Repeated Reading versus Continuous Reading: Influences on Reading Fluency and Comprehension

Abstract

In this research we evaluated two methods to improve the reading fluency of struggling readers. Poor readers in Grades 2 and 4 with ( n = 17) and without ( n = 20) learning disabilities were randomly assigned to one of two fluency practice variations or to a control group. Students in the treatments practiced reading aloud under repeated or continuous reading conditions with an adult listener in 15-min sessions, 3 days per week for 14 weeks. For students in the treatment conditions, growth curve analyses revealed significant differences in fluency and reading comprehension over students in the control. We found no significant differences between practice conditions.

Training reading fluency among poor readers of German: many ways to the goal

“…We also looked at the development of general reading fluency skills, as on the basis of previous studies on tutoring programs (Baker et al, 2000;Kuhn & Stahl, 2003;O'Connor et al, 2007;Shany & Biemiller, 1995), paired reading practice could be associated with an improvement in global reading fluency tasks. In the present study, it was found that, after book reading practice for approximately 6 weeks (25 sessions), the participants in the paired reading group improved their reading speed of words more rapidly than the computer group.…”

“…Thus, the results confirm the previous findings of the positive outcomes of tutoring programs on reading fluency. Furthermore, Baker et al (2000) and O'Connor et al (2007) used tutored reading practice with limited tutor training and found gains in reading fluency and comprehension. This positive finding of tutored reading practice applies also for the children with reading deficits in a language with a regular orthography whose main problem is slow reading speed.…”

“…Typically, the number of rereadings has been predetermined, or material has been reread until a certain rate criterion has been attained. In addition to repeated reading practice, there have been few attempts to simply increase the amount of reading activities for poor readers by assisted reading practice (e.g., Baker, Gersten, & Keating, 2000;Kuhn & Stahl, 2003;O'Connor et al, 2007;Shany & Biemiller, 1995). Assisted reading practice refers to a training strategy in which the emphasis is on providing extensive exposure to the print with a model of fluent reading (Kuhn & Stahl, 2003).…”

“…If the repeated reading of words does not lead to generalization effects, this type of training as a remedial one-to-one tutoring program is a time-consuming task. On the other hand, assisted reading practice has been associated with gains in reading fluency and in reading comprehension scores (Baker et al, 2000;O'Connor et al, 2007;Shany & Biemiller, 1995). However, only a few studies have used experimental designs, and the positive outcomes have emerged as a result of extensive practice (e.g.…”

“…Thus, the emphasis is on the easy implementation that is created by minimal demands on teachers, using adult volunteers as tutors and keeping the intervention loosely structured so that it is possible to conduct tutoring with brief volunteer training. In the research literature, there is evidence suggesting that paired reading or oneto-one tutoring can lead to gains in word recognition and comprehension (Erlbaum, Vaughan, Hughes, & Moody, 2000;Kuhn & Stahl, 2003;Morgan & Lyon, 1979;O'Connor et al, 2007), also using volunteers as tutors (Baker et al, 2000). We are interested in evaluating whether improvements emerge when reading speed is trained with a relatively short but intensive paired reading program.…”