Most Tested, Least Taught: Silent Reading Fluency

Around grade 3, there’s a dramatic shift in the reading journey. Around this time, the expectation is that students will be ready to use reading to learn grade-level content. This is the reading-to-learn phase.  Students will continue to hone and sharpen these skills as they move through school and will read and understand increasingly complex texts. This ongoing phase will continue throughout each student’s academic career and beyond. This work is mostly executed through silent reading. 

What is silent reading fluency?

Silent reading fluency is the ability to comfortably read silently with concentration, at appropriate reading rates and with clear understanding. This skill bridges the gap between word recognition and comprehension. Silent reading is a combination of three types of skills that actively work in concert as a student reads. It is:

• Physical: When students read, their eyes move across each word of a sentence in a specific order and an efficient manner.
• Cognitive: Once students have moved their eyes across the text, they identify the vocabulary of each word and string the sentence together to comprehend the meaning.
• Emotional: When students finish reading their feelings contribute to the outcomes. If students feel confident about reading and have interest in the content, they are more likely to continue to read.

What does strong reading fluency look like?

Students cannot achieve fluency without the ability to recognize and understand words immediately and decode unfamiliar words. Strong fluency is created by automaticity, language comprehension and a solid vocabulary. It allows for improved text comprehension and empowers readers to build their vocabularies, which enables greater comprehension of more complex texts.

When fluent readers read silently, they:

• Recognize words automatically
• Group words quickly
• Gain meaning from text

Students must continually master all these skills while engaged with reading to become proficient silent readers. However, unlike oral reading fluency, effective silent reading fluency is difficult for teachers to monitor and intervene if students need support. Silent reading fluency is an unseen and unheard skill, and it is undeniably necessary to become a proficient reader.