[AAACE-NLA] Fluency by Auding and Reading

[Thomas Sticht]

Fluency in Auding and Reading With Adults         January 12, 2005

Tom Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education

The concept of "fluency" is presently enjoying a great deal of attention
as one of "the essential components of reading" in U. S. federal
government projects. For instance, the U. S. Education Department internet
web page for Reading First states "Reading First will provide funds to
train teachers in the essential components of reading (phonemic awareness,
phonics, fluency, vocabulary, comprehension)
 ,"
http://www.ed.gov/programs/readingfirst/applicant.html

However, "fluency" is not actually a "component" of reading. Rather it is
the quality of a reading performance. In reading it refers to reading that
is executed without a lot of mistakes, not in a slow, halting, recursive
manner but rather in a regular left to right, progressive moving, fairly
rapid (around 200-250 words per minute) manner when reading materials of
some familiarity.

Similarly, listening to speech for comprehension, technically known as
auding,  requires fluency in being able to decode and track the spoken
message, an ability that most natural language learners acquire with no
conscious effort. Generally, professional announcers on the radio or
television, and readers for recording books for the blind, speak aloud at
about 175 words per minute, plus or minus 25 words per minute (1).

In 1973, the National Assessment of Educational Progress reported silent
reading rates for 10th grade/college materials for adults 26 to 35 years
of age to be about 187 words per minute, with a range from 145 wpm at the
25th percentile to 235 wpm at the 75th percentile (1, p. 95).

Speech specialists studying stuttering disorders have reported that
typical adolescent or adult conversational speech rates are around 115 to
165 words per minute and reading rates of 150 to 190 words per minute (2).

In all these instances, words per minute rates are used as indicators of
fluency and, interestingly, they are quite similar for both auding and
reading, suggesting that, once one becomes automatic at decoding either
the spoken or the written language displays of information, certain
languaging and comprehension processes may be limiting the rate at which
either auding or reading for meaning takes place.

Language processes such as lack of lexical (vocabulary) knowledge may slow
down the fluency of auding or reading, as may the inability to construct
meaning (comprehend) due to lack of relevant background knowledge or other
factors.

>From a developmental perspective, children usually develop fluency in
decoding, languaging and comprehension construction by auding before they
develop fluency in these processes by reading. This suggests that one goal
for fluency training in reading would be to have students develop the
ability to read with the same fluency that they can aud.

However, it is possible for adults with underdeveloped fluency in reading
to still perform a large number of reading tasks with accuracy, though
slowly. This is possible because unlike the temporally fleeting spoken
message, the written message draws upon the properties of graphics and is
more or less permanent. This means it can be studied at length by readers
who are not fully fluent as defined above.

It is likely that a great many adults who are declared "functionally
illiterate" using literacy tests that present unfamiliar materials and
tasks are still able to function by reading in their particular cultural
settings because speed of reading, i.e., fluency,  is not a necessary
demand on them. Given sufficient time, they may be able to study the types
of reading materials they need to deal with and work their way through
them, even if these are fairly complex materials.

The features of the graphic display of written materials, which include
the more or less permanent nature of the display, (3) has made it possible
for numerous adults who may suffer from dyslexia and lack fluency in
reading to achieve many important literacy goals in academic, home,
community and work settings.

Some research indicates that it may take the typical child 6 to 8 years of
schooling to become as fluent by reading as by auding (1, p. 82). So while
fluency in reading at 200-250 words per minute is a useful goal for
instruction, it may not be achievable in adult literacy programs where
adults usually participate for only 50 to 115 hours of instruction (4). In
this case, it is important to build self-confidence and an understanding
of the reading process for adults so that they can know how to continue to
develop their vocabulary and conceptual knowledge by auding and by reading
after they leave the program, even if they have to read slowly.


References

(1). Sticht, T. G. et. al (1974). Auding and Reading: A Developmental
Model. Alexandria, VA: Human Resources Research Office.

(2).See Special Education Speech Packet: Fluency page 24 at
www.state.tn.us/education/speced/seassessment.htm

(3). (Sticht, T. G. ( 2003). Teaching Reading With Adults. Online at
www.nald.ca under Full Text Docuements.

(4). U. S. Department of Education. (2003). Adult Education and Family
Literacy Program Year 2001-2002: Report to Congress on State Performance.
Washington, DC: Office of Vocational and Adult Education.


Thomas G. Sticht
International Consultant in Adult Education
2062 Valley View Blvd.
El Cajon, CA 92019-2059
Tel/fax: (619) 444-9133
Email: tsticht at aznet.net