Fostering Fluency in a
Comprehensive Literacy
Program
Katherine A. Dougherty Stahl
kay.stahl@nyu.edu
Georgia Reading First Conference
Athens, GA
June 19-20, 2007
Stahl. K. A. D. (in press). Using
FORI and Wide Reading to
create opportunities for
comprehension instruction. In M.
Kuhn (Ed.), Creating a literacy
curriculum: Fluency instruction.
NY: Guilford.
A Balanced Reading Program
Teacher read-aloud
Challenging text
Classroom community
Shared reading
Challenging, but accessible,
text
Classroom community
Guided reading
Instructional level text
Small group
Independent reading
Independent level text
Partners, alone
What is your definition of
fluency?
How does fluency fit into a
comprehensive literacy
program?
Guided Reading Groups
“Guided reading is a context in which a
teacher supports each reader’s development
of effective strategies for processing novel
texts at increasingly challenging levels of
difficulty.”
Fountas & Pinnell, 1996, p. 2
Instructional level groups are the context for
developmental word study.
• High frequency vocabulary mastery
• Increasing sophistication in word recognition processes
–
–
–
–
Phonic analysis
Analogies
Syllabic analysis
Morphemic analysis
** Does your school have a consistent, cohesive way of measuring and
teaching HFV, phonics,spelling, vocabulary? Do you adhere to a
developmental word study model?
Gradient Texts
• The use of text that
decreases in
predictability as children
increase their
knowledge of the
alphabetic system is a
successful way of
meeting decoding
challenges.
Advantages of Gradient Texts
• Provide opportunities for students
to read meaningful text while
learning more about the alphabetic
system
• Gradual increase in difficulty
enables reading fluency to be
maintained
• Allows for novice readers to
orchestrate decoding and reading
for meaning
• Student accountability
Disadvantages of Gradient
Text
• Lack of complexity
• Moderate adherence to
story grammar
• Lack the fodder for
comprehension
strategy instruction,
extensions in research
and critical literacy
Shared Reading Text:
Turn Up The Volume
• Heavy text provides the opportunity for comprehension
strategy instruction, high level discussion, vocabulary
development, and research projects.
• Heavy text has relevant, compelling themes or
conceptual depth.
• Grade level texts expose struggling readers to more
words than little books.
• Use the ZPD as a guide.
What are “Heavy Texts?”
• Grade level texts that address themes
and curriculum topics
• Relatively long, 450-650 words
• Trade books, basal literature
anthologies, award-winning books
• Shared reading makes these books
accessible to struggling readers.
More on Heavy Texts
Heavy texts have well-developed plots with
universal themes or new content area
concepts and rich vocabulary.
Award-winning trade books, like the ones that
are Caldecott or Coretta Scott King Award
winners, are often must-read heavy texts.
Classroom Content
1. Family, Friends, Neighbors
(narrative fiction)
2. Nature (informational text)
3. Native Americans
(fiction/informational text)
4. New York : Our Nation as a
Melting Pot of Traditions
(fiction/informational
texts/procedural texts)
5. Folktales (fiction)
1.
Visualizing, Predicting
2.
Ideational Prominence,
3.
4.
Enumerative Text Structure
Prior Knowledge, Evaluation
Monitoring
5.
Narrative Structure,
Summarizing
Classroom Content-Semester 2
1.
Biographies
2.
Family Narratives
3.
Life Long Ago-Our
Changing Earth (sci)
(fiction/informational)
1. I-Questioning; PIntegrate strategies
during buddy reading
of student-chosen
biography
2. Integrate strategies
independently-Book
Club share time
3. Independent Strategy
Use-Project
Fluency-oriented reading
approaches can make difficult text
accessible to most readers.
• Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction
(Stahl & Heubach, 2005)
• Wide Reading (Kuhn, in press)
Fluency-Oriented Reading Instruction
(Stahl & Heubach, 2005)
For use during Shared Reading of grade level or
challenging texts
Shared Reading: Community Experience
Grade Level Text: complex themes/issues, sophisticated
vocabulary
Does not replace Guided Reading of instructional level
text in small groups
Principles of Fluency-Oriented
Reading Instruction
• All lessons are comprehension-oriented.
• Children read material at their grade level (with
varying levels of teacher scaffolding).
• Students read the text repeatedly to increase fluency.
• Children are taught a variety of ways to read text
(partner reading; echo reading; choral reading).
• Teachers maximize the amount of time that children
spend reading connected text at home and at school.
Planning the FORI lesson
• Big ideas
Comprehension
issues
• Meaning Vocabulary
• Word recognition
Daily FORI Schedule
• Day 1-Prereading activities, teacher readaloud of the text
• Day 2-Echo reading, home reading
• Day 3-Choral reading, partner reading
• Day 4-Partner reading, home reading
• Day 5-Extension
Monday
• Before reading-essential vocabulary, activate
prior knowledge, macrocomprehension (story
maps, webs), relevant strategy instruction
• Teacher read-aloud
• Macrocomprehension
Tuesday-Echo reading
• Read a section of text, students echo
• Point-of-contact vocabulary
• Questioning, microlevel comprehension
• Word recognition support
Home Reading
• Potential to significantly increase daily student
reading time
• Difficult to document
• Use simple logs.
• Without the stated expectation, there is little
chance of its occurrence. Accountability
increases the odds.
• Provide in-school opportunities to bridge the
gap.
Partner Reading
Wednesday: Choral reading
and partner reading
Thursday: Partner reading, possibly
elaborated vocabulary or
comprehension strategy practice
Partner Reading
• More eyes on text time
• Self-selected partners or more skilled
reader paired with less skilled reader using
a ranking system
• Provided guidelines- not rigid, numerous
rules
• Loose supervision
The Biggie:
No Round Robin Reading
Unrehearsed
sight reading,
with turn-taking
(Rasinski, 2006)
The Biggie:
No Round Robin Reading
• No popcorn reading
• No popsicle stick
reading
• No catch the ball
reading
• No guerrilla reading
(That means in
content area texts,
too!)
Partner Reading Plus
• Partner reading plus questioning or
summarizing
• Elaborated vocabulary instruction
Vocabulary Development
• Choose high-utility, “Tier Two” words for
development.
• Tier Two words are used by mature
language users, words not limited to a
specific domain(Tier 3) nor basic oral
vocabulary (Tier 1). (Beck & McKeown)
• Children already have the concept, but
not the word for Tier Two words.
Examples of Tier Two Words
•
•
•
•
•
dome
beret
sparkling
stroll
bugle
•
•
•
•
•
nocturnal
wade
frustrated
emerge
prank
Vocabulary Development
Routine (Beck & McKeown)
• Describe word use in the story.
• Explain the word’s meaning and give a
few examples of general use.
• Elicit examples of word use from the
students.
• Follow-up with a Word Wizard chart.
Friday: Extensions
• After Reading Menu
– Cognitive Strategy Instruction
– Varied Written Responses
– Discussion Groups
– Research Projects
Inquiry Projects
• Research and inquiry
projects promote
engagement, reinforce
vocabulary, and
encourage deeper
levels of conceptual
development.
Weekly Rate Increases
Words Correct Per Minute
(Kuhn and Scwanenflugel, 2006)
130
120
110
100
90
80
70
60
50
Monday
Wednesday
Day of the Week
Friday
Original FORI with
Differentiation
1. Prereading,
teacher readaloud
2. Choral reading
3. Partner reading
4. Partner reading
5. Extension
1. Prereading,
teacher read-aloud
2. Echo read
3. Partner read
4. Partner read
5. Extension
Wide Reading FORI
Day 1- Teacher read-aloud, comprehension
focus
Day 2- Echo read, partner read (if time)
Day 3- Extension
Day 4- Echo Read Text 2
Day 5- Echo Read Text 3
Early Research Results
• Teachers were able to do the program all year long.
• Children made an average of 1.8 years gain in each single year.
• All children who were reading at the primer level or higher at the
beginning of the year were reading at the second grade level or
higher at the end of the year.
• Children were able to benefit from material at their frustration
level (around 85% accuracy), if given adequate support.
Results of the large scale
study:FORI, WR, Control
• Less student turn-taking, almost double
student reading
• More and higher levels of teacher
questioning
• Less decoding instruction
• More time spent addressing vocabulary
• WR-more informational text
Results of the large scale
study:FORI, WR, Control
• Compared to each other, FORI and Wide
Reading were equally effective
• Measures: Sight Word Reading (TOWRE),
GORT Text Reading (time/acc), and WIAT
comprehension questions
• Both interventions worked equally well in low
SES and middle SES schools
Fluency and Comprehension
(Schwanenflugel, Meisinger, Wisenbaker, Kuhn,
Strauss, & Morris, 2006)
• Fluency accounts for considerable variance in
early reading comprehension. However, this
role diminishes as children get older.
• Particularly as children get older,
comprehension variance often is not
attributed to fluency.
• ELL cautions
• Fluency instruction is a bridge, not the
destination.
Key Ideas For Fluency
Development
•
•
•
•
Volume
Volume
Volume
Attention to meaning, but not in a
compensatory way
• Ongoing developmental word study
Closing Thoughts
“Fluent reading is when a reader’s
recognition of words in context is so
transparent that readers are able to move
from the text to comprehension without
conscious attention to words.”
Stahl & Hiebert, 2005, p. 164