Definition of Teacher Modeling and Guided Repeated Readings. Teacher modeling is when the teacher reads a text aloud to a student(s) as that student follows along in the reading, and then the student reads the text one or more times. This modeling may or may not be done with fingerpointing of each word or group of words as they are read. Repeated readings is when a student reads the same text repeatedly, time after time, until the rate of reading, errors while reading, comprehension, or all three reach a specific criterion. This repeated reading is almost always aided: i.e., the teacher assists the child during the reading when needed. Teacher modeling and repeated readings man be used independently, jointly, or jointly in conjunction with other teaching methods (e.g., sight word instruction, writing).

Supporting Theory, Research, and Rationale for TMgRR. A theory underlying the process of reading is that a reader has only so much attention that can be focused on gaining meaning while reading a specific text. If part of that attention is diverted from comprehension and understanding, the result is limited reading fluency and comprehension. For beginning readers and children with reading problems, the factors most likely to detract from fluency and meaning are the reader’s (a) inability to identify quickly most of the words of the text, (b) reading in stilted, word-by-word, or otherwise unnatural language, and (c) lack of attention to meaning. Teacher Modeling with Guided Repeated Readings (TMgRR) helps children develop fluency in reading. Fluency is reading smoothly, without hesitation, and with comprehension (The Literacy Dictionary, IRA: 1995). A requirement for fluent reading is automaticity in word recognition. Automaticity comes from the word automatic, and means the recognition of individual words in text with little effort or attention: i.e., sight vocabulary.

Beginning and disabled readers have not had the experience of processing the words and meaning of a text automatically and fluently, and without this experience it is more difficult for them (a) to monitor their reading (to know when they are successful and when they are having difficulty); (b) to comprehend the text; and, (c) perhaps most important, to know how it sounds and feels to be able to read fluently. TMgRR is designed to help students who have no (or little) experience reading texts fluently (a) to have a model of how a text should sound when it is read, (b) to process the words of that text automatically, (c) to read that text fluently with appropriate expression, and (d) to comprehend the text.

There is an extensive research basis for the use of repeated readings as a method of developing reading fluency in younger students and for students with reading difficulties. S. Jay Samuels is often credited as the first person to conduct research on the validity of repeated readings to facilitate reading fluency, while Dick Allington at Albany was an early advocate of fluency instruction as part of developmental and remedial reading. Others contributing significant research and methods papers on this topic include Sarah Dowhower and Timothy Rasinski. Working with second graders, Dowhower (1987) found that oral reading rate, accuracy, and comprehension improved significantly with repeated reading practice. Similar positive results have been found for first graders Young (1996), Turpie & Paratore (1994), and Simons (1992); for second and third graders by Stahl (1994); and for disabled readers by (Arya, Kutno, & Kibby, 1995; Homan, 1993), Koskinen & Blum (1986), Rashotte & Torgesen (1985), Weinstein & Cooke (1992), and Young, et al. (1996).

Although there is only a modest research base on teacher modeling, studies by Arya, Kutno, & Kibby (1995), Maxson (1996), Rasinski (1990) and Young, et al. (1996) found that it facilitates oral reading accuracy, fluency, and comprehension.

Benefit of TMgRR. The benefit of teacher modeling is that it gives the student the opportunity to hear how a specific text might or should be read including intonation and expression, to review the words in the text, and to know the meaning of the text before it is read. The benefit for guided repeated readings is for the student to gain continual fluency in the reading of a given passage that allows the child not only to know the experience and feel of reading fluently, but also to read a text with so much ease that language and meaning become the focus of reading, not word calling.

Instructional Guidelines for TMgRR

Directions to Student We recommend that first the teacher and student together scan the text to be read (story, chapter, article, etc.), including the pictures. This is done page-by-page, with the teacher and student discussing what they think is happening and predicting what they think will follow. The teacher should explain to the student the four major steps of TMgRR in words similar to the following:   Optional     First I will teach you some of the harder words of the text. (Step 1: Teaching Sight Vocabulary) Now I will read this text aloud. (Step 2: Teacher Modeling) Then you (the student) will read it aloud to me. (Step 3: Student’s First Reading) Remember what you read, as I expect you to tell me what this text was about in your own words. (Step 4: Retelling) After you have read the text and told me about it, I will read it again and ask you to read it again (silently or orally) several more times. This is so you can read the story more quickly and with fewer errors. ( Steps 5/7, 7/8 . . . : Repeated Teacher Modeling and Student Rereading)

1. Teaching Sight Vocabulary (Optional)   The teacher teaches the student important words from the text.

2. Teacher Modeling   Holding the book in such a manner that the student can see the text the teacher is reading, the teacher reads the text orally to the student while finger-pointing each word as it is uttered. This reading is done with intonation and inflection. The student is to follow the teacher’s finger-pointing. Sometimes a student benefits from hearing the text modeled two or more times before attempting his or her own first reading.

3. Student’s First Reading   The student reads the text aloud to the teacher. Whenever the student pauses excessively on a word, misreads a word, or asks assistance with a word, we recommend telling the student the word immediately so the student may continue reading. If the student omits or inserts a word that does not syntactically or semantically alter the text, we suggest letting it pass; but if the student’s insertion or omission results in a non-grammatical sentence or significant meaning change, quickly correcting is recommended. Sometimes the teacher will wish to break the text into two or three chunks. If this is done, then Steps 2 and 3 would be alternated until the text has been completely read by the student.

4. Retelling   The student retells what has been read or the teacher and student discuss what has been read.

5/6, 7/8 . . . . Repeated Teacher Modeling and Student Rereading   Steps 3 and 4 are repeated until the student reads the text fluently 3 or 4 times in a row.

