Scientific research has consistently recognised the critical nature of fluency as a bridge between effortful decoding and comprehension. A fluent reader is one who can accurately and automatically decode words.
If readers can decode words accurately but have to employ an excessive proportion of their cognitive resources to do so, they have fewer of those resources available for comprehension. However, when readers are accurate and automatic, they can decode with minimal use of their cognitive resources, thus allowing them to channel their effort towards comprehending and making sense of what they have read.
So, how do we teach and nurture fluency in our pupils at St. Joseph's?
Simply put, pupils need to:
The immediate goal of the FDL is for pupils to be able to achieve fluency on a new text every single day, an achievement that many struggling readers seldom experience. The texts we use are usually short in length in order to keep the lessons to no more than 20 minutes (poems can work well, as their rhythm and rhyme lend themselves to prosodic reading).
What is truly appealing about the FDL is that it allows pupils to feel successful as readers.
Strategies such as Reader’s Theatre mirror the ‘gradual release of responsibility’ model that is exemplified in EEF ‘Metacognition and Self-regulated Learning’ guidance report, helping struggling readers to reach independence in a supportive, intentional way: