Automaticity
Jeri Stickney Phillips
Contents
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•
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•
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Discussion of Research
Lower-Elementary Lesson Plan
Upper-Elementary Lesson Plan
High School Lesson Plan
References
Research - Definition
• Automaticity is a part of reading fluency
• Definition 1: Fast, accurate and effortless
word identification at the single word level
( Hook & Jones, 2002).
• Definition 2: Ability to perform complex
skills with minimal attention and conscious
effort (Samuels & Flor, 1997).
Research - Importance
• Essential for higher order
processing
• Allows for low-level skills to
be performed without taxing
working memory
• Denotes skilled performance
• Performance is accurate and
seemingly effortless
• Better retained in long term
memory if automatized
(Samuels & Flor, 1997)
Research – Old & New Theories
• Property-Based Theory
– Based on properties of automaticity
– Ex: Speed, Effortlessness
– Not Explanatory
• Memory-Based Theory
– Cognitive Mechanisms describe properties
of task performance (Rawson & Middleton,
2009).
• Brain Research
– fMRI scans
– Neural Pathways
Research – Memory-Based
• Information Reduction
– Focus attention on task-relevant
info; ignore redundant
• Algorithm Efficiency
– Performance speeds up with
practice; improves efficiency
• Instance Theory
– Algorithm and retrieval routes to
interpretation race in parallel
(Rawson & Middleton, 2009)
Research – Brain-fMRI
•
Brain fMRI Scans
•
Three neural routes for reading
•
2 are slower and more analytical: Parieto-Temporal and
Frontal
•
Occipito-Temporal is faster
•
Reader forms neural model of spelling, pronunciation,
meaning
•
Store in occipito-temporal system if enough repetition
•
Seeing word in print activates word form and relevant
info about word
•
Poor readers do not access the occipito-temporal neural
route (Shaywitz, 2003)
Research – Strategies
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•
•
•
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Six Syllable Types
Accents
Speed Drills
Air Writing
Orthography
(Hook & Jones, 2002
Research - Orthography
• Regular for Reading and Spelling
– mat, sprint
• Regular for Reading, but not
Spelling
– boat, rain
• Rule Based
– Planning, baking
• Irregular
– Beauty (Hook & Jones, 2002)
Lower-Elementary Lesson Plan
• 3 students per group
• Students each have a part in
a Reader’s Theatre play
• Students make props and
stage directions
• Students practice/rehearse
play each day for a week
• Students perform play for
class/other classes on Friday
Upper- Elementary Lesson Plan
• Pair students
• Students read a short story and
answer vocabulary and
comprehension questions
• Timed Readings: Each student in
pair takes 2 turns reading a short
story and counts how many words
• Students move a cut-up happy face
on a wall chart to show how many
words they read
• Timed readings are repeated every
other day for 2 weeks
• Repeat with a new story
High School Lesson Plan
• Pair Students
• Have students prepare a power
point of a poem
• Students mark where they intone
the poem as loader, silence,
quieter, questioning, etc.
• Pairs practice reading their poems
to each other
• Each student in pair takes turns
performing poem on power point
for class/other classes
References
Hook, P. E., & Jones, S. D. (2002). The importance of
automaticity and fluency for efficient reading
comprehension. Resource Room Retrieved July 7,
2009, from
http://www.resourceroom.net/readspell/2002_automati
city.asp
Rawson, K. A., & Middleton, E. L. (2009). Memory-based
processing as a mechanism of automaticity in text
comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology /
Learning, Memory & Cognition, 35(2), 353-370.
Samuels, S. J., & Flor, R. F. (1997). The importance of
automaticity for developing expertise in reading.
Reading & Writing Quarterly, 13(2), 107.
Shaywitz, S. (2003). Overcoming dyslexia. New York:
Vintage Books.