Dianne Meikle EDRG 4020

February 25, 2003 Professor David Lund

CHUNKING FOR FLUENCY;

Comprehension at the Sentence Level

Reading a sentence with proper phrasing and fluency has a great impact on the student@s ability to understand what is being read. When a reader struggles with word recognition, stops to decode words in a sentence, or reads word by word, comprehension suffers. Knowledge of high‑frequency words, which appear throughout any text to connect

words carrying the unique meaning of the sentence, are important to understanding. Reader@s phrasing is another important factor in understanding meaning in individual sentences. Instruction in chunking at the sentence level, the ability to connect important phrases into cohesive @chunks, @ is enhanced through the use of a series of techniques.

Modeling Fluent and Expressive Reading: The teacher reads the sentence with proper phrasing and expression. Talk about the value of phrasing and expression. Explain it

will aid in comprehension. Oral reading brings the auditory sense into play. By grouping words in a way that helps us to hear them in a conversational connection, our auditory sense helps us to process the meaning of the phrases and the sentence.

Engaging the Student in Echo Reading: The teacher repeats the modeling of reading with proper phrasing and expression and asks the student to @echo@ the expressive reading.

Student may have to echo without following the print for a couple of times until the echo pattern is established. When student is echoing fluently without attending to print, the print is used once again.

Practicing Choral Reading: The teacher introduces a simple paragraph and reads it with appropriate phrasing and expression while the student reads aloud along with the teacher. The choral reading of the sentence or passage is repeated several times until the student is reading with fluency and expression. The final component of this step is to have the student read the passage alone, demonstrating fluent expressive reading.

Practicing Fluent, Expressive Reading with Material Marked with Proper Phrasing:

The student should be provided with reading material that is marked in some way to indicate proper phrasing. (See attached)

Practicing Sentence‑Level Chunking in Oral Reading: Once the student is comfortable reading with phrasing and expression using marked materials, the use of unmarked materials is introduced. Whenever the student experiences difficulty in decoding or reverts to word‑by‑word reading, the teacher should establish a signal to use that reminds the student to reread for fluency. When the student remembers to do this spontaneously, the teacher can recognize the fact by providing some kind of simple signal to congratulate the student on the new‑found independence.

It seemed like we had been traveling through the mountains forever.

(Using different colors of @highlighting tape@)

(Pulling text through a reading sleeve)

No matter what grade level is involved, students@ comprehension of text is improved when they are taught to read in meaningful chunks, phrasing well and using expression. Instruction in sentence‑level chunking is especially valuable for struggling readers and readers for whom English is not their native language. Hearing teachers or peers model good phrasing and expression often helps students to better understand that good reading is not necessarily rapid but should be paced and phrased to focus on meaning. The rereading that takes place in the sequence of hearing, echo reading, and choral reading supports the learning of new vocabulary. The techniques used to mark materials into meaningful phrases support the students in understanding which words must be grouped together to encourage understanding.