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ASSESSMENT OF FOREIGN LANGUAGE FLUENCY ON READING Pulatova Sh.S. Email: [email protected]
Pulatova Sharifa Sobirjonovna - Senior Teacher, DEPARTMENT OF INTENSIVE TEACHING OF SECOND LANGUAGE, UZBEK STATE WORLD LANGUAGES UNIVERSITY, TASHKENT, REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN
Abstract: the purpose of the article is to provide practical review and theory related to assessment of reading fluency. The researcher intended to prove the effectiveness of classroom strategies and some techniques in order to develop the French language learners" fluency in reading. The primary goals of the study are to come up with the most appropriate ways for evaluating foreign language learners" fluency in reading, to increase learners" reading speed, to change the learners" attitude towards pronunciation errors while reading with the help of the researcher and learners" peer correction and to prove reading fluency can be developed.
Keywords: assessment, fluency, scale, prosody, phrase boundaries, pause, speed, voice tone.
ОЦЕНКА БЕГЛОСТИ ЧТЕНИЯ НА ИНОСТРАННОМ ЯЗЫКЕ
Пулатова Ш.С.
Пулатова Шарифа Собиржоновна - старший преподаватель, кафедра интенсивново обучения второму иностранному языку, Узбекский государственный университет иностранных языков, г. Ташкент, Республика Узбекистан
Аннотация: целью статьи является предоставление практического обзора и теории, связанной с оценкой беглости чтения. Исследователь намеревался доказать эффективность стратегий в классе и некоторых методов, чтобы развить свободное владение французским языком при чтении. Основными целями исследования являются поиск наиболее подходящих способов оценки беглости чтения на иностранном языке, повышение скорости чтения у учащихся, изменение отношения учащихся к ошибкам произношения при чтении с помощью исследователя и можно развить взаимную корректировку учащихся и доказать беглость чтения. Ключевые слова: оценка, беглость, шкала, просодия, границы фраз, пауза, скорость, тон голоса.
UDC 81-139
Introduction. Reading fluency is defined by the National Assessment of Educational Progress (NAEP) as: "the ease or "naturalness" of reading," including how a reader groups or phrases words as revealed through intonation, stress, and pauses; adheres to the writer's syntax; and expresses oneself in feeling, anticipation, and characterization during oral reading.
To measure the quality of a student's reading prosody, some educators rely on the four-level scale first developed for the 1992 National Assessment of Educational Progress(NAEP) in reading \ This scale focuses on the level of skill a student demonstrates in phrasing and expression while reading aloud. In 1995, a significant study on reading fluency was conducted by the NAEP. It found that 44% of U.S. fourth graders were on the lower end of the fluency scale. The study also confirmed the tight correlation between reading fluency and reading comprehension. The study concluded that reading fluency is "a
1 Janette K.Klingner, Sharon Vaughn & Alison Boardman. (2007). Teaching Reading Comprehension to Students with Learning difficulties. The Guilford Press.
neglected reading skill in many American classrooms, affecting many students' reading comprehension."1
Methodology. After listening to an individual student read aloud, the educator rates the student's reading according to the level that best describes the student's overall performance.
National Assessment of Educational Progress Fluency Scale
1. Fluent. Level4. Reads primarily in larger, meaningful phrase groups. Although some regressions, repetitions, and deviations from text may be present, these don't appear to detract from the overall structure of the story. Presentation of the author's syntax is consistent. Some or most of the story is read with expressive interpretation.
2. Fluent. Level3. Reads primarily in three-or- four-word phrase groups. Some small groupings may be present. However, the majority of phrasing seems appropriate and preserves the syntax of the author. Little or no expressive interpretation is present.
3. Fluent. Level2.Reads primarily in two-word phrases with some three- or four-word groupings. Some word-by-word reading may be present. Word groupings may seem awkward and unrelated to larger context of sentence or passage.
