Out of this World Literacy

Literacy Resources from Jen Bengel

Fluency – The 6 Characteristics of Fluency

fluency traitsHello! It's Jen Bengel here from Out of This World Literacy. Today I'll be going over the 6 characteristics of reading fluency. You may have readers in your class who are struggling to read fluently. If you have found yourself thinking “He/she really struggles with fluency” then join me in taking a quick look at these 6 dimensions that make up fluency. Think about those students who are struggling and see if you can begin to narrow their ideas and weaknesses down to one or two of these characteristics. 

1. Pausing. This refers to how students are reading the punctuation. Do they stop at periods, do they pause at commas, do they raise their voice when they see a question mark? Do they lower their voice when they come to a period? If they are not reading punctuation as well as the words, they probably are struggling with pausing. 

2. Phrasing. This refers to the way readers put words together in groups or phrases. Are they clumping words together in a way that makes sense or are the phrases they are reading together feel disjointed or choppy? 

3. Stress. This refers to the emphasis readers place on particular words. They read a more important word louder to reflect the meaning of that word. They notice important words and put emphasis or stress on them when reading aloud. Students who struggle with fluency often read in a more monotone voice. 

4. Intonation. This refers to the way the reader changes the pitch, tone, and volume to reflect meaning as they read. When students read with that monotone voice aloud, chances are they read with that same monotone voice silent in their heads and are missing many comprehension moments. 

5. Rate. This refers to the pace at which a reader reads words and moves through the text. Again, if students read at the same rate aloud, they are likely missing this concept. Fluent readers know when the meaning of the text tells them to slow down their reading or speed it up. 

6. Integration. This involves the way the reader constantly blends phrasing, pausing, stress, intonation, and rate together to be an overall fluent reader that pays attention to meaning and fluency. 

Think about those kids who are struggling with fluency. Which area of these 6 characteristics can you work on with them today? If you know your students struggle with reading fluently check out my Reading Fluency lessons! These lessons focus directly on building students' fluency. To view them click HERE

Its been my pleasure chatting with you and please know that I am the biggest fan of the work you and your students do in the classroom every day.

If you enjoyed today’s lesson you can find this post and many more on iTunes, Spotify, or Alexa Briefings. Click here to listen

*CLIPART FROM A SKETCHY GUY. VIEW HIS STORE AT HTTPS://WWW.TEACHERSPAYTEACHERS.COM/STORE/A-SKETCHY-GUY

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Happy teaching!
Jen

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