Effects of a Multicomponent Intervention to Improve Reading Fluency in Adult Students
A five-step fluency package lifted reading speed for every adult learner and kept the gain on new passages.
01Research in Context
What this study did
Three adults who read slowly joined a short fluency program.
Each learner got a five-part package: pick a goal, read the passage aloud many times, get speed feedback, fix errors, and chart the score.
The team used a multiple-baseline design. They started the package at different times to show the teaching, not luck, caused the jump.
What they found
Every adult read faster after only ten short passages.
Gains held when the coach checked weeks later and when the learner read new material.
How this fits with other research
Hawley et al. (2004) warned that speed drills alone rarely boost retention or generalization. The 2017 package adds goal setting, error correction, and feedback—extra parts that may explain why fluency stuck.
Cameron et al. (1996) showed that matching passage difficulty to the learner and testing with similar content gives the biggest generalization pay-off. Halldórsdóttir et al. built those checks into their package.
Ben-Yehudah et al. (2019) saw college students with ADHD understand less when they read on screens. That sounds opposite, but the two studies tested different skills—comprehension versus speed—and different profiles. Print plus explicit fluency coaching can still win for adults who simply read too slowly.
Why it matters
If you work with adult learners who sound out every word, copy this five-part drill: set a brief aim, run repeated readings, give instant feedback, correct errors, and have the learner track their own chart. You can finish a full cycle in one session and see a visible jump by the tenth passage.
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02At a glance
03Original abstract
The purpose of the present study was to use a delayed multiple probe design to evaluate the effects of a multicomponent intervention on reading fluency in three adult Norwegian university students. Prior to the study, all the participants had below average reading speed and one had the diagnosis dyslexia. The present procedure consisted of reading support, fluency aim, repeated reading, performance feedback, and error correction. Training involved daily sessions where a passage was read four times in a session or until a predetermined fluency aim was reached. Each participant read 10 passages during the intervention. Maintenance, generalization, and reading comprehension were tested to evaluate characteristics of fluent performance. The main findings indicate that reading fluency of all the participants improved. Results are discussed with regard to (i) conducting a multicomponent intervention; (ii) maintenance of the achieved improvements; (iii) possible effects on reading comprehension; and (iv) social validity of the study. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.
Behavioral Interventions, 2017 · doi:10.1002/bin.1452