Mar 5 • Teaching Resources
Fun and Engaging Ways to Build Reading Fluency
From Partner Reading to Reader’s Theater
For many developing readers, the journey from sounding out individual words to reading sentences with ease can feel like a monumental leap. This transition is the heart of reading fluency—the ability to read with accuracy, at an appropriate speed, and with suitable expression, or what experts call prosody.
Reading fluency is often described as the essential bridge connecting the skill of decoding words to the ultimate goal of understanding them. When a child reads fluently, their mind is freed from the mechanics of reading and can focus on the story, the characters, and the meaning of the text.
However, for students with dyslexia, achieving fluency can be a significant hurdle. Their challenges with decoding and recognizing words quickly mean that reading can be a slow and laborious process. This is not due to a lack of effort, but rather a need for extensive, targeted, and engaging practice. The great news is that building fluency doesn't have to be a chore. With creative and research-supported strategies, parents and educators can make this practice both fun and highly effective.
Drawing from the evidence-based approaches in Dyslexia Interventions and Recommendations (Mather et al., 2024), here are some engaging ways to help students build their reading fluency.
1. Team Up with Partner Reading
Partner reading, also known as paired reading, is a simple yet powerful strategy that involves a more proficient reader and a developing reader reading a text together. This collaborative approach provides a live model of fluent reading, complete with proper pacing and expression. The supportive nature of reading with a partner can also reduce the anxiety that many struggling readers feel when asked to read aloud on their own.
How to Do It:
1. Choose a Text: Select a book or passage that is at the student's instructional level, typically one they can read with about 90–95% accuracy.
2. Read in Unison: Sit side-by-side and begin reading the text aloud together. The more fluent reader sets a comfortable, natural pace.
3. Fade Support: As the student gains confidence, the lead reader can gradually lower their voice, allowing the student's voice to become more prominent.
4. Offer a Signal: Establish a simple, non-verbal signal the student can use when they encounter a difficult word and need support.
2. The Power of Repetition: Repeated Reading
Just like practicing scales on a piano improves a musician's speed and accuracy, rereading a passage helps a student become more automatic and confident with the words. Repeated reading involves having a student read the same short passage multiple times while receiving feedback, until they achieve a target level of fluency.
To make this more engaging, turn it into a game! Time each reading and have the student chart their words correct per minute (WCPM). Watching their own progress on a graph can be a powerful motivator. For students still mastering their phonics skills, it is especially beneficial to use decodable texts—reading materials that primarily use the sound-symbol correspondences they have already learned—to ensure practice is both productive and confidence-building.
3. Lights, Camera, Action! Reader's Theater
Reader's Theater is a fantastic way to transform reading practice into a performance. In this activity, students read from a script to perform a story for an audience, without the need for costumes, props, or memorization. The focus is entirely on reading the script with expression to bring the characters and story to life.
This strategy provides an authentic and motivating reason to practice rereading and focus on prosody. Students aren't just reading words; they are becoming actors who must convey emotion and meaning through their voice. It's a collaborative and highly social activity that makes reading practice feel like play, making it particularly effective for students who might otherwise resist sitting down with a book.
4. Tune In with Audiobooks and Song Lyrics
Technology offers wonderful tools for modeling fluency. Having a student listen to an audiobook while following along in the printed book provides a multisensory model of fluent, expressive reading. Many text-to-speech programs also allow you to adjust the reading speed, ensuring the pace is just right for comprehension. The student can listen to a short book repeatedly until they feel confident enough to read it independently.
For a creative twist, use song lyrics to enhance prosody. Lyrics are naturally expressive, and their inherent rhythm can help students develop a better flow in their reading. Singing along is, in essence, a form of repeated reading that is both motivational and memorable—and it rarely feels like homework.
Building the Bridge to Comprehension
Building reading fluency is a journey that requires patience and consistent practice. By moving beyond drills and incorporating fun, engaging, and collaborative activities like partner reading and reader's theater, we can help students build the skills and confidence they need to become proficient readers. These strategies not only improve accuracy and speed but also foster a more positive and joyful relationship with reading, paving the way for a lifetime of learning and discovery.
Remember: the goal isn't just to read faster. It's to read in a way that opens doors—to stories, to knowledge, and to a student's fullest potential.
Reference
Mather, N., McCallum, R. S., Bell, S. M., & Wendling, B. J. (2024). Dyslexia Interventions and Recommendations: A Companion Guide to the Tests of Dyslexia
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Fun and Engaging Ways to Build Reading Fluency
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