Research Paper on "Oral Reading Fluency Final Action"

Research Paper 12 pages (4792 words) Sources: 8 Style: APA

[EXCERPT] . . . .

Oral Reading Fluency

Final Action Research Paper

The Purpose of this action research is to determine to what extent Tier 2 intervention modeling oral reading strategies will increase oral reading fluency in 2nd grade students. Reading fluency by itself is not sufficient for an increase in oral reading fluency. Oral reading fluency strategies, such as vocabulary and language knowledge, also play a direct role in reading fluency (DIBELS Next 2005). Questions addressed in this study include those asking: (1) What is reading fluency? (2) What are the six critical elements to become a fluent reader? (3) What instructional techniques are used to become a fluent reader? And (4) What does learning theory say about modeling oral reading fluency? The research will take place in a second grade level with an enrollment of approximately 134 students.

Table of Contents

Problem/Purpose

Research

Theoretical Framework

Literature Review

Methodology

Findings

Discussion

Suggestions for Further Research & #8230;..20

IX. References 21

I. Problem

Before the turn of the century, educators have tried to understand what happens to children when they learn how to read. In our present society, learning to read is vital because our world has advanced technologically and we need critical thinkers who can actively participate in society (Cooper, 2000). Learning to read involves literacy that enables individuals to communicate in the real-world, and we learn to become literate largely by reading. Literally, hundreds of correlational studies have proven the best readers read the most and the poorest readers read the least (Reading Today, 2000). Children need exposure to lots of books and guided teaching to become strong readers. Therefore, teachers must create an environment in the classroom that allows instruction in reading to take place. A teacher's role is to encourage and expand reading that involves many kinds of books. Lessons should include the students to respond to their reading experiences, show how to use the processes of reading, and model reading strategies to construct meaning (Cooper, 2000).

Reading achievement in the United States is below the basic level in both elementary and high school. According to the National Assessment of Education, 44% of U.S. students are down from the basic levels of reading (Collins, 1997). Educators describe the problems in terms of oral reading fluency and research demonstrates a correlation between reading fluency and comprehension (Breznitz, 1987). According to Becoming A Nation of Readers, "Research suggest that no matter which strategies are used to introduce them to reading, the children who earn the nest scores on reading comprehension tests in the second grade are the ones who made the most progress in fast and accurate word identification in the first grade" (Anderson, Heibert, Scott & Wilkinson, 1985).

Children nationwide demonstrate struggling with the ability to read with fluency. Fluency is the process of automatically, accurately, and rapidly recognizing words (Perfetti, 1985). Oral Reading is an important skill because fluency facilitates comprehension. Sentences are complete thoughts. Children having to read every word in isolation will hinder their comprehension. When fluency occurs, children will enjoy reading by understanding the meaning of the stories. Teachers need to focus their attention instructing fluency because it is essential in obtaining the readiness of good comprehension skills. Young students might not know what fluent reading should sound like. Modeling expression, voice inflection, and fluency will allow students to increase in their performance of oral reading and comprehension.

Evaluating a student's performance requires an assessment of the skills being measured. Teachers need assessment data to determine the progress of student learning. Students are also able to view their growth of learning and become active participants in their literacy development. An effective assessment lets the school know you are doing a good job in following a student's accomplishments (Coper, 2000). Measuring reading fluency requires an assessment of testing WPM (Words Per Minute). Administering a pre and post test assessment can complete oral reading fluency progress. Selected passages are read by students and timed by the teacher to shoe fluency growth in WPM.

Assessments must go hand in hand with instruction (Cooper, 2000). The objective to teaching fluency in the classroom is to ultimately promote the readiness of good comprehension skills. Reading fluency must be taught for students to become effective readers.

The Purpose of this action research is to determine to what extent Tier 2 intervention modeling oral reading strategies will increase oral reading fluency in 2nd grade students. Reading fluency by itself is not sufficient for an increase in oral reading fluency. Oral reading fluency strategies, such as vocabulary and language knowledge, also play a direct role in reading fluency (DIBELS Next 2005).

II. Research Questions

Questions addressed in this study include the questions stated as follows:

(1) What is reading fluency?

(2) What are the six critical elements to become a fluent reader?

(3) What instructional techniques are used to become a fluent reader?

(4) What does learning theory say about modeling oral reading fluency?

III. Theoretical Framework

The theoretical framework upon which this study is formulated is that of Vygotsky's theory of scaffolding in student learning. Scaffolding instruction is a strategy for teaching that originates from the socioculture theory of Vygotsky and his concept of the zone of proximal development. The zone of proximal development is "the distance between what children can do by themselves and the next learning that they can be helped to achieve with competent assistance." (Van Der Stuyf, 2002, p.2) The process of scaffolding instruction involves a person that is more knowledgeable providing support to facilitate the learning of the student. According to Van Der Stuyf "the scaffolds facilitate a student's ability to build on prior knowledge and internalize new information. The activities provided in scaffolding instruction are just beyond the level of what the learner can do alone." (2002, p.3) Scaffolding instruction was defined by Vygotsky as "the role of teachers and others in supporting the learners' development and providing support structure to get to that next stage or level." (Van Der Stuyf, 2002, p.3) An important element in scaffolding instruction is that the support is temporary with the primary goal of the teacher being the student developing independence and learning to do the task without any support.

IV. Literature Review

What is reading fluency?

In the book Literacy, written by J. David Cooper, he writes "in the beginning stages of learning to read, a child must depend heavily on his or her decoding abilities to pronounce words." However, Cooper states "as the child has repeated practice in reading, he or she learns to recognize words automatically, accurately, and rapidly (learns more sight words) and becomes a more fluent reader." Researchers have found that good fluent decoders are usually good comprehenders. Therefore, fluency facilitates comprehension.

What are the six critical elements to become a fluent reader?

Students must develop six critical elements before they can become fluent readers. These elements are oral language, phonemic awareness, concepts of print, letter-sound associations, analogy, and learning a way to think about words (Cooper, 2000). Knowing these elements will help readers become more efficient, independent readers.

In the oral language development, the child understands the sounds of language (phonology); they learn how words are formed (morphology); they learn how the language conveys meaning (semantics); they develop word meanings and pronunciations (vocabulary); and they learn how language is used to achieve goals (pragmatics). These oral language elements are the basis for reading. This development allows the child to check his or her system for proper decoding and make meaning of a word.

Phonemic awareness is another important element for good reading skills. It is the knowledge that spoken words are made up of phonemes. This means that symbols or alphabet represents the sounds of the language. For example, the word "dog" has three phonemes, d-o-g.

In the concepts of print development, students must understand that books convey meaning through the written text. In this process they also need to know directionality; left-right and top-bottom. Students must also develop understanding of sentences, punctuation, and orientation of the book, such as the author. This is necessary to help children to develop the concept about print.

Letter-sound association is an element that explicitly teaches readers the basic element of phonics to guide them in the best ways to teach phonics.

Analogy is an element for recognizing similarities in word families or patterns. For example, the word night looks like fight. The word fight is a known word; therefore a student can make the analogy and decode the word night.

Finally, students need a strategy or a way to think about words when decoding unfamiliar words. The students can decode a word by recognizing an analogy or large sound chunk, such as ing or ed. They may also try to use letter-sound associations. This is a critical element in becoming a fluent decoder.

What instructional techniques are used for becoming a fluent reader?

Reading fluency has been identified as a reading goal by the 1985 national report, Becoming a Nation of Readers and is an important aspect of proficient reading… READ MORE

How to Reference "Oral Reading Fluency Final Action" Research Paper in a Bibliography

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