ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

Mary Kathryn Gates

Action Research Project
[Student K & Student A]
4th Grade

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

Action Research
Initial Meeting with Teacher
Ms. White has been collecting reading data from her students since the start of this school
year. She spoke to me about choosing a fluency focus for a specific reading group, and the
importance of knowing each student as readers. Since Ms. White is still developing her
understanding for her students as individual readers, she struggled to determine a concrete focus
and corresponding group for me to dive deeper. Therefore, we discussed various different
students in her class. She considered the students in light of classroom participation and
motivation and came to the conclusion that student K and student A would benefit the most from
this project. We talked about the availability of these students based on class schedule and the
students individual schedules.

Students Chosen
Student K
This student was chosen to be a part of the action research group because of his fast
reading rate, inappropriate phrasing, and lack of expression in oral reading. This student tends to
be shy and quiet in large group, and so Ms. White feels that he will do well in a small group
environment.

Student A
This student was chosen to be a part of the action research group because of his word-byword reading, inappropriate phrasing, and lack of expression in oral reading. Ms. White hopes

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

that this student would find a greater interest in reading in this type of learning environment as
well, as this has been her goal for him this year.

The Question
After determining the students who I get to work with for my action research project, Ms.
White and I identified the commonalities among Student K and Student A to construct the focus
and goal. We ask the question: How can the prosodic features of student oral reading be
improved to increase fluency?

Timeline
Initial Meeting with Ms. White
o Goals and expectations discussed
o Students discussed and chosen, found commonalities that relate to reading
o Predict number of sessions based on availability: class schedule and both students
individual schedules
o Essential question determined- How can the prosodic features of student oral reading
be improved to increase fluency?
Session One
o Initial Assessments
-Reading Interest Inventory Survey
-Fluency Voice Jar
-K-6 Fluency Rubric for Prosody
Goldie Socks and the Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins
Session Two
o Model explicit fluent reading
Goldie Socks and the Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins
o Vocal Prosody Card Game
Session Three
o Sentence Sailboats
o Choral reading
Goldie Socks and the Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins
Session Four
o Midpoint Assessment
-K-6 Fluency Rubric for Prosody
Goldie Socks and the Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

o Vocal Prosody Card Game
Session Five
o Sentence Sailboats
o Readers Theatre: My Friend Is Sad
Session Six
o Final Assessment
-K-6 Fluency Rubric for Prosody
Goldie Socks and the Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins

Initial Assessment Reflection

Date Administered: 10/6/15

Student K
The first session with Student K was designed to get to know him better as 4th grade student and
a reader. Based on the Reading Interest Inventory Survey, Student K loves to write and tell
stories. He enjoys reading about animals, especially cats. Student K asked many questions and
was curious about what we would be doing outside of the classroom. He displayed excitement in
the Fluency Voice Jar, and did very well with the individual expressions of the particular emotion
words. Keeping in mind that expression is one of the reasons he was chosen to be in my group, I
was surprised to see such enthusiasm put into each expression. When we transitioned into the last
assessment for him to read Goldie Socks and the Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins, I
observed his fast reading rate and lack of expression in his oral reading using the K-6 Fluency
Rubric for Prosody. This is where my essential question of prosodic features in oral reading fits
in. Student Ks application of expression in his oral reading really translates into a lack of using
pitch, stress, and intonation of sentences and phrases. I am now more aware of the needs of
Student K, and plan to work with him over the next few sessions.

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

Student A
The first session with Student A was designed to get to know him better as 4th grade student and a
reader. Based on the Reading Interest Inventory Survey, and as Ms. White and I discussed in the
Initial Meeting, Student A displayed very little interest in reading. He enjoys books that reflect
those of comic books and with various pictures. Student A finds reading boring unless it is
fantasy. I allowed this to become a challenge for me to make the following sessions as exciting
as possible so that student A (and Student K) can engage in learning. Student A remained shy
during the Fluency Voice Jar Assessment, leading me to an understanding that he struggled with
expression out of context. Next was the last assessment for me to observe Student As oral
reading. I used the K-6 Fluency Rubric for Prosody while Student A read Goldie Socks and the
Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins. I quickly recognized Student As effort and attempt
for accuracy, though his word-by-word and choppy reading was very evident. Student A also
lacked usage of pitch, stress, and intonation in his oral reading, providing me with information to
work with over the next few sessions.

