With increasing emphasis being placed on teachers to show an improvement in student achievement, schools are relying on indicators such as reading fluency and reading comprehension to gauge student progress throughout the year. Since the growth on these assessments are used in calculating teachers and administrators' yearly job evaluations, the…

Despite many previous studies on reading fluency (measured by a maze task) as a screening measure, our understanding is limited about the utility of silent reading fluency in predicting later reading comprehension and contextual influences (e.g., schools and districts) on reading comprehension achievement. In the present study we examined: (1) How…

This article offers instructional suggestions and strategies based on research and theoretical literature for developing reading fluency through the use of rhyming poetry and other texts beyond the narrative and informational texts that have been traditionally used for reading instruction. Readers' lack of fluency in reading can be a monumental…

In this response to Sakurai, Meredith Stephens agrees that Sakurai (2015) raises an important issue of which native English speaking teachers may be unaware; Japanese learners of English typically translate into Japanese while reading English. Sakurai explained, "It is speculated that Japanese students naturally translate English into…

The paper "The influence of translation on reading amount, proficiency, and speed in extensive reading" (Sakurai, 2015) outlined the first six years of the official English education system and policy in Japan. It then discussed the efficacy of extensive reading (ER) followed by a distinction between reading and translation. Previous…

This study used an alternating treatments design to compare the effects of three conditions on the reading fluency, errors, and comprehension of four, sixth-grade students with emotional and behavioral disorders (EBD) who were struggling readers. The conditions were (a) repeated readings in which participants read three times a passage of 100 or…

Stimuli that are fluently processed are more likely to be called "old" on a recognition memory test compared with less fluently processed stimuli. The goal of the current study was to investigate how the perceived diagnostic value of fluency is affected by a match between encoding and test conditions. During the encoding phase,…

The purpose of this study was to compare the reading skills of the fourth graders who were poor readers in different text genres (story and informative text). Fifty-six fourth-grade students who were poor readers participated in this study. Reading rates, reading errors and reading prosody characteristics of the students were examined in the…

The purpose of this study was to examine what components of executive function (EF)--inhibition, shifting and updating/working memory--predict reading comprehension in young adults. Ninety university students (65 females, 25 males; mean age = 21.82 years) were assessed on shifting (Planned Connections and Colour/Shape Shifting), inhibition…

This quasi-experimental study explored a response-to-intervention (RTI) design in which Tiers 2 and 3 were inverted for the most at-risk first grade students in reading intervention in seven classrooms (n = 24) across two culturally diverse schools. These students were matched using propensity scores and compared to a second group of first grade…

Introduction: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the differences in silent and oral reading speed, reading comprehension, and reading errors in two formats, large print paper and the iPad2, for students with visual impairments (that is, those who are blind or have low vision). Methods: A single-subject alternating randomized treatment…

This document provides the following four tips for supporting reading skills for children ages K-3 at home: (1) Have conversations before, during, and after reading together; (2) Help children learn how to break sentences; (3) Help children sound out words smoothly; and (4) Model reading fluently by practicing reading out loud with your child.…

"Literacy Strong All Year Long: Powerful Lessons for Grades 3-5" equips intermediate educators with engaging lessons that motivate students and help them develop the solid foundation of literacy skills that are essential to learning. Thoughtfully designed lessons linked to specific literacy standards create a seamless flow of learning…

Although research suggests that certain cognitive functions predict the likelihood of intervention response for students who receive Tier 2 instruction through a response to intervention framework, researchers know less about cognitive predictors of response to Tier 3 instruction. This study measured 2nd and 3rd graders' performance on 7 cognitive…

The process of implementing intensive reading interventions using data-based decision-making (DBDM) becomes increasingly challenging as students move into the secondary grades and reading tasks correspondingly become more complex. This article provides teachers with guidelines to support effective implementation of DBDM for students with or at…