What is it?
Fluency is the ability to read accurately and quickly. Readers who read fluently can recognize words automatically when reading silently, can group words together to help them understand what they read, and they can read aloud, with expression, without issues. Fluency is important because once a reader is fluent, they do not have to focus on decoding words, so they can focus on understanding the text as a whole. Fluent readers can read the text and comprehend the text at the same time, while non fluent readers have to focus on the meaning of words, which does not lend much time to comprehending the text as a whole. Fluency develops over time, as students first begin to grasp reading aloud to then being able to recognize phrases and grammar that might require pauses and emphasis to be able to read with expression.
Research
Research shows that repeated oral reading that is monitored by a teacher improves fluency in children. Research shows that when students read and reread the same passages while receiving guidance from their teacher, there is an increase in fluency. Repeated reading has been shown to help improve word recognition, reading speed, and accuracy. The development of all three of these has shown to help increase fluency in children's reading ability.
On the other side of the isle is reading silently or round robin reading. Round robin reading is when a teacher splits up a text for different children to read, this however, has not been shown to increase fluency. Round robin reading is generally setup where a student only reads their section of text once, so there is no repetition in what they are reading. Another reading strategy commonly used to increase fluency is silent, independent reading. Research has not been able to confirm if this is a reliable strategy or not, though. It also has not proven that silent reading does not work either, but there is research that proves that there are beneficial ways to increase fluency.
Strategies
Based on research, the best strategy to employ for improving fluency is to have students read the same passage aloud several times, with feedback while they're reading. Research has shown this to be one of the best methods to improve fluency. Repeated oral reading can be done in a variety of ways, below are just a few of them:
1. Echo Reading - The teacher reads a sentence while following along with her finger, and then has the student do the exact same thing. The student is able to understand when to pause, what tone to use, how to pronounce a word, etc.. all from the the teachers reading first.
2. Choral Reading - Have students read aloud as a whole class, parts of the class, small groups, or partner. This helps students because they can safely mess up without anyone else hearing them. So it eliminates the fear of failure from them.
3. Modeled Reading - The teachers reads the first few sentences, then lets the student finish the story. By modeling the beginning, the students hear how the author intended the story to be read so they can follow suit as they read.
4. Repeated Reading - Have a student read a book 3 times, with a different purpose in mind each time. The first time is for them to enjoy the story, then the next two times can be to identify any vocabulary, making connections with the text, etc.
5. Readers Theater - The students act out a play using a script. The student does not have to memorize any lines, but rather read their lines straight from the script. This helps them to include emotion, emphasis, and movement into their reading. They practice recognizing all of these in the text, and then they have to actually act it out.
Resources