Teacher Knowledge About Reading Fluency and Indicators of Students' Fluency Growth in Reading First Schools

Abstract

This study examines the role of teacher knowledge about reading fluency in students' fluency growth. Specifically, the effects of teacher knowledge on fluency with nonsense word reading and oral passage reading were examined. Students' vocabulary was also considered as a predictor of fluency development. Results demonstrated that teacher knowledge about reading fluency is a significant predictor of firstgrade students' decoding growth and second-grade students' oral reading fluency growth. Effects on third-grade students' reading Many thanks and appreciation go to the staff and researchers at the Florida Center for Reading Research, the staff at Florida Reading First, and the teachers who so generously shared their thoughts with us.

Further evidence for teacher knowledge: supporting struggling readers in grades three through five

“…A position paper (Brady & Moats, 1997) endorsed by the International Dyslexia Association recommended that teacher preparation in reading include, among other topics, knowledge of the structure of language (e.g., phonology, orthography, morphology, and text structure). Such linguistic knowledge is only one aspect of the knowledge base needed to teach reading effectively (Lane et al, 2009), but the ability to provide accurate and explicit instruction in the alphabetic principle underlying English orthography seems especially important for teachers of the primary grades (Adams, 1990;Ball & Blachman, 1991;Cunningham, 1990;Ehri, 1995;Ehri & Williams, 1995;Share & Stanovich, 1995). Despite the importance of such linguistic knowledge, one survey of teachers indicated that fewer than a third of teachers reported familiarity with even the term phonological awareness (Troyer & Yopp, 1990), and another revealed fewer than 20% could answer questions about English phonology and orthography with much accuracy (Moats, 1994).…”

Chinese EFL teachers’ knowledge of basic language constructs and their self-perceived teaching abilities

“…A growing body of evidence has demonstrated that teachers' knowledge of basic language constructs is correlated with students' reading achievement (Carlisle, Correnti, Phelps, & Zeng, 2009;Lane et al, 2008;McCutchen et al, 2009), and without an adequate knowledge of these constructs, teachers are not able to provide effective instruction to learners (e.g., SpearSwerling & Brucker, 2004). Even if a teacher's knowledge does not contribute directly to student achievement, it plays an important role in influencing teachers' pedagogical choices.…”

The quality of evidence in reading fluency intervention for Korean readers with reading difficulties and disabilities

“…Teaching reading fluency can be even more complex when it requires teachers' effective practice to encompass both content knowledge about fluency instruction and knowledge about students' specific learning needs (Brownell et al 2009;Kim and Park 2015;Lane et al 2009). Considering the nature of special education and students with reading difficulties, it is certain that teachers of students with reading difficulties and/or disabilities need more specific knowledge and practical ideas based on the promising research evidence available (Benedict et al 2014;Brownell et al 2009).…”

“…Most research views reading fluency as the ability to accurately read connected text at a conventional rate with appropriate prosody (Adams 1990;Hudson et al 2005;Kim et al 2009a;Lane et al 2009), which is a critical component of effective reading instruction (Kim 2000; The National Reading Report [NRP] 2000). Both empirical and clinical research support the assertion that reading fluency skill (e.g., phonogram naming, fluency in sight word and connected text), a measure of the combination of rate and accuracy, can predict students' overall reading abilities, including reading comprehension in English-speaking children (Gough et al 1996;Hudson et al 2008;Meyer and Felton 1999;Ouellette 2006) and in children who speak Korean (Kim 2000;Kim and Park 2015).…”