessively slow reading leads to less overall reading. "Why should I do something that takes this long and is so dissatisfying?" they think. Slow readers tend to choose not to read. And when poor readers don't read, it leads to something called the "Matthew Effect" : it comes from Matthew in the Bible ("The rich get richer...") and states that good readers tend to read more books more often and as a result they get lots of good practice and are exposed to more vocabulary. Poor readers tend to avoid reading and thus don't get good practice or learn new vocabulary. Over time, the gap between good and poor readers can widen considerably due to the Matthew Effect.

So what's the solution?

Some disfluent readers are slow because they have decoding problems and are having difficulty figuring out many of the words they read. These kids need help learning strategies for attacking unknown words, such as looking within the word for smaller chunks they know, or comparing the unknown word to one they know, or thinking about the meaning of the sentence/story. But some slower readers have simply developed poor reading habits and may read slowly because they're overrelying on their pointer finger or are confused about the purpose of reading and view it as a modified word calling activity. Some kids are perfectionists and constantly loop back to check to see if they read a section correctly.

Regardless of the causes, there are several approaches that can make a difference. Reader's Theater is one. Reader's Theater is when small groups of students practice and perform a book with their voices (without props or costumes -- that's the beauty of it!). Over a period of a few days the groups practice reading their stories and as a result of rereading the selection, their reading becomes much more fluent than when they began.

Another great idea is to pair a slow reader to "help" a younger student. Imagine this scenario: Johnny is a third grade reader whose slow reading causes him to have difficulty finishing his assignments, get frustrated, etc. His teacher talked with a second grade teacher and paired him up with a low to average second grader named Tom. Johnny is going to read with Tom twice a week during DEAR time at the end of the day. To prepare, Johnny will select a good second grade level book (one that's a little easy for him) and practice it several times so that he can read it smoothly and easily. On the day he meets with Tom, he will first read the book to Tom, then they'll read it together once or twice, and if there's time Tom will read the book while Johnny listens and helps when needed. Not only can this help the second grader, but it can be a good morale booster for Johnny to feel like he's helping a younger student. It also gives him a purpose for reading a book several times to improve his fluency and expression.

Desired Reading Rates for Instructional Levels

last third of 1st grade                     60   WPM (words per minute)
last third of 2nd grade                   110 WPM
second half of 3rd grade                135 WPM
4th grade and higher                     150 WPM          (from "Direct Reading Instruction" by Carnine and Silbert)
             

Usually, every class has one or two slow, methodical readers. Hopefully, some of these ideas might give you some ideas to work with your slower readers.

Heather Wall

"Wear the old coat and buy the new book."
-Austin Phelps