4. Fluent. Level1 .Reads primarily word-by-word. Occasionally two-word or three-word phrases may occur but these are infrequent and/or they do not preserve meaningful syntax.
A checklist developed by Hudson, Lane and Pullen (2005, p-4) provides a more detailed assessment of a student's prosody2.
1. Student placed vocal emphasis on appropriate words.
2. Student's voice tone rose and fell at appropriate points in the text.
3. Student's infection reflected the punctuation in the text (e.g., voice tone rose near the end of a question).
4. In narrative text with dialogue, student used appropriate vocal tone to represent characters' mental states, such as excitement, sadness, fear, or confidence.
5. Student used punctuation to pause appropriately at phrase boundaries.
6. Student used prepositional phrases to pause appropriately at phrase boundaries.
Sandra Silberstein "How and Why to teach fluency" indicated a good guideline that is
widely used for acceptable fluency rate by the end of the school year following3:
Table 1. Average rates for reading with understanding for students in Grades 2-10
Grade equivalent Standard words per minute
2 80
3 95
4 110
5 125
6 140
7 160
8 175
9 190
10 205
Learners know that speed is necessary for reading skill. Thomas Kral discussed this in detail in his book Teacher Development(2004, p-179)According to Thomas KraFs information, educator Fry explained that educated native speakers of French generally read
1 U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, Listening to Children Read Aloud, 15. Washington, DC: 1995.
2 Hudson, R.F., Lane, H.B., & Pullen, P.C. (2005). Reading Fluency Assessment and Instruction: What, Why, and How? The Reading Teacher.
3 Sandra Silberstein.(1994). Techniques and Resources in Teaching reading. Oxford University Press. China.
at three different speeds, depending on their purpose, the difficulty of the material, and their background knowledge \ The first type of speed is study speed (200-300 words per minute). This is the slowest speed, used for reading textbooks and difficult materials such as legal documents, when the reader desires a high rate of understanding (80-90% comprehension) as well as good retention. In this type of reading studies the material carefully in order not to miss a single point.
The second type of speed is average reading speed (250-500 words per minute). This is the speed that educated native speakers use to read everyday materials such as newspapers, magazines, novels, and stories. At this speed the rate of comprehension is lowered (usually about 70% of comprehension). They sometimes even skip over paragraphs or pages that don't interest them.
The third type of speed is skimming speed which belongs to my research work. This is the fastest speed that native speakers use, when they wish to cover the material in a hurry and high comprehension is not required.
Conclusion. Generally speaking, the skimming speed of educated native speakers is at least twice as fast as their average reading speed. Some of them can skim more than 800 words per minute. At this speed they intentionally accept a much lower comprehension (50% on the average). Many educators came to conclude that learners need to increase their language vocabulary development in order to reach advanced levels of fluent reading. Moreover, it is a good idea to teach reading rate improvement techniques and provide practice in class two or three times a week, and, if possible, to assign additional practice in the reading lab or at home.
References / Список литературы
1. Beatrice S. & Mikulecky, 1990. A short Course in Teaching Reading Skills. Addison-Wesley Publishing Company, INC. USA.
2. Hudson R.F., Lane, H.B. & Pullen P.C., 2005. Reading Fluency Assessment and Instruction: What, Why, and How? The Reading Teacher.
3. Klingner Janette K., Vaughn Sharon & Boardman Alison, 2007. Teaching Reading Comprehension to Students with Learning difficulties. The Guilford Press. A Divinsion of Guilford Publications. Inc. 72 Spring street. New York, NY10012.
4. Silberstein Sandra, 1994. Techniques and Resources in Teaching reading. Oxford University Press. China.
5. Kral Thomas, 2004. Teacher Development making the right moves. The Office of English Language Programs of the United Staes Department of State, Washington, DC20547.
1 Thomas Kral. (2004).Teacher Development making the right moves. The Office of English Language Programs of the United Staes Department of State, Washington, DC20547.
