Reading Fluency: The Road to Developing Efficient and Effective Readers Helen R. Abadiano Jesse Turner Cedn/Gwre6idS&di The New England Reading Association Journal Call for Papers poses five essential questions on reading fluency: What does fluency mean? How is fluency assessed? What is the connection to phonics and reading instruction? What is the research on which it is based? What are the ways in which teachers are addressing fluency in the classroom? In this article, these questions guide our reflective examination of issues and concerns surrounding the notion of reading fluency in this article. We also present you with three research articles that we found helpful in addressing some of these same issues and concerns. These are: (1) The effect of instruction and practice through Readers Theatre on young readers' oral readingfluency by Susan Keehn (2003); (2) Fluency and comprehension gains as a result of repeated reading.- A meta-analysis by William J. Therrien (2004); and (3) Using paired reading to enhance the fluency skills of less-skilled readers by Sandra L. Nes (2003). These research studies extend our views on reading fluency and lead us to the identification of effective instructional approaches to developing reading fluency in classrooms. THE DIFFERING NOTIONS REGARDING THE COMPONENTS OF READING FLUENCY The National Reading Panel (2000) emphatically articulates the growing concern that children are not achieving fluency in reading. In assessing the reading fluency of America's children, the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) (1995) found that 44% of fourth graders are lacking in reading fluency; only 28% of eighth graders, and 34% of twelfth graders achieve proficient reading standards. A staggering number of elementary, middle and high school students demonstrate difficulty in coping with on-grade level reading demands and expectations. "Struggling secondary readers often have challenges in all areas of reading: decoding, fluency, vocabulary, and comprehension" (Archer et al., 2003, p. 89). Educators and researchers purport that the development of reading fluency is a critical aspect of learning to read, and that reading fluency plays a vital role in developing effective and efficient readers (Allington, 1983; Keehn, 2003). The question is: Why do schools continue to experience problems with having students who are lacking in reading fluency? Keehn (2003) suggests that one of the reasons why this is points to the lack of appropriate fluency instruction that "may be due to the conflicting views that exist over the role of fluency in skilled reading" (p. 40). According to Keehn (2003): "... Some researchers consider oral reading fluency to be an outcome of decoding and comprehension (Gough, 1972; Rumelhart, 1978), while others assert that fluent oral reading is a contributor to both decoding and comprehension (Breznitz, 1987; Briggs & Forbes, 2001). ... Fluency is sometimes defined as the ability to recognize words rapidly and accurately (e.g., LaBerge & Samuels, 1974). In other sources (e.g., Coots & Snow, 1982; Schrieber, 1987) fluency is defined in terms of the connections readers make between the natural phrasing in speech and the phrasal segmentation in oral reading. Notions 50 I Review of Research in the Classroom I