Sessions
Session
Date
Time Spent
Strategy
Description

Session 1
10/6/15
20 minutes (each student)
I observed the students holistically and as readers. I learned more about their
personalities and what it will be like to work with them in the next weeks as
well as observe through listening to each students oral reading. I assessed the
students level of ability to express emotions out of context first by using the
The Fluency Voice Jar. The students picked a card out of a bowl that had an
emotion word on it, and they had to act it out. I then assessed the students using
the K-6 Fluency Rubric for Prosody as they read out loud the book Goldie Socks
and the Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins. This rubric was simple and

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Anecdotal
Observatio
n
Assessment
Plan for
Next
Session
Reflect/
Respond

Session
Date
Time Spent
Strategy
Description

Anecdotal
Observatio
n

easy for me to follow as I had to manage many different aspects of the students
oral reading in my note taking.
Student K and Student A both came to me interested in what we were doing.
They were both very polite and respectful and followed directions very well. We
discussed our goals for our time together and a little bit of what I had planned
for them. I got to know Student K and Student A more as they each became
comfortable with me during this session.
-Reading Interest Inventory Survey
-Fluency Voice Jar
-K-6 Fluency Rubric for Prosody
We will keep the meetings fun and play a game that will allow the students to
practice their oral language. I want them to begin to be aware that they should
sound like they are having a conversation when they read.
During this meeting I myself gained excitement for this group. I saw the
potential in both Student K and in Student A and I look forward to see how we
can increase their fluency in their oral reading. This session showed me that
there are a lot of things alike between these two students in my group, as well as
unique differences that make the students who they are. The next few sessions
will hopefully reveal to me more of each students character and we can all see,
and hear, some good progress take place.
Session 2
10/15/15
20 minutes (each student)
In this session I read the same story Goldie Socks and the Three Librarians by
Jackie Mims Hopkins to the students. I modeled explicit fluent reading to them
and talked about the way I was reading before and after. I asked the students
questions about what made my reading so special and they were really receptive
to my explanations of a fluent reader. I emphasized expression and stressed
words that were bolded or italicized. I talked about the up-and-down sounds my
voice made as I read just as though I were talking to them without a book. I told
them that if they were to close their eyes that my goal was that they would not
know that I was reading from a book because my voice was so smooth. I played
a Vocal Prosody Card Game with each of the students which really seemed like
a lot of fun for them. I drew a sentence card from a deck of cards and a student
drew a voice card from a deck of cards. Student K and Student A said the
sentence that I said with the voice that was on their card. Once they caught on
and understood how to play the game they really enjoyed it and began to come
out of their shells and show expression.
It seemed like it has been a long time since I met with Student K and student A
since I had my Fall Break between this session and the one before this. I was
excited to see my students and work with them again, really getting started on
their practice in fluent oral reading. Today I noticed that Student K was dragging
behind a little in class before I pulled him for meeting time. I discovered he was
just tired from staying up late but he still responded very well to the session. I

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Assessment
Plan for
Next
Session
Reflect/
Respond

Session
Date
Time Spent
Strategy
Description

Anecdotal
Observatio
n

began asking Student A if he read any new books recently and he said that he is
reading Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, a book that Ms. White
recommended. I have a good feeling about that book for Student A!
-Model explicit fluent reading
Goldie Socks and the Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins
-Vocal Prosody Card Game
The next session I plan to work with Student K and Student A on their overall
flow of their reading. We have been over the sound of their voice, expression
and pitch, and now I really want to get the two students familiar with
establishing a flow to their oral reading.
Today I think we made some good progress in developing a greater
understanding in the sounds our voices make when we read. I am glad that I
paired modeling fluent reading with the Vocal Prosody Card Game in this
session so that I could have two means to really emphasize the the sounds that
the students voices should make as they read depending on what they are
reading about. If I had more time in the session I would have let the students
read Goldie Socks and the Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins using
what they just learned from my modeling and the card game so they could apply
their new knowledge and I could observe them doing it in context.
Session 3
10/20/15
20 minutes (both student)
I used the Sentence Sailboats from the Florida Center for Reading Research that
we also learned about in class. I had a stack of papers that had pictures of
Sailboats on them that had words that progressively result in sentences. Since I
had both students, I had one student pick a piece of paper and read the Sentence
Sailboat out loud while the other student followed along reading silently with
the same Sentence Sailboat. This caused the students to slow down and really
read each word, while then paying close attention to the phrasing of the words
together to form sentences. We all read the last line on the sailboat together,
which was the whole sentence. Then the students took turns. The students
thought this exercise was strange at first, then they realized what they were
doing. I explained to them that reading should be smooth and calm, like music
to your ears. The more practice they had with the Sentence Sailboats the better
they got in reading the very last sentence. After this exercise we read Goldie
Socks and the Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins together chorally,
which allowed the students to follow my fluent reading.
Today I had both students in one session! We began this session in the morning
and I was interested to see how the students would interact with each other in
this type of setting. It was very evident that Student K and Student A are friends
and are comfortable around each other because I had no difference in
performance and participation during our meeting. The students were very polite
as always and interested in what the session was going to be about. They were
having a good morning and their positive attitudes carried into our meeting.

