Reading Fluency

Reading must be fluent. Readers must have the ability to identify words automatically. If they must expend all their concentration on figuring out words, they are unable to focus on meaning. However, readers who can identify words automatically are able to focus their attention on meaning. Research shows that in the early grades children who make the swiftest progress in achieving fast and accurate word identification skills receive the best scores on reading comprehension tests, says Janet Lerner in her book Learning Disabilities: Theories, Diagnosis, and Teaching Strategies (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1988).

Children need to develop a fluency in word recognition so that they can concentrate on the meaning of the text. However, in order to develop their word recognition and thereby improve their reading fluency, one must first recognize that human learning is a stratified process. Consider, for example, the fact that one has to learn to count before it becomes possible to learn to add and subtract. Suppose one tried to teach a child, who had not yet learned to count, to add and subtract. This would be quite impossible, and no amount of effort would ever succeed in teaching the child to add and subtract. This shows that counting is a skill that must be mastered before it becomes possible to learn to do calculations. In the same way there are also skills that form the foundation of word recognition. These foundational skills must be developed before the child will be able to identify words automatically, so that he can focus his concentration on the meaning of the text.