This paper provides a review of the theoretical discussions and practical studies relating to fluency instruction and reading development. The basic research strategy was to survey the range of definitions for fluency, the primary features of fluent reading, and studies that have attempted to improve the fluency of struggling readers in one of three common groupings--individually, as dyads, and in redesigns of classroom instruction. The paper encountered a range of theories supporting the role of fluency in the reading process and many studies that have attempted to improve fluency and, thereby, to improve reading more generally. It finds that: (1) fluency instruction generally seemed to be effective, although it is unclear whether it is successful because of specific instructional features or because fluency instruction involves children in reading increased amounts of text; (2) assisted approaches, such as reading-while-listening, seemed to be more effective than nonassisted approaches, such as repeated reading; (3) repetitive approaches did not seem to hold a clear advantage over nonrepetitive approaches; and (4) effective fluency instruction moved beyond automatic word recognition to include rhythm and expression, or what linguists refer to as the prosodic features of language. Appendixes contain charts listing characteristics (including number of subjects, reading level of subjects, material read, and results) of repeated reading and assisted reading studies. (Contains 117 references, 2 notes, and a table of data.) (Author/RS)