Prosody is an important indicator of reading development, but many teachers are unclear about how it can help students improve their reading fluency. Beyond demonstrating expressive or flowing reading, specific components of "reading prosody" can distinctly reveal how well word recognition and comprehension processes coalesce, providing…

Reading fluency has been a tenacious problem in our schools. Studies have addressed the national decline in reading fluency in elementary schools. Tennessee's data outlines a similar pattern of findings. Approximately one third of Tennessee students complete third grade without becoming fluent readers (Tennessee Department of Education, 2023). New…

Reading tutoring is a traditional technique to support the development of young readers. One relatively popular method of tutoring involves pairing a lower level reader with a higher level reader to synchronously read connected text aloud. We use the term Synchronous Paired Oral Reading Techniques (SPORT) to describe a family of related methods…

Reading acquisition is a major focus in schools. For students to be literate in the later grades, it is crucial that foundational skills instruction takes place in the primary grades (K-2). In part, foundational skills needed to become a successful reader include phonological and phonemic awareness (PPA). PPA skills are crucial, and researchers…

Fluent and skillful reading in English requires efficient and automatic letter and word recognition. Dysfluent reading can affect motivation for reading in English language learners, thereby limiting access to a wealth of language input from written texts. Extensive research of repeated reading in first language (L1) settings has been shown to…

Drill-and-practice flashcard interventions are often used when students display delays in sight word recognition and word reading fluency. Sight-phrase interventions connect two to three words together to teach connected text instead of words in isolation. Although studies have shown that students can learn to read sight phrases through a…

Recently, the science of reading has garnered much attention in elementary schools across the U.S. The science of reading is a body of research on learning to read that has been accumulated through systematic inquiry. Seth A. Parsons and Joy Dangora Erickson argue that the way the science of reading is being implemented is missing a key…

Grassroots efforts and other advocacy have led to the vast majority of states adopting policies designed to improve the reading outcomes of all children, including those who struggle to read. Whereas these policies consider various aspects of reading, much of their emphasis has been on developing word reading accuracy and fluency through explicit…

Background: Although Zimbabwe has performed quite well on Grade 6 SACMEQ literacy assessments compared to other African countries, reading levels are generally low and there is little research on reading literacy in Zimbabwean primary schools. Aim: Grade 3 and 4 learners' reading comprehension (RC), accuracy and speed in oral reading fluency (ORF)…

Previous studies have demonstrated the effectiveness of the Repeated Readings intervention at improving reading fluency and reading comprehension. However, research on the effectiveness of fluency interventions focuses on young children, with limited research on the effects on college-age populations. The primary purpose of the current study was…

This systematic review aims to research, analyze, and synthesize peer-reviewed studies using guided reading or small group reading instruction as an intervention with K-12 students within the last ten years. Guided reading is a differentiated reading approach tailored to a reader's needs and is structured in small groups. The three reading skills…

The physical characteristics of a child's learning environment can affect health, wellbeing and educational progress. Here we investigate the effect of classroom setting on academic progress in 7-10-year-old students comparing reading development in "open-plan" (multiple class groups located within one physical space) and…

In this work, two different studies are examined to evaluate the effectiveness of a novel intervention program for the improvement of reading ability in children with dyslexia, known as repeated reading with vocal music masking (RVM). The proposed remedial approach is inspired by Breznitz's original work. The studies assess a 5-week program of…

A critical aspect of reading fluently is the ability to respond to sight words quickly and accurately. Current interventions for sight word fluency include flashcards and taped words (TW). While effective, these interventions require extensive personnel resources and one-on-one implementation. This study evaluates a group-wide intervention, the…

Across the nation the average allotted time, per school day for phonics instruction is 20-30 minutes for elementary students (Shanahan, 2019). Although this is an average, the aforementioned amount of time is not an adequate amount of time to include all of the necessary components of effective phonics instruction (Shanahan, 2019). Furthermore,…