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Assessment -Sentence Sailboats

Plan for
Next
Session
Reflect/
Respond

Session
Date
Time Spent
Strategy
Description

Anecdotal
Observatio
n

Assessment

Plan for
Next
Session

-Choral Reading
Goldie Socks and the Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins
In the future I plan to do the Sentence Sailboats again. I think these were
effective and enjoyable for the students. I also want to do the Vocal Prosody
Card Game again with the students in the future. Next session will be the
Midpoint Assessment so I am interested to see if these sessions are impacting
the fluency of the oral reading of Student K and Student A in a positive way.
I really enjoyed seeing the Sentence Sailboats come to life with students. This is
something we looked at in class, researched through the Florida Center for
Reading Research, and I just found it really great to experience it with real
students. I also thought that the Sentence Sailboats were effective and a great
way to display the flow of a text. I especially noted that Student As choppy
reading began to develop a smoother flow. The students took to this exercise
well and when we choral read the story together I could tell that they were
following my modeling of fluent reading very well.
Session 4
10/27/15
20 minutes (each student)
Today I assessed the students through observing their oral reading of the story
Goldie Socks and the Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins. I qualitatively
found that the students made progress in their expressive reading and flow of
their speech. I think that they began to feel more comfortable with their oral
reading too and notice their improvement based on all that we have been
working on. After the Midpoint Assessment we played the Vocal Prosody Card
Game again which I thought was a good way to tie back to a couple weeks ago
and relate to the Midpoint Assessment discussion that we had just had.
Student K came to me with a big smile on his face today holding his writers
journal. He wanted to share with me what that he has been writing for class. I
was so happy that he wanted to show me something that means a lot to him, and
I was very impressed with his descriptive writing. Of course, I gave him a
Halloween sticker! Thinking about the intentional relationship Student K and I
have formed, I wanted Student A to bring in his book that he told me about. I
told him I wanted to see if he liked reading yet, and he said he really liked the
book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Since this book is by Roald Dahl, I
recommended that he reads The BFG after that one and that he is sure to like it.
Student A got a Halloween sticker too.
-Midpoint Assessment
-K-6 Fluency Rubric for Prosody
Goldie Socks and the Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins
-Vocal Prosody Card Game
Based on my observations during the Midpoint Assessments, I want to continue
doing a lot of what we have been doing in our sessions. I plan to revisit the
Sentence Sailboats as well and I really want to do a Readers Theatre with the

