Neil J. Anderson, professor of Linguistics and English Language at Brigham Young University, recently presented at the Reading Horizons distributor seminar in Salt Lake City, Utah. He shared some interesting information about how English Language Learners (ELLs) benefit from systematic phonics instruction. Two of the reasons he cited include the following:

1) reading fluency increases as students learn to decode words; and

2) oral reading improves when students can decode words correctly.

Reading fluency, as defined by Neil Anderson, is "reading at an appropriate rate with adequate comprehension" (Anderson, 2008, p. 3). This definition of reading fluency is important as teachers consider what an "appropriate reading rate" is for their students. Remember that reading at a quick pace (an "appropriate rate") without comprehending what is being read is not fluent reading. Additionally, reading super slowly and understanding everything being read ("adequate comprehension") likewise is not fluent reading. The balance between the two--reading rate and comprehension--is important to fluency.

So what constitutes an "appropriate rate"? During the presentation, Anderson referenced national averages for optimal silent and oral reading rates by grade level (Hasbrouck & Tindal, 2006). Since several distributors were interested in having access to this information, I thought I would include the information in this blog post below:

Silent Reading Rates

1st grade: 80 wpm

2nd grade: 115 wpm

3rd grade: 138 wpm

4th grade: 158 wpm

5th grade: 173 wpm

6th grade: 185 wpm

7th grade: 195 wpm

8th grade: 204 wpm

9th grade: 214 wpm

10th grade: 224 wpm

11th grade: 237 wpm

12th grade: 250 wpm

College or University: 280 wpm


Oral Reading Rates

1st grade: 53 wpm

2nd grade: 89 wpm

3rd grade: 107 wpm

4th grade: 123 wpm

5th grade: 139 wpm

6th grade: 150 wpm

7th grade: 150 wpm

8th grade: 151 wpm

Notice that oral reading rates beyond the 8th grade level are not listed. This is due to the fact that when we read aloud, we generally do not read faster than what we can read at an 8th grade reading level.

These silent and oral reading rates can be used as a guideline when discerning appropriate reading rates for students. Adjustments to these reading rates could be made to accommodate English Language Learners and students with reading difficulties.

References:

Anderson, N. J. (2008). Practical English language teaching: Reading. New York: McGraw-Hill.

Hasbrouck, J., & Tindal, G. A. (2006). Oral reading fluency norms: A valuable assessment tool for teaching teachers. The Reading Teacher, 59, 636-644.

Have you ever wondered how the brain switches between different languages for individuals that are bilingual and multilingual? Today, ScienceDaily discussed how the bilingual and multilingual brain filters between languages while an individual is engaged in reading or listening to material outside of their native tongue.

According to scientist Guillaume Thierry, PhD: "Bilingual individuals retrieve information from their native language even when it's not necessary, or, even more surprising, when it is counterproductive, since native language information does not help when reading or listening to second-language words."

This research is interesting because it exposes how embedded one’s native language is in the mind, even when an individual learns an entirely different language. This research provides an interesting insight into what happens in the mind of English language learners while reading English.

Subcribe to Reading Horizons RSS feed to recieve automatic updates from the blog.

The poster session was a success!  This is my colleague, Amie Casper, and I posing with our poster at the TESOL Conference in Boston, Massachusetts, on March 27, 2010. We presented on assessing reading rate and fluency using technology--a feature of the new Reading Horizons v5 software.

The topic generated quite a bit of interest!

Me presenting at TESOL on Decoding Strategies for Literacy Development--another topic of great interest.

One of my biggest character flaws is definitely impatience.  One way I’ve discovered this flaw is through my drive to complete other people’s sentences.  I’ve noticed I usually do this when I want to speed up a conversation or help the person I’m conversing with get to the point. It is not a good way to be. Anyways, to get to the point: today I read an article about the connection between the ability to complete other people’s sentences and the understanding of a language. The article was titled: "New Research Findings in Linguistics."

The article termed the ability to complete someone else’s sentences as “linguistic probability.” This ability is increased as one gains more experience and exposure to a language. The research from the article has found the ability to predict someone else’s point is 'remarkably' accurate. Not only does the ability produce accurate predictions in the basic meaning of what someone is going to say, but it also provides accurate predictions for word choice and phrasing.
 
In terms of English Language Learners (ELL) this ability is helpful as they are trying to grasp and learn to read the English language. The ability to predict what someone is going to say can be correlated to the ability to predict what is being said on paper, thus enhancing reading abilities. Increasing the amount of exposure ELL students have to the English language will enhance this ability and help them learn the language. As this ability is increased in ELL students, they can use it when they get stuck on a word they are reading by looking back at the context of a sentence and trying to predict what should come next to complete the sentence.
 
The recent research discussed in the article confirmed that increasing the ability to use "linguistic probability" increases language comprehension.  Of course it is also important for ELL students to know how to decode and sound words out when they get stuck on a word.  As my March Madness bracket has proven- I am rarely correct with all of my predictions.  Language learners need a lot of exposure to the language they are learning and as they do it will help them predict the meaning of complicated words and phrases, but they still need decoding abilities to assist inaccurate predictions. A student should not abandon decoding skills for predictions, but should use predictions to increase reading comprehension and reading fluency. 

To learn more about Reading Horizons unique decoding method visit: www.ReadingHorizons.com/method/concepts