Multi-faceted literacy strategy : can it improve oral reading fluency and comprehension for at-risk elementary students?

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the effects of a multi-faceted literacy strategy on the oral reading fluency and reading comprehension skills of three, 6th grade students who were at-risk for reading failure. The development of early literacy skills is essential to student comprehension of text material and requires an ability to identify unknown words in context and read words accurately, fluently, and with expression (Therrien, 2004). Students who do not demonstrate proficient oral reading fluency and who need to work on advanced word skills, while reading more difficult text, will lose comprehension, give up, and fall farther behind their peers in all academic areas, making these students at-risk for academic failure (Bursuck & Damer, 2007). Over the course of eight weeks, study participants used repeated readings and story mapping activities to improve their oral reading fluency and reading comprehension skills. Findings indicated that all three pupils made noticeable improvements in their reading performance. Implications for research and practice are provided.