What are fluency skills?

Fluency should be the aim of every reading and writing lesson. It should increase as learners progress from beginning to advanced readers and writers. Fluency enables learners to read and write with more understanding. They gain this skill through practice and observation. (Gudschinsky 1973)

Fluency skills are the ability to see larger segment and phrases as wholes as an aid to reading and writing more quickly.

Here are some examples of fluency skills:

• Immediately recognizing letters and frequent clusters of letters.
• Learning frequent words by sight
• Seeing phrases as wholes

• Using prediction skills within the phrase or clause

  Examples:

  Being able to supply the correct words in phrases or clauses such as the following: “At the d...“ “Under the b...“ “Black and w...“ “The book that I r...”

• What is a fluent reader?

• Gudschinsky 1973

• Concept module: fluency
• In overview module: Glossary (Literacy): F
• In modular book: Glossary of literacy terms
• In document collection: Reference materials
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 2 July 1998

© 1999 SIL International