ACTION RESEARCH FALL 2015

Reflect/
Respond

Session
Date
Time Spent
Strategy
Description

Anecdotal
Observatio
n
Assessment
Plan for
Next
Session

Reflect/
Respond

students. I think that they would have a lot of fun with it and be able to apply all
that we have talked about and practiced.
Both students are making progress in their oral reading. Since both students are
in the 4th grade, they do really well with direct instruction, discussion, and
practice. I think that our sessions thus far have gone well and we have all
enjoyed them.
Session 5
11/3/15
25 minutes (both students)
Today I had both of the students together in the session. This was great to do the
Sentence Sailboats exercise again, providing more practice in developing a
steady flow in reading out loud. We got to do a Readers Theatre today made for
three people, so I got to participate with them. This really made the students
comfortable and allowed them to get out of their shells a little more rather than
if I were sitting their watching them. Each student had a script and had to
practice their lines expressively and with intonation just as we have been over. I
emphasized the fun in the activity but that it was not worth it if we do not apply
what we have learned and practiced to the lines that we read aloud.
Student A and Student B were having a great day, especially after recess and
lunch. Meeting after these two times of the day showed me energetic sides of
the two students. This worked out for this particular session because of our
Readers Theatre, though I am glad that we were not focusing on something
more sedentary today. The two students were excited for the session today.
-Sentence Sailboats
-Readers Theatre: My Friend Is Sad
Since next session is the Final Assessment, I want to be sure that students are
prepared and have a good understanding of all that we have been talking about
and working on during our time together. Before the assessment I want to
discuss with students some of their take-aways from the group and what they
have learned, giving me opportunity to see what they have learned as well as
correct any misconceptions.
I noticed that doing the Sentence Sailboats exercise for the second time was a
good thing. Students did not have to take time to understand the structure of the
exercise and they spent time on the actual purpose. I noticed progress in their
intonation and flow of their oral reading when they read the last line of the
sailboats. The Readers Theatre was a success! I, as well as Student K and
Student A, had a great time acting out the lines of the script. I modeled fluent
reading and they did much better in their reading too. The students really have
shown progress over the time we have spent together.

Session 6
Session
11/17/15
Date
Time Spent 20 minutes (each student)

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10

Today I assessed the students one last time as they read Goldie Socks and the
Strategy
Description Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins. I used the Fluency and Prosody K-6

Anecdotal
Observatio
n
Assessment
Plan for
Next
Session
Reflect/
Respond

Fluency Rubric for Prosody and was pleased with each students results.
Both students were very happy today, having a great day. When I reminded them
that it was their last session with me, they both became very sad. I was heart
warmed by this and it really made me feel good that the students truly enjoyed
their time in the sessions with me.
-Final Assessment
-K-6 Fluency Rubric for Prosody
Goldie Socks and the Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins
This was our last session together for the Action Research Project. Although,
since I will be with these student in the Spring Semester, I want to follow up
with them and check on their oral reading every so often and see how they are
doing.
Student K and Student A showed progress over the course of our time together.
It has been really nice to see that this type of intervention and practice time
really can make a difference, even if it is just a little bit. The students prosodic
features in their oral reading improved, and I am very proud of them! Though
they still have a lot of work to do in the future, I am glad that they did not
remain the same and were active learners the past few weeks.

Strategies
Model explicit fluent reading
Choral reading
Repeated reading
Examples and Non Examples
Setting Objectives and Providing Feedback (MCREL)
Reinforcing Effort and Providing Recognition (MCREL)

Lessons/Assessments
K-6 Fluency Rubric for Prosody
Goldie Socks and the Three Librarians by Jackie Mims Hopkins
Reading Interest Inventory Survey
Fluency Voice Jar (Teachers Pay Teachers)
Vocal Prosody Card Game
Florida Center for Reading Research: Sentence Sailboats
(http://www.fcrr.org/curriculum/PDF/G2-3/2-3Fluency_3.pdf)
Readers Theatre: My Friend Is Sad (from the book My Friend Is Sad by Mo Willems)
(http://www.thebestclass.org/uploads/5/6/2/4/56249715/my_friend_is_sad.pdf)

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Necessary Instruction Changes

1. As I have worked with the students on the fluency of their oral reading, I have noticed
that there are so many elements within just prosody. I have had to alter instruction within
each session to shorten and extend sessions to meet the needs of each student based on
their progress of the prosodic features in their oral reading. I often found it difficult
balancing expression with prosody, because essentially expression is an aspect of both
fluency overall and prosody specifically in terms of pitch and intonation. I molded this
over time, and implemented my own learning through my instruction in each session by
focusing on the what fluent readers should sound like. This turned out to make more
sense for my students too.
2. Though I found the K-6 Fluency Rubric for Prosody to be easy to navigate and follow as
I had to manage many different aspects of the students oral reading, I wanted to find a
more efficient way to take notes of student reading. I wanted to be able to listen, read the
rubric, take notes, and let the students know that I was fully present all at the same time
and this was difficult for me to do. By the Final Assessment, I simply had a separate sheet

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of notebook paper ready for me to take notes on. I was very familiar with the rubric and I
knew what to expect, so I efficiently took notes and listened to the students read out loud.
3. Looking back at my project now, I think about things that could have enhanced the
sessions for the students. Since prosody is based on the sounds of ones voice, I wish that
I had something for the students to be able to visualize the sound of their voice going up
and down. I know that there are plenty of resources for spectrograms to record sound
waves. I could have had the students read and record them as they read, then follow up
afterwards to see the sound waves go up and down to show the intonation of their oral
reading.

