An Investigation of the Effects of Repeated Reading and Listening While Reading on Third Grade Students with Reading Problems

Abstract

Repeated reading and listening while reading are both effective strategies used to improve reading fluency. There is a great deal of research showing that both strategies when used appropriately will help children to read faster and with better accuracy. However, there is only limited research that takes a look at both strategies to see if one approach is more effective or has better results than the other. The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of repeated reading and listening while reading on reading fluency. Fifteen third-grade students from an urban elementary school were selected to participate in this study. All of these students were performing well below grade level in reading. Each student participated in two testing cycles. Cycle 1 focused on repeated reading while Cycle 2 focused on listening while reading. Each cycle lasted five days. Both cycles began with a pre-test and ended with a post-test. Word recognition errors and speed were recorded to show any type of improvement from the pre-test to the post-test. The results of the study showed that repeated reading and listening while reading are both effective strategies to use when trying to improve reading fluency. Both strategies showed that students had a significant gain in their mean scores at the end of each post-test. Neither strategy proved to be better than the other. It was recognized that both strategies had features that would compliment the other when used together.