Fluency

"Fluency i stye ability to read most words in context quickly and accurately and with appropriate expression", as defined by Cunningham and Allington in Classrooms That Work. 

When a reader doesn't have fluency they might experience:

• Lack of important information, because of lack of comprehension
• A headache because it is so difficult to concentrate on following the words
• Etc.

It is easier to read something with familiar text and/or content. When you are reading on an unfamiliar topic, you may have to look up or decode words and phrases, which slows down reading and fluency. Fluency is not reading one word at a time (i.e. hes--si--ta--ting), but rather putting words together with a "normal" expression, as if you were speaking the words. Fluent reading can be achieved by everyone, it is something that can be practiced time and time again, helped to improve each time. 

One indicator of fluency is reading rate, which is the average words per minute a person can read. Average reading rates increase throughout grade levels. Grade 1 = 60-90 wpm, eventually leading Adults = 250-300 wpm. 

Choral reading is one way to model expressive oral reading with fluency. To do so, you assign groups of students to different roles and let them read the parts of the different characters. Reassign the groups parts and read the story several times. This helps students get comfortable with reading words aloud, and is not as intimidating because they are reading in groups. They have heard these words or passages before, they are just repeating them again and again. 

As described by Rasinski's Educational Leadership, "Students need to hear what fluent reading sounds like and how fluent readers interpret text with their voices." which is who instructional efforts like assisted readings and repeated readings have proven to be especially effective. Fluency requires practice, and it will be hard to do correctly if the student has no idea what the words mean, therefore when a student first hears someone else say it and they repeat it, it is much easier and more effective for the student. Fluency is something that readers are always improving on, into high school and even beyond. It is an important skill in reading and comprehension that needs a big emphasis when instructed, because it affects the way a reader processes information and works through the words. 

Scholastic has 5 listed strategies to improve reading fluency, all of which I agree are effective and beneficial for students, especially in the early years of schooling:

http://www.scholastic.com/teachers/article/5-surefire-strategies-developing-reading-fluency