Sharing Good Practice
5 strategies to develop oral reading
fluency in 2 nd language learners
By Zoë R Green
Increase scope of reading by
parsing sentences
When someone is listening to an
oral reader, they must be able to
understand the message being
relayed. To enhance this skill, the
educator can group words into
phrases or clauses. It is important
for the student to quickly interpret
the sentences using punctuation
and meaning as they go. Helping
the learner graduate from words, to
phrases, to sentences can be done
the following ways: (1) Fluency strip/
phrases - Using fluency phrases that
incorporate the 300 Dolch words
foster fluency and familiarity with
text. (e.g. above my head. We will go
today. (2) Phrase - cued text: Marking
sentences with commas and pauses.
Coral reading, echo reading,
and buddy reading
A
s a reading specialist, I quickly
realized that attaining oral
reading fluency is not a distinct
skill, but an amalgamation
of key literacy skills that include part
decoding and part comprehension.
Conceptually, it is important to
understand that only fast word reading
is not fluency, nor is it just reading
the right words fast, but fluency
requires some aspects of reading
comprehension as well. Utilizing Orton-
Gillingham multi-sensory techniques
provide a solid foundational base for
all educators to develop oral reading
fluency in second language learners.
Below are 5 strategies to guide you in
assisting learners in developing oral
reading fluency comprehensively.
Utilize multisensory
techniques for sight words
Understanding sight words or words
that are frequently used is one of
the foundational components of
oral reading. Sight words are words
that do not always fit the phonetic
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mold; therefore, fostering sight word
recognition allows the student to
progress in their oral reading much
faster. Teaching techniques to aid in
sight word fluency includes: see & say,
spell reading, arm tapping, air writing,
table writing, or providing impactful
visuals such as letter cards and red
words. Using these methods increases
student’s long-term memorization of
the words, which ultimately increases
the overall reading fluency.
Pound out words in sentence
dictation and echoing
Pounding words allows the learner
to feel the rhythm of the language
and how words are pronounced.
This prosody technique aids in
pitch, stress, intonation, timing, and
enhances the learner’s ability to
convey meaning during oral reading.
Rather than potentially sounding like
a robot; readers sound natural, fluid
and convey emotion that matches the
author’s intent when they read.
Class Time
Research shows that repeated
reading is a promising method to
developing second language reader’s
fluency. You can provide readers
with appropriately leveled text and
corresponding audiotapes if you
choose. The audio can be dramatized
with music or sound effects, and they
provide a reading model for repeat
reading. A research-based program
that I found extremely efficient was
the Read Naturally program.
Comprehension expectation
As a rule of thumb, teachers can require
learners to read text, not as fast as they
can, but read aloud as well as they can.
The student should know they will be
expected to answer questions about
the text, so, they not only learn to
read fast or fluently, but read to learn.
(Stahl and Kuhn) state that, “fluency
has to go, not necessarily fast, but
the speed of normal language.” Oral
reading fluency develops as a result of
practice opportunities that should be
given daily.