Assessment of Progress in Fluency. A record should be kept of the student’s increase in fluency as measured by increase in rate of reading (words per minute or WPM), decrease in reading errors (when orally reading), and comprehension (not percent, but Excellent [Ex], Good [G], Adequate [A], Limited [L]). A graph of WPM and errors is an excellent way not only to keep a record, but also to demonstrate to the student increases in reading rate and decreases in reading errors. Following is an example of such a graph or chart, which has room for recording Comprehension, WPM, and Errors for 12 readings. (It is easier to record the actual time in seconds for each reading than calculating WPM, but using WPM is recommended. When using WPM as the scale, the plot will become continually higher as the child reads more and more rapidly -- i.e., more words per minute; but if the scale is measured in seconds-to-read-the-text, the resulting plot will be a gradually decreasing score (fewer seconds to read), which might not be as motivating, especially to younger students.) After each reading, write in level of comprehension (Ex, G, A, L); mark with a wide bar (a broad-tipped felt pen will work) the student’s rate of reading in words per minute (shown here with a gray bar); and abutting it (and using the scale on the right) mark the number of errors the student makes on each reading (marked here with the bar with lines in it). The example shows that on the first reading, the student read with limited (L) comprehension, 60 WPM, and made 14 errors; by the fourth reading, comprehension was excellent; and by the last (9th) reading, the student is reading 150 WPM and making no errors (after excellence in comprehension is reached, retelling may be dropped).

Variations of the Use of TMgRR. Tape Recordings. After the text being read has already been modeled by the teacher several times, modeling can be done by a tape recorder if the teacher is confident the child has sufficient familiarity with the text to be reading in unison with the tape recorder. Recall, it is not just hearing the text that is a goal of modeling, but also simultaneously seeing and hearing the words of the text. Partnering. Two students may work together on TMgRR, but it must be the case that one of the students is either a better reader or has previously mastered the text (perhaps at an earlier time with the teacher) in order to model the text well and to be able to help the reading partner when s/he encounters a difficulty. Parents. Parents are able to provide the opportunities for further modeling and repeated readings, but they must be shown how to provide appropriate assistance. Sharing Practiced Texts. Students should be encouraged to demonstrate their reading fluency of texts they have practiced before a significant other (e.g., a teacher, class, younger child, parent, school principal, school janitor, parent, or sibling). Chunking Sentences. Instead of just modeling the reading of the text as the student reads along, it might be useful at times to discuss how a sentence should be read with expression. This begins to draw the child’s attention to the author’s meaning and style, and to how the printed form of language relates to the oral form of language. An alternative strategy here is to place marks at the end of each major phrase in each sentence. Choral Reading. Another way to practice rereading is to have groups of two or more students read a rehearsed text in unison. Books on CD-ROMs. Many cd-roms are available today, and they are able to provide both modeling and ability to help a student identify a word that s/he cannot recognize in the text.

Allington, Richard L. (1983). Fluency; The neglected reading goal. The Reading Teacher, 36(6), 556-561.
 

Arya, Poonam, Kutno, Stephen, & Kibby, Michael W. (1995 December). Creating fluent readers: A comparison of two teaching strategies for dysfluent readers. Paper presented to the 45th Annual Meeting of the National Reading Conference, New Orleans.

Dowhower, Sarah L. (1994). Repeated reading revisited: Research into practice. Reading & Writing Quarterly: Overcoming Learning Difficulties. 10(4), 343-358.

Dowhower, Sarah L. (1987). Repeated reading revisited: Research into practice. Reading Research Quarterly. 22(4), 389-406.

Homan, Susan P., et al. (1993). Effects of repeated readings and nonrepetitive strategies on students’ fluency and comprehension. Journal of Educational Research, 87(2), 94-99.

Koskinen, Patricia S., & Blum, Irene H. Paired repeated reading: A classroom strategy for developing fluent reading. The Reading Teacher, 40(1), 70-75.

Maxson, Sylvia P. (1996 February). The influence of teachers’ beliefs on literacy development for at-risk first grade students. Paper presented at the Annual Meeting of the American Association for Teacher Educators, Chicago, 1996.

Rashotte, Carol A., & Torgesen, Joseph K. Repeated reading and reading fluency in learning disabled children. Reading Research Quarterly, 20(2), 180-188.

Rasinski, Timothy V. (1994). Development syntactic sensitivity in reading through phrased-cued texts. Intervention in School and Clinic. 29(3), 165-168.

Rasinski, Timothy V. & Fredericks, Anthony D. (1991). The Akron Paired-Reading Project (Working with parents). The Reading Teacher, 44(7), 514-515.

Rasinski, Timothy V. (1990). Effects of repeated reading and listening while reading on reading fluency. Journal of Educational Research, 83(3), 147-150.

Simons, Herbert D. (1992 December). The effect of repeated reading of predictable texts on word recognition and decoding: A descriptive study of six first grade children. Paper presented at the 42nd Annual Meeting of the National Reading Conference, San Antonio, TX.

Stahl, Steven A., et al. (1994 November). Fluency-oriented reading instruction. Paper presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the National Reading Conference, San Diego, CA.

Turpie, Joy J., & Paratore, Jeanne R. (1994 November). Using repeated reading to promote reading success in a hetereogeneously grouped first grade. Paper presented at the 44th Annual Meeting of the National Reading Conference, San Diego, CA.

Young, Arlene R., et al. (1996). Effects of prosodic modeling and repeated reading on poor readers’ fluency and comprehension. Applied Psycholinguistics, 17(1), 59-84.