Assessing Fluency
By: Colorín Colorado (2007)
Fluency in reading is like fluency in public speaking. Fluent speakers and readers embed in their voices accuracy in speech as well as appropriate speed, phrasing, and expression. When the speaker uses these elements, it makes it easier for the listener to understand. Speaking in appropriate phrases, emphasizing certain words, raising and lowering volume, and varying intonation all help the listener.
Fluent readers decode words accurately and automatically. At the automatic level, readers are able to decode words with minimal attention to decoding because they recognize the words instantly. They also make sense of the text as they read. When they use volume, tone, emphasis, phrasing, and other elements of oral expression, it means that they are interpreting and constructing meaning from the passage