Module 1: Article Analysis

After reading the text, I was interested in learning more about reading comprehension in general and its effects on students at various levels. I found an article that studied the relation between reading fluency and reading comprehension. To assess this relation, many assessments were given to the students as an ongoing process, much like the youtube video we watched discussed. In the study, researchers used 270 students from first and second grade. Students were assessed using several methods. For listening comprehension students were read aloud to and then asked to answer open ended questions. To assess list reading children read aloud as many words as they could in 45 seconds (the words increased in difficulty). For oral reading fluency, DIBELS 6^th edition was used. Silent reading fluency was assessed by having students read sentences silently then answer a series of true or false questions. Finally, Reading comprehension was assessed using the WJ-III Comprehension Subtest, in which, students completed a cloze reading type activity.  The results of this investigation yielded results that showed that “list reading fluency is a building block of text reading fluency” (Kim, Wagner & Lopez, 2012). This meaning that less advanced readers’ comprehension rely on fluency. As students reading skills became more advanced, the oral and silent reading became more closely related to reading comprehension. This study shows how important it is to continually assess students throughout the year to fully meet their needs. As Opitz shows in the text, teachers must be planners, an explicit reading teacher, organizer and manager, and self-evaluator for this very reason (2011). One technique is not going to meet the needs of all the students and it is most definitely not going to meet the needs of the students for the whole school year. As students’ progress their needs change, so therefore the teacher’s techniques and strategies need to continually change. Like the article stated, as the students became more advanced their oral and silent reading became more closely related to comprehension, than when they were less advanced and fluency was more closely related to comprehension, therefore the teaching strategies of the students needed to change as the students reading skills grow.

 

Kim, Y., Wagner, R. K., & Lopez, D. (2012). Developmental relations between reading fluency and reading comprehension: A longitudinal study from grade 1 and grade 2. Journal of Experiemental Child Psychology, 113, 93-111.

Opitz, M., Rubin, D., & Erekson, J. A. (2011). Reading diagnosis and improvement, assessment and instruction. (6th ed.). Boston: Allyn & Bacon.