🚫 What Reading Fluency Isn't

Many schools think they are teaching fluency, but several common classroom routines are actually slowing it down. Cold extracts, unprepared vocabulary, round-robin reading, lack of modelling, and silent reading used as fluency practice are widespread misconceptions.

Real fluency teaching is simple: prepare the text, model it, rehearse it, and repeat it. Small tweaks in daily routines lead to smoother reading, better comprehension, and more confident learners (Rasinski, 2010; Shanahan, 2012; National Reading Panel, 2000).

I’ve seen it time and again in schools where teachers are working hard to teach reading fluency, but routines aren’t producing fluent readers. Pupils stumble over vocabulary, read in monotone, or perform for one brief moment and then return to silent reading with no feedback. The intention is good but the practice isn’t building the skill.

Below are the most common misunderstandings, from what I have seen in classrooms, and how to correct them.

1. Fluency isn’t giving pupils a long, unseen extract and saying “read this.”

Cold reads are the fastest way to make reading effortful instead of fluent. I see children handed multi-page extracts with no introduction, no vocabulary checks, no pronunciation guidance and no modelling from the teacher. One or two reads later, it's back to comprehension questions.

Cognitive load research shows that unfamiliar words plus no background knowledge = hesitant, halting reading (Shanahan, 2012). A second read without modelling or feedback rarely improves fluency.

👉 Fluency requires:

• Background knowledge before reading

• Vocabulary and pronunciation support

• Teacher modelling of phrasing, expression, and rhythm

• Short, manageable extracts to allow multiple rehearsals

  
  

2. Fluency isn’t round-robin / popcorn / turn-taking

Public, one-at-a-time reading may feel structured, but outcomes are consistently poor:

• Minimal rehearsal

• High anxiety for struggling readers

• Loss of meaning

• Slow pace

• Very little prosody

👉 Fluency requires:

• Teacher modelling followed by echo reading

• Choral and repeated oral reading

• Motivation built on confidence, not fear (Rasinski, 2010)

3. Fluency isn’t reading as fast as possible

Speed is not the goal - appropriate pace is. A tense horror paragraph is read differently than a high-speed chase or a whimsical poem. Children should not stumble through words or stutter, but once decoding is automatic, the aim is reading with correct intonation, phrasing, and expression.

👉 Fluency requires:

• Automatic decoding

• Modeled intonation and prosody

• Reading at a pace suited to the text’s meaning and tone

4. Fluency isn’t silent reading

Independent reading is essential for stamina and comprehension, but it does not reliably improve oral fluency (National Reading Panel, 2000; Rasinski, 2010). Reading in a child’s head means mistakes can be repeated and go unnoticed. Oral rehearsal is necessary.

👉 Fluency requires:

• Opportunities to read aloud

• Feedback from a teacher or peer

• Motivation, which can include small “performance moments” (even just reading a sentence aloud to a partner)

5. Fluency isn’t something you finish

Reaching 150 words correct per minute does not mean a child is done with fluency. Different text types (poetry, playscripts, non-fiction, speeches) present unique challenges:

• Embedded clauses and advanced punctuation

• Multi-syllabic, subject-specific vocabulary

• Expression and prosody for effect

Fluency develops when children comprehend what they read and can read it smoothly. Challenging texts with support expose children to higher-level structures and vocabulary, improving both automaticity and comprehension.

👉 Fluency requires:

• Expression and intonation

• Exposure to challenging but supported texts

• Comprehension

• Teacher-guided practice and feedback

Try reading this once, without preparation:

"Kolmogorov extractors are computable functions which convert strings that have a guaranteed amount of Kolmogorov complexity into a Kolmogorov random string. We give a general definition of Kolmogorov extractors involving a parameter for dependency between the input strings. Consequently, instead of aiming for maximum complexity in the output string, we will consider extractors which lose an additive factor equal to the dependency in the inputs. The following notion of dependency we use is equivalent to the well-studied notion of mutual information in the Kolmogorov complexity literature up to an additive log factor."

Most of us would stumble, and that’s exactly why fluency cannot be built from unprepared cold reads!

✅ So… What Is Fluency?

Fluency = accuracy + automaticity + appropriate pace + prosody (Rasinski, 2010).

It develops through:

• Prepared vocabulary

• Background knowledge

• Teacher modelling

• Echo reading

• Choral reading

• Repeated reading

Even small tweaks (shorter, scaffolded texts, modelling, repeated oral practice) produce measurable improvement in fluency and confidence.

If children haven’t heard it, practised it, repeated it — it isn’t fluency practice.

Want to see what lessons look like in practice? Go to The Fluency Factory Free Samples and see it in action.

References:

• Rasinski, T. (2010). The Fluent Reader. Scholastic.

• Shanahan, T. (2012). Reading Fluency and Its Instruction. Reading Research Quarterly.

• National Reading Panel. (2000). Teaching Children to Read: An Evidence-Based Assessment of the Scientific Research Literature on Reading and Its Implications for Reading Instruction.