Scaffolding Fluent Reading: An Eye-Tracking Study of Effects of Repeated Reading and Listening on Fluency

• In Event: Cognitive Processes in Reading Comprehension

Abstract

Lack of reading fluency is a significant obstacle to children's ability to learn from text. In this study, we explored the effects of two practices used to scaffold fluency – repeated reading of a passage and listening to a passage before reading it. Since the differences between these practices may be subtle, we employed eye tracking to measure changes in reading processes. Data from 58 second-graders indicate that previously hearing a story improves fluency the first time the story is read, but that this facilitation diminishes by the second reading. Both hearing a story and rereading it affect fluency, and eye-tracking provides a useful way of looking at how instructional strategies can work together to scaffold children’s reading.

Authors

• Preeti Ganesh Samudra, University of Michigan

• Meredith Baker, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor

• Kevin F. Miller, University of Michigan - Ann Arbor