Passage and text-level fluency practice is an important component of fluency-targeted interventions. However, when working on fluency at the text-level, it is important that educators consider the following:

• First, before beginning a fluency intervention, instructors should determine whether or not a student is struggling with underlying skill deficits (e.g., weak phonemic awareness, poor word decoding accuracy, etc.) (Loftus & Sappington, 2024). If weaknesses in foundational reading skills are present, the student will require instruction in those areas. This is because students cannot achieve appropriate fluency levels without reading accurately.
• Second, in addition to text-level practice, students may benefit from fluency practice at the word level and the phrase or sentence level (Loftus & Sappington, 2024). 

There are a variety of methods and activities for supporting and building reading fluency at the text or passage-level. Specific ideas are listed below:

Chunking Phrases Within Text

With teacher guidance, students can work on chunking phrases within a passage, marking the chunks (e.g., with a line in the text), and then using this as a reminder to read in meaningful phrases. Timothy Shanahan (2023) also identifies this practice of chunking text into phrases as a means of supporting students with strengthening their prosody and expression. An example of a text chunked into phrases is shown below. According to Rasinski (2010), “there are no hard and fast rules for cueing texts; you just need to trust your judgment” (p.152). One example for educators to follow is to use:

• one slash mark (/) to represent commas within the text, prepositional phrase breaks, subject-verb divisions, and conjunctions within sentences
• use two slash marks (//) to represent ending punctuation within the text (Glavach)

Detective Bobbin / stared at the blackboard / with tired eyes. // He sighed. // Then he put his hands / over his face / and groaned in exasperation. // It had been three weeks / since the bank robbery / roiled the quiet mountain town / and yet… / not a single lead! // Bobbin was at a loss, / and he was beginning to doubt / his own competence. //

*More information about phrase-level practice can be found here. 

Modeling

It is important for students to hear “fluent reading […] by the teacher or other skilled reader” (Mather & Wendling, 2024, p. 162). Modeling is a component of many text-level fluency practices, including repeated readings and assisted reading (see below).

Continuous Reading

Mather and Wendling (2024) suggest that “continuous reading of different passages can also increase accuracy, fluency, and vocabulary” (p. 164). Elizabeth Norton (2024) also advocates for the use of continuous reading, which she also describes as “sustained or wide reading” that “exposes students to a variety of texts” as an important component of fluency instruction (p. 45).

Repeated Reading

Repeated reading–having students read a passage of text out loud multiple times with “immediate corrective feedback” from a listener (Mather & Wendling, 2024, p. 163) in order to reach a predetermined fluency goal (e.g., words-correct-per-minute)–is a commonly used fluency intervention at the text-level. A recent article by Elizabeth Norton (2024) examined whether repeated reading practices have an advantage over continuous reading. While the studies mentioned had small sample sizes, both repeated reading and continuous reading had a positive impact on students’ fluency and comprehension; however, there was some evidence that continuous reading may have advantage over repeated reading specifically “for improving comprehension of unfamiliar text” (p. 47). Given that there is not yet a consensus on this issue, the following advice from reading expert Dr. Melissa Orkin is helpful to keep in mind: she recommends that repeated readings not be the “only tool” used for working on fluency with students but rather one of multiple possible approaches (Loftus & Sappington, 2024b).

Authentic Repeated Reading

Authentic repeated reading opportunities allow students to engage with a targeted text multiple times and in a variety of meaningful ways. Some approaches include Reader’s Theater, poems, song lyrics, and monologues. More ideas about authentic repeated reading can be found in Timothy Rasinski’s article “Why Reading Fluency Should Be Hot” (2012). 

Assisted Reading

Assisted reading involves providing a student with a model of fluent reading immediately before or simultaneous to the student reading aloud. There are two types of assisted reading. In choral reading, “the student and the teacher read the text aloud together while the teacher points with the index finger to the words. The teacher reads at a slightly faster pace and encourages the student to try and keep up” (Mather & Wendling, 2024, p. 166). Echo reading involves having the teacher and student “taking turns” reading aloud, with the teacher reading a sentence first and then the student reading the same sentence (p. 166). More suggestions for assisted reading practice can be found here.

Fluency Development Lesson (FDL)

The FDL format, developed by Timothy Rasinski, can be used to provide systematic fluency instruction at the passage-level, as well as integrating in some work with lower level skills. More information about FDL can be found at this Landmark Outreach resource.

References

Glavach, M. J. (2011, February). The brain, prosody, and reading fluency. National Association of Special Education Teachers: The Practical Teacher. https://www.strugglingreaders.com/research/NASET%20%20Fluency.pdf

Loftus, M. & Sappington, L. (Hosts). (2024, May 10). Science of Reading beyond phonics: Fluency instruction and assessment with Jan Hasbrouck (No. 153) [Audio podcast episode]. In Melissa & Lori Love Literacy. Great Minds. https://literacypodcast.com/podcast?podcast=Buzzsprout-15157927

Loftus, M. & Sappington, L. (Hosts). (2024b, December 5). Building Fluency with POSSUM with Melissa Orkin and Maryanne Wolf  (No. 211) [Audio podcast episode]. In Melissa & Lori Love Literacy. Great Minds. https://literacypodcast.com/podcast?podcast=Buzzsprout-15743362

Mather, M. & Wendling, B.J. (2024). Essentials of dyslexia assessment and intervention (2nd ed.). John Wiley & Sons, Inc.

Norton, E. (2024). Practice doesn’t make perfect: Repeated reading is no more effective than continuous reading for improving fluency and comprehension in school-age struggling readers. The Reading League Journal, 5(1), 45-49. https://learnlab.northwestern.edu/wp-content/uploads/2024/03/Norton_TRL_2024.pdf

Rasinski, T. V. (2010). The fluent reader: Oral & silent reading strategies for building fluency, word recognition & comprehension. Scholastic.

Rasinski, T. (2012). Why Reading Fluency Should Be Hot. The Reading Teacher,65(8), 516-522. https://www.timrasinski.com/presentations/article_why_fluency_shd_be_hot__rt_may_2012.pdf

Shanahan, T. (2023, July 5). Can we really teach prosody and why would we want to? Reading Rockets. https://www.readingrockets.org/blogs/shanahan-on-literacy/can-we-really-teach-prosody-and-why-would-we-want