Blog #4: Reading Fluency

Hudson, Lane, & Pullen contend that fluent reading is comprised of 3 elements: "accurate reading of a connected text at a conversational rate with appropriate prosody or expression” (Hudson, Lane, & Pullen 2005, p. 702). The word "prosody" is new for me, and is described as the music of oral language (Hudson, Lane, & Pullen 2005, p. 704). It's a really cool concept that I certainly identify with as someone who has done theater and vocal performance. It embodies an intuitive sense that words have a "feel" to them depending on the surrounding context, and that meaning can be better communicated and understood when prosody is fluent. According to this article, there are several ways to increase reading fluency. Teachers should:

--Model fluent oral reading

--Direct instruction of fluent reading skills

--Provide materials for independent reading

--Repeated readings of progressively difficult text

--Cue phrase boundaries (foster prosody)

When I look at this list of ways to actively encourage reading fluency in students, I think back to the examples of this in my own learning as a child. The image that immediately came to mind for me is laying in bed while my father read "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" by Mark Twain. I was read to throughout my childhood on a daily basis. When I recall instances of reading in our house, I don't remember feeling these moments were prescriptive, pedagogical, or even planned -- reading was an enjoyable part of daily life for my parents, my sister and I. My parents modeled this behavior on their own by reading novels, nonfiction books, and the newspaper. They read to us daily and it was ingrained as an enjoyable way to spend time together. This is still present in my life, even though I don't have kids yet. My partner and I often take the time to read aloud to each other for fun (we're currently back to an old favorite, Harry Potter and the Sorceror's Stone). Reading has always been a part of my life -- it's even a part of my ancestry & my heritage.

Image courtesy of wikipedia.org 

I bring this personal story to the blog because I think it displays the incredible privilege I have experienced to be descended from readers. This has always made reading enjoyable and easy for me in many ways. However, I think it also points to the fact that from a young age, I developed reading fluency -- reading is, in a sense, a "native language" for me. Many students do not grow up with reading as an ingrained, natural part of their experience of language, and this is an extremely important thing for me to remember as a teacher of "reading privilege." It's certainly not as easy to learn a second language as it is a first one, and I think those of us with "reading privilege" don't take into account what it truly means to learn this "second" language in a purposeful context. It's why we need to focus on strategies to truly transform students' reading fluency, instead of assuming that this is a skill that will eventually come naturally to all.