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| The Significance of Fluency Building in Promoting Academic Achievement and Test Performance |
| Monday, May 31, 2004 |
| 1:30 PM–2:50 PM |
| Clarendon |
| Area: EDC; Domain: Applied Research |
| Chair: Stephanie M. Peterson (The Ohio State University) |
| Discussant: Jesus Rosales-Ruiz (University of North Texas) |
| Abstract: Learning Objectives
Participants will identify the relation between fluency in basic skills and performance on more complex tasks that apply those basic skills.
Participants will describe procedures for increasing oral reading fluency for students whose display difficulty in mastering skills presented in Direct Instruction reading lessons.
Participants will describe the SAFMED procedure for building fluency in vocabulary and other academic areas. |
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| Fluency Effect in Application of Multiplication |
| FAN-YU LIN (Pennsylvania State University), Richard M. Kubina Jr. (Pennsylvania State University) |
| Abstract: Research suggests basic skill performance has a strong positiverelationship with advanced skill performance. The purpose of this study isto examine which aspect of math competence (accuracy or fluency) is moststrongly associated with this relationship. The study investigated (1)student math performance using the measures of accuracy and fluency, and (2)the relationship between student performance on basic and complex mathtasks. One hundred and fifty-seven fifth-graders took three one-minutetests, including numeral writing, single-digit, and multi-digitmultiplication problems. The results demonstrated these students achievedhigh levels of accuracy but low levels of fluency. Strong correlationsbetween basic and complex skill fluency suggested that fluent element skillmight improve complex skill performance. Moderate/low correlations betweenbasic and complex skill accuracy suggested that more than one element skillmight contribute to complex skill acquisition. |
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| A Warm-up Strategy for Increasing Reading Fluency in Direct Instruction Reading Lessons: A Replication |
| STACEY A. WILLIAMS (Upper Arlington School District), Stephanie M. Peterson (The Ohio State University) |
| Abstract: This study is a replication of the Williams, Peterson, and Heward (2003) study, which demonstrated the effects of flashcards as a warm-up strategy on reading accuracy and fluency during direct instruction reading (Corrective Reading-Decoding, Level B) lessons. The participants of the current study were 5 middle-school students who had learning disabilities or were at risk of being identified with a disability. All five students were having difficulty progressing through their reading textbook at an acceptable pace due to their poor oral reading fluency and the number of reading errors made during the lesson. Thus, a warm-up intervention was implemented to help the participants be more successful with their reading lessons. The warm-up strategy consisted of a brief (e.g., 3-min) flashcard drill of difficult words from previous, the current, and future lessons from the direct instruction textbook. This intervention was implemented within a withdrawal design. Results indicated that the flashcard strategy resulted in an increase in oral reading fluency and a decrease in reading errors for all participants. In addition, many positive side effects were noted. These results suggest that a warm-up flashcard drill may be a beneficial addition to direct instruction reading lessons for building reading fluency. |
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| The Effects of Two Flashcard/Study Techniques on Acquisition and Fluency of Advanced Vocabulary in an Adult Female |
| KIMBERLY P. WEBER (Gonzaga University), Holly A. Greene (Gonzaga University), Thomas Ford McLaughlin (Gonzaga University) |
| Abstract: This study examines the effectiveness of SAFMEDS; a flash card system designed to promote accuracy and speed, utilizing varying amounts of daily study and practice time, on the acquisition and fluency of advanced vocabulary. The participant was a 24-year-old college student studying for the GRE exam. A multi-element baseline design with a follow-up phase was used to compare progress between two types of interventions. The results indicated that the use of SAFMEDS with daily or weekly practice was effective in increasing fluency. The use of daily SAFMEDS, with daily study time, was shown to be the most effective of the learning strategies employed. The data also suggests that the use of SAFMEDS provides necessary practice on speed that would not be inherently acquired through general study of word definitions. |
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