Initial and Final Assessments

K-6 Fluency Rubric for Prosody

Student K

Student A

Final Assessment Reflection

Date Administered: 11/17/15

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After five sessions of individualized sessions focused on the melodic speech of prosody,
both students showed improvement in their oral reading. Student K and Student A both improved
in their reading fluency in regards to their pitch, stress, and intonation of words in text.

Student K
I was proud to see improvement in Student Ks oral reading. Based on the K-6 Fluency Rubric
for Prosody, Student K increased from a score of 7 to a score of 8 out of 16. This is progress, and
I am very excited to see that he was impacted by my instruction and his practice. Student K made
his jump in on the rubric in the Phrasing category in which he newly applied stress and
intonation to his words which helped him slow his reading pace and read with more of a
conversational flow. Student K still has very much to improve on, though I am very proud to see
that he made progress over the past five sessions.

Student A
I was impressed with Student As progress over the course of the past five sessions, and the
results of the final assessment showed very good improvement since the initial assessment.
Student A labors as he reads, choppy and word-by-word, though it is because he tries very hard
to read his best. I find it sweet and it shows his character. I was extremely pleased to observe in
the Final Assessment that Student A made the most improvement in the Phrasing category of the
rubric. His results expressed an increase from a score of 5 to a score of 7 out of 16. Student A
also applied a mild sense of pitch, stress, and intonation that he had not done prior to our
meetings, another victory that I was happy to celebrate with him.

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Student Progress Monitoring Chart

Data Analysis and Additional Reflections

14

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15

I really enjoyed the time I had with both of my students. I had no idea that this project
would be an experience that would really impact me as pre-service teacher. I did research and
collected resources, constructed this project, implemented the strategies and lessons, and saw
results with real children- all on my own. This is a project that I was able to make my own and
mold and sculpt everything to fit the needs of two students that I could picture and relate to along
the way.
I also learned so much more about prosody, an aspect of fluency that I first learned about
this semester in class. Seeking the experts through research allowed me to effectively implement
the best instructional strategies and practices for the students. Student K and Student A benefited
from the depth of our instructional sessions, as shown in the results of their Final Assessments.
I was intimidated by this project at first, especially as a pre-service teacher placed in a 4th
grade classroom, that I would do something wrong or fail the students. I grew so much by getting
to know Student K and Student A through this project and learning how a 4th grade student
works. I have always been geared towards the younger grades and so this project allowed me to
really be submerged in an upper grade and build relationships with students in whom I now
adore. This was a great learning experience for me in another way in which simply working with
the lives of real students changes everything. After the Final Assessments for both students I
could not help but realize that I had a hand in the improvement of their reading. Though it may
not be much, they improved, and we all learned along the way.

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Action Research Literature Review

Prosody: The Music of Oral Language
Mary Kathryn Gates
Samford University

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Abstract

This literature review explores published academic journals that present research relating
to reading prosody and reading comprehension. The information collected will greatly influence
the Action Research Project that is currently underway. The goal of the project is to improve the
prosodic reading skills of three 4th grade students at Trace Crossings Elementary School. Little
information has been provided to apply to the preparation and research for this project, therefore
scholarly sources provide tremendous assistance in determining the details of prosody and its
ability to lend help to increase reading comprehension. This literature review presents trial and
error experiment information and techniques for the best instruction of one of the attributes of
fluency, prosody.

