Return-Path: <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Received: from literacy (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by literacy.nifl.gov (8.10.2/8.10.2) with SMTP id j0EL8Fn04648; Fri, 14 Jan 2005 16:08:15 -0500 (EST) Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 16:08:15 -0500 (EST) Message-Id: <1c3.22832aa2.2f198d5c@aol.com> Errors-To: listowner@literacy.nifl.gov Reply-To: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Originator: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Sender: nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov Precedence: bulk From: MWPotts2001@aol.com To: Multiple recipients of list <nifl-4eff@literacy.nifl.gov> Subject: [NIFL-4EFF:2914] more on fluency--Sticht X-Listprocessor-Version: 6.0c -- ListProcessor by Anastasios Kotsikonas Content-Transfer-Encoding: 8bit X-Mailer: 9.0 Security Edition for Windows sub 1200 Content-Type: text/plain; charset="UTF-8" Status: O Content-Length: 5553 Lines: 109 Fluency in Auding and Reading With Adults January 12, 2005 Tom Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education The concept of "fluency" is presently enjoying a great deal of attention as one of "the essential components of reading" in U. S. federal government projects. For instance, the U. S. Education Department internet web page for Reading First states "Reading First will provide funds to train teachers in the essential components of reading (phonemic awareness, phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension)… ," http://www.ed.gov/programs/readingfirst/applicant.html However, "fluency" is not actually a "component" of reading. Rather it is the quality of a reading performance. In reading it refers to reading that is executed without a lot of mistakes, not in a slow, halting, recursive manner but rather in a regular left to right, progressive moving, fairly rapid (around 200-250 words per minute) manner when reading materials of some familiarity. Similarly, listening to speech for comprehension, technically known as auding, requires fluency in being able to decode and track the spoken message, an ability that most natural language learners acquire with no conscious effort. Generally, professional announcers on the radio or television, and readers for recording books for the blind, speak aloud at about 175 words per minute, plus or minus 25 words per minute (1). In 1973, the National Assessment of Educational Progress reported silent reading rates for 10th grade/college materials for adults 26 to 35 years of age to be about 187 words per minute, with a range from 145 wpm at the 25th percentile to 235 wpm at the 75th percentile (1, p. 95). Speech specialists studying stuttering disorders have reported that typical adolescent or adult conversational speech rates are around 115 to 165 words per minute and reading rates of 150 to 190 words per minute (2). In all these instances, words per minute rates are used as indicators of fluency and, interestingly, they are quite similar for both auding and reading, suggesting that, once one becomes automatic at decoding either the spoken or the written language displays of information, certain languaging and comprehension processes may be limiting the rate at which either auding or reading for meaning takes place. Language processes such as lack of lexical (vocabulary) knowledge may slow down the fluency of auding or reading, as may the inability to construct meaning (comprehend) due to lack of relevant background knowledge or other factors. >From a developmental perspective, children usually develop fluency in decoding, languaging and comprehension construction by auding before they develop fluency in these processes by reading. This suggests that one goal for fluency training in reading would be to have students develop the ability to read with the same fluency that they can aud. However, it is possible for adults with underdeveloped fluency in reading to still perform a large number of reading tasks with accuracy, though slowly. This is possible because unlike the temporally fleeting spoken message, the written message draws upon the properties of graphics and is more or less permanent. This means it can be studied at length by readers who are not fully fluent as defined above. It is likely that a great many adults who are declared "functionally illiterate" using literacy tests that present unfamiliar materials and tasks are still able to function by reading in their particular cultural settings because speed of reading, i.e., fluency, is not a necessary demand on them. Given sufficient time, they may be able to study the types of reading materials they need to deal with and work their way through them, even if these are fairly complex materials. The features of the graphic display of written materials, which include the more or less permanent nature of the display, (3) has made it possible for numerous adults who may suffer from dyslexia and lack fluency in reading to achieve many important literacy goals in academic, home, community and work settings. Some research indicates that it may take the typical child 6 to 8 years of schooling to become as fluent by reading as by auding (1, p. 82). So while fluency in reading at 200-250 words per minute is a useful goal for instruction, it may not be achievable in adult literacy programs where adults usually participate for only 50 to 115 hours of instruction (4). In this case, it is important to build self-confidence and an understanding of the reading process for adults so that they can know how to continue to develop their vocabulary and conceptual knowledge by auding and by reading after they leave the program, even if they have to read slowly. References (1). Sticht, T. G. et. al (1974). Auding and Reading: A Developmental Model. Alexandria, VA: Human Resources Research Office. (2).See Special Education Speech Packet: Fluency page 24 at www.state.tn.us/education/speced/seassessment.htm (3). (Sticht, T. G. ( 2003). Teaching Reading With Adults. Online at www.nald.ca under Full Text Docuements. (4). U. S. Department of Education. (2003). Adult Education and Family Literacy Program Year 2001-2002: Report to Congress on State Performance. Washington, DC: Office of Vocational and Adult Education. Thomas G. Sticht International Consultant in Adult Education 2062 Valley View Blvd. El Cajon, CA 92019-2059 Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133 Email: tsticht at aznet.net
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b30 : Mon Oct 31 2005 - 09:48:20 EST