Using repeated reading

Repeated reading is a group or individual activity where learners

• read a text with a fluent reader, and then
• re-read the text alone until they can read it as fast as the fluent reader did.

Repeating a passage until they can read it quickly helps readers develop

• confidence
• speed, and
• word prediction ability.

Here are some guidelines to follow when you use repeated reading:

• Choose, or let the learners choose, stories that are

  • about 50-200 words long, and
  • relatively easy for the learner at first, then
• Choose progressively more difficult materials as the learners advance.
• Read the passage with the learner the first time for comprehension. Once they understand what they are reading, learners can then concentrate on reading quickly.
• Emphasize the learners' reading speed rather than their accuracy.

1. Have the learners read along with
   • a fluent reader, or
   • a cassette tape of a fluent reader.
2. Give the learners a time goal which is the same length of time it would take a fluent reader to read the passage at a moderate pace.
3. Have the learners read the same passage alone until they are able to read the passage in the specified time.
4. When the time goal is reached, repeat the process with a new passage.

• What is tape assisted reading?

• Hermon 1985
• Rashotte and Torgensen 1985
• Samuels 1979

• Task module: Using repeated reading
• In task module: Developing reading skills
• In task module: Developing literacy skills, by Martha A. Lane (contributor), Delle P. Matthews (contributor), Leah B. Walter (contributor), Glenys Waters (contributor), Anne Klaassens (editor), and Trudy K. Stewart (editor, contributor)
• In task module: Teaching people to read and write, by Carole P. Spaeth (compiler)
• In task module: Implementing a literacy program, by Carole P. Spaeth (compiler)
• In modular book: Implement a literacy program, by Carole P. Spaeth (compiler) and Leah B. Walter (compiler)
• In bookshelf: Literacy

This page is an extract from the LinguaLinks Library, Version 4.0, published on CD-ROM by SIL International, 1999. [Ordering information.]

Page content last modified: 16 March 1999

© 1999 SIL International