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Fluency is the bridge that takes students from a starting point of recognizing words to the
overall goal of reading comprehension. In order for fluency to be a major component of
mastering the skill of reading, it must be consistently supported by these four elements:
automaticity, expression, rate, and prosody. It is important to acknowledge the other supporting
attributes of fluency as they accompany one another, enhance prosody, with a foundation of the
basic skills of phonics that are attained by students as they develop higher comprehension and
oral expression. Prosody, which is the flow that is created by the pattern and rhythm in oral
reading, is an attribute of fluency that is absent in written language. Thus, prosody is an
expressive aspect of fluency that is demonstrated by reading aloud, often called the music of
oral language (Hudson et al., 2005). Reading aloud with appropriate expression is
accomplished through prosody, which includes proper timing, phrasing, emphasis, and speaker
intonation (Miller & Schwanenflugel, 2008). A student that demonstrates prosodic reading
lively speech features perceived by the listener rather than choppily reading words from a text.
In another study by Miller and Shwanenflugel (2006), research was conducted to determine
prosody of syntactically complex sentences in the oral reading of students. Prosodic features are
not dictated by text punctuation, therefore prosody is verbalized written communication
(Miller and Schwanenflugel, 2006). This study suggests that young readers may not fully apply
prosody to reading aloud complex grade-level texts, since foundational fluency skills are still
developing. Miller and Shwanenflugel (2006) place great emphasis on the intuitive aspect of
achieving proper use of prosody. Results of this study indicated that quick and accurate reading
skills with prosodic reading contributed to reading comprehension skills.
In consideration of reading comprehension as the outcome of reading fluency, research
has found that prosodic reading skills are directly correlated with reading achievement.

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Schwanenflugel et al. (2009) conducted a study to determine the relation between prosody and
decoding as well as reading comprehension skills in which skills of both children (2nd-3rd grade)
and adults were assessed. Schwanenflugel et al. (2009) reviewed the difficulty in measuring
prosody, which lead to the visual representation of the sound waves heard during oral reading,
called a spectrogram. This study referenced Lieberman (1996) in relation to the features of
prosody as frequency, amplitude, and duration as key in order to determine the best elements to
measure prosodic reading in students. Schwanenflugal et al. (2009) suggest that one of the
tasks children have in learning how to read aloud is to learn the limitations of punctuation as a
cue to the underlying prosodic structure of the text; in the various expressive features that
embody prosody when reading aloud, such as pauses that are motivated by punctuation are
naturally orally rather than in written language. In this study, the children were consistently
reminded to elicit natural speech to adjust the sound levels of their voices when assessed on
five prosodic structures in oral reading: intersentential pause length means, intersentential pause
length variances, intrasentential pause length means, childadult F0 sentence profile match, and
the sentence-final declination of F0 (Schwanenflugal et al., 2009). The results of this study
suggest two models that express the studys testing of the relationship between prosody reading
skills and reading comprehension: Prosody as a Partial Mediator Model and Reading
Comprehension as Predictor of Reading Prosody Model. These two models describe prosody
using two different identities, one as prosody as the link to reading comprehension and the other
as reading comprehension as the evidence of prosody. Schwanenflugal, Hamilton, Wisenbaker,
Kuhn, & Stahl (2009) concluded that the models showed little correlation to prosodic reading
increasing comprehension, though serve mainly as evidence that children have automatic
decoding skills.

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In order to increase student prosodic reading, Guerin and Murphy (2015) present the
complexity of fluency which entails much more than the ability to orally read fast, deeper than
the widespread assessment technique of timing words-correct-per-minute (WCPM). Recent
research suggests placing comprehension as the center of fluency so that all elements of fluency
are assessed so that instruction can be differentiated. Guerin and Murphy intended to provide
more information pertaining to student fluency practice. This project included three 12-14 aged
students struggling with prosodic reading which in turn effected their ability to construct
meaning of a text. The strategy most effective in this project was repeated reading. Students had
the opportunity to practice and develop the features of prosody with a familiar text, providing
confidence and the ability to better understand their reading. Repeated reading is a strategy in
which students learn to be independent readers while still growing in their fluency skills. This
instructional technique used in this project was enhanced through the recording of student
reading. Results showed that the students improved their reading prosody. Guerin and Murphy
emphasized the ability to read strategically which points to greater metacognition in reading,
that relates to the increase in reading comprehension as students were able to listen to their
reading and assess themselves and each other by the model.
Since prosody is a defining feature of expressive reading, there lies much importance in
student achievement which connects to the construction of meaning of texts. Researchers have
discovered the correlation between prosodic oral reading and overall reading achievement.

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References

Guerin, A., & Murphy, B. (2015). Repeated Reading as a Method to Improve Reading Fluency
for Struggling Adolescent Readers. Journal of Adolescent & Adult Literacy.

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