Learning how to read well is an essential life skill for children because it helps improve their comprehension and language abilities. This is why teachers focus so much on getting their students to practice reading.
To ensure that a child has good reading skills, the teacher needs to assess their reading fluency. If a student is not very fluent, then this is a strong indicator that they are having trouble reading. In such a case, the teacher will need to carry out fluency exercises with the student to help the child improve in this area.
Defining Fluency
Fluency is a skill that involves being able to read correctly without too many errors or word omissions. It also consists of the ability to read with good pacing. This means that the student should know when to pause or stop. They should read at a moderate speed and not too fast or too slow. A fluent reader is also able to bring appropriate facial expressions when reading.
Assessing Fluency
One way of assessing if a student is a fluent reader is to check their intonation and pacing. A fluent reader will have a good overall tone and pitch. So, they will read a word like ‘smiling’ in a happy tone, and their volume will increase and decrease in the right places as they read.
Apart from this, if the student knows where to pause during reading, like at the end of a sentence, it also shows that the student is a fluent reader.
The WCPM Method
Another good way of measuring fluency is to use the WCPM method. This method is a useful way to measure the accuracy and speed with which a student can read. WCPM stands for words-correct-per-minute.
The teacher will ask the student to read a paragraph and count how many errors the student commits during one minute to calculate the WCPM score for that student. If there are too many errors, then it is a warning sign that the child needs help developing fluency.
Benefits Of WCPM
The WCPM can help teachers make the best choices for their students by telling them exactly where each child stands in terms of fluency. That’s because the WCPM is known to show the student’s fluency level accurately.
It also shows how well a child can comprehend what they are reading, especially when it comes to primary school children. Teachers can then use the WCPM results to devise effective reading strategies that will help students read better.
Concluding Thoughts
By assessing reading fluency, teachers can find out if a child is struggling to read. Based on this assessment, the teachers can then develop practice exercises to improve their students and become better overall readers.