The English language contains about 220 words that make up between 50 and 75 percent of written texts. By skimming over words encountered regularly in text called sight words, students move faster and more fluently through text. Students should master certain sight words by the end of each grade level in elementary school. To help students quickly recognize sight words, teachers create sight word flash cards for students to practice with one another or set up bingo games using the words. Mastering sight words occurs when students can call out the word rapidly at a mere glance.
Fluency possesses an element of comfort, so students unconsciously increase their fluency by reading what feels comfortable to them. Provide about half an hour each day for you and your students to read independently. Allow students to read whatever they please, within reason. Before letting your students loose during silent reading time, help them choose books at their independent reading level where they can understand at least 95 percent of the words without difficulty. Do not discourage students from rereading books they have already read. Increase your students’ comfort levels even further by providing floor space, couches, bean bags and pillows to encourage students to positively associate reading with relaxation and pleasure.
Expose students to ideal reading models so they can pinpoint what constitutes fluent reading. When students first begin to read, they busily decode words by translating letters into meaning; therefore, they usually exhibit little expression or do not pause at appropriate places in the text. Students who have mastered fluency read with feeling and innately understand where to pause, a reading concept called prosody. You are by far the most fluent reader in your classroom, so allow your students to listen to you read often. Upper-grade teachers often enjoy having their students read with the younger students, a program called “buddy reading.”
All students benefit by working individually or in small groups with a teacher. Direct students to pay attention to punctuation, inflection and natural word groupings. Provide support for struggling readers with choral reading, where the class reads text together, and echo reading, which forces students to repeat text after you. The narrators of books on tape provide the ultimate models for fluency because they may be experienced actors who read at prosodic, appropriate, error-free paces that teachers or reading buddies cannot approach. Students enjoy audio books because of the sound effects, voice changes and emotional component the narrator provides.
Repeatedly reading easier material boosts fluency levels. Have groups of students practice short scenes from stories to present to the class. As students rehearse their lines, they repeat words many times, allowing the words to sink into their subconscious.
Poetry, which often features repeated phrasing and a melodic quality, is ideal for building fluency. As a reading teacher, make recitations and dramatic performances a part of your teaching repertoire. Students who memorize selections -- whether poetry or play parts -- to recite in front of the class significantly improve their fluency while boosting their self-confidence.