Patty Ball Thomas, Ph.D.Florida A&M University

Tallahassee, FL

Where Word Recognition and

Comprehension Meet

Fluency

Fluency Terms

• Automatic word recognition—the ability to recognize words in print without conscious awareness or intention through a process that does not interfere with comprehension, even though the two processes occur simultaneously.

• Comprehension—constructing meaning by integrating information from the text with prior knowledge; understanding the literal and hidden meanings and messages of the text; seeing and making connections between the text and the reader’s experiences, what has been read in other texts, and what is known about the world; seeing and understanding how the text is consistent or inconsistent within itself.

• Fluency—the ability to read with speed, accuracy, and expression.

• Guided repeated oral reading—an instructional practice that involves providing feedback to students as they reread a passage until it can be read with fluency.

• Oral vocabulary—the stored collection of pronunciations and meanings of words the individual recognizes and understands when he hears them used in spoken language.

• Prior knowledge—relevant information already known by the reader concerning the content of a text that is used (along with information directly from the text) to construct meaning and make inferences.

• Repeated reading—an instructional practice that involves rereading a passage until it can be read with fluency.

• Word recognition—the process by which the reader matches words in print with their meanings and pronunciations stored in the reader’s brain. After accessing this information about words in a text, the reader brings this information to the part of the brain where comprehension occurs.

• Working memory—the amount of cognitive or mental resources a reader can apply to the various tasks involved in the process of reading (i.e., word recognition, comprehension, drawing inferences, monitoring comprehension); the place in the brain where mental tasks such as word recognition and comprehension occur. Also the capacity to hold ideas or thoughts until they can be assembled and/or compared with other ideas or thoughts so their meaning is established, clarified, and validated.