The Fluent Reader - Book Summary

Written by: Brianna Guild, MHSc SLP

Date: May 19, 2023

This post summarizes what I learned while reading The Fluent Reader: Oral Reading Strategies for Building Word Recognition, Fluency, and Comprehension by Timothy V. Rasinski.

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Reasoning: This might be a 5 star book if you are a classroom teacher and/or new to explicitly targeting fluency during literacy instruction. As a Speech-Language Pathologists who only works with students one-on-one, there is a lot of classroom and curriculum related content in this book that isn’t applicable to my role. However, I learned many new strategies and activities for building reading fluency that I have begun implementing in my one-on-one literacy sessions. Therefore, I have chosen to focus my summary on the information that was most impactful for me personally. 

4 Ways to Build Fluent Reading

1. Model fluent oral reading. Reading aloud to students of all ages allows them to witness and learn from fluent oral reading, and explore more sophisticated words and text structures.

2. Provide oral assistance for readers, including choral reading, paired reading, and use of recorded materials so students can read + listen to texts.

3. Provide plenty of practice opportunities, including reading a variety of texts (wide reading), and doing repeated readings of a text (deep reading) before moving on to a new text.

4. Encourage fluency through phrasing by helping students separate texts into phrases. This is one strategy for supporting readers to move beyond word-by-word reading.

Read Aloud

- Educator-led read alouds provide many benefits including: a model for fluent oral reading, improved comprehension and vocabulary, increased motivation to read, and exposure to new genres.

- Preparing for a read aloud: choose books that reach beyond students' comfort zones, make connections to other books and media, read award winners, and think beyond books (e.g., poems, lyrics, articles).

- Conducting a read aloud: set the stage (e.g., begin with a ritual), and model thinking aloud while reading.

- Responding after a read aloud: have students complete an oral response (e.g., group discussion), written response (e.g., open-ended or prompted), visual response (e.g., drawing a scene from the text) or physical response (e.g., tableau to represent a scene).

- Read alouds helps students build comprehension by responding to and connecting with the text on a personal level, and exchanging responses with others. In addition to building comprehension, students discover the fluency dimension of reading— that meaning is carried in both the words in a text, and the expression of those words.

Assisted Reading

- Unlike silent reading, oral assisted reading allows educators to provide direct and explicit support to a student as they read. Additionally, the learning that occurs during assisted reading—decoding words, reading with expression, and constructing meaning from connected text—transfers to new texts.

- Choral reading: the group reads the same text aloud together. This is a great way to maximize the amount of reading done per student, and builds community within the classroom/group.

- Paired reading: a form of choral reading done by a pair of readers, usually one more proficient than the other. Partners read aloud together side-by-side with one gently "pushing" the other along (reading with an expressive voice that is slightly faster than the less proficient reader would typically read on their own).

- Audio recorded reading: give students books and other reading materials along with an audio recorded version (e.g., audiobook or recording), and have students read the text (track the words visually) as they listen to the recording.

- Buddy reading: students with similar reading abilities are paired up, choose a book or other text, and decide how they will orally read the text together (e.g., read chorally or take turns). Pairs pause occasionally to discuss what was read, and coordinate home reading so they will be at the same part of the text the next day. 

Repeated Reading

- Repeated reading results in improved story comprehension, helps readers recall facts from the reading, leads to more sophisticated questioning and insights, promotes more efficient reading with greater word recognition accuracy, helps readers move beyond word-by-word reading to more meaningful phrasing, and can be authentic, engaging and enjoyable when given real reasons to practice (e.g., perform for an audience).

- Radio reading: first, the educator gives a lesson on the importance of reading with expression, just like radio and television announcers do. Next, students are assigned parts of a text to read. Then, students practice reading their part aloud repeatedly, at school and at home. The next day, students present their readings one by one, in the appropriate order according to the text. After all students have read their parts, there is a follow-up discussion.

- Say it like the character: students practice reading a text silently and orally, then read aloud in an appropriate tone of voice. Listeners guess the emotion that the character is feeling, and discuss what the reader did to convey that emotion (e.g., volume, pitch, rate, emphasis).

- Cooperative repeated reading: students pair up, and one student reads their passage to the partner three times. The partner listens, provides assistance as necessary, and gives feedback on the read’s fluency (e.g., decoding accuracy, pacing, expression). Then the pair reverses roles.

Performance Reading

- Performance reading is a powerful activity because it requires students to use repeated reading for the purpose of preparing for a performance. Students must learn to read a text for meaning and understanding, and use expression to properly convey this meaning.

- Student-led read aloud: let students take the lead in activities such as radio reading, making recordings of books and other texts, and hosting book talks (e.g., give a summary of a book, critique it, and read a favourite passage that shows a key event or the author's writing style).

- Reader's theater: script reading naturally requires repeated practice. Students stand in front of the class and read from scripts. Without movement, costumes or props, performers must use their voices to make the performance meaningful. In order to use their voices well, students must practice the text repeatedly before performing.

- Student created scripts: students turn stories into scripts, which is also a scaffolded writing activity. The original text provides a model for spelling and writing structure. Students then perform their scripts.

- Reading poetry: meaning is carried in both the words and oral expression of poems. The rhyme, rhythm, and repetition also helps build fluency. To prepare for a classroom poetry coffeehouse, students listen to poems, browse poetry collections, and select one or more poems to learn. Students practice their poems during the week, and a classroom poetry coffeehouse is held at the end of the week where each student performs their poems.

- Songs and song lyrics: the key to using songs for reading fluency is to ensure that students are still tracking the written text visually, even when they have memorized the lyrics. Sing songs chorally and repeatedly, and then have students perform the songs independently while reading the lyrics.

I highly recommend you check out the full book if want more information on the following: oral reading within and across the school curriculum, creating lessons that integrate oral reading activities, and details on assessing word recognition and fluency through oral reading.

References:
Rasinski, T. V. (2019). The Fluent Reader: Oral Reading Strategies for Building Word Recognition, Fluency, and Comprehension. (2nd ed). Scholastics.