Abstract
As children learn to read, they must make the transition from decoding to fluent reading so comprehension can occur. Best teaching practices for helping children make this shift involve repeated reading. Repeated reading ultimately provides a means for students to develop their reading fluency by eliciting more practice reading through repetition. Can a wide reading approach without repetition produce similar, or perhaps greater results than repeated reading? The question of this study is whether the benefits of repeated reading. A total of 30 second grade students from a Title One school in California, required to meet fluency scores of 80 words per minute by end of school year standards, were divided into two matched groups. Both groups received fluency practice four days per week for 20 minutes each day. The control group practiced wide reading four different texts per day without repetition. The experimental group engaged in repeated reading of a single text per day for a total of four reads. Pre assessment data and post assessment data were collected using the Qualitative Reading Inventory 4. Based on the results of the pre assessment, students were matched to their independent reading levels. The intervention took place over the course of a four-week period. Using the Qualitative Reading Inventory 4, post assessment data was collected to compare the differences in scores between both groups. The resulting data were analyzed using a t test of statistical significance. Initial analysis of the data determined there were no significant differences in the fluency rates between the control group and the experimental group. Further examination of the results however, revealed similar fluency increases for both groups. These findings suggest that wide reading practices benefit the development of reading as much as repetition.