Fluency is the ability to read expressively and meaningfully, as well as accurately and with appropriate speed.  A fluent reader can read smoothly with automaticity, speed, and prosody.  Accuracy in word decoding, is when the reader is able to sound out words with little error.  Automatic processing is when the reader uses little effort to decode the words.  Prosody is when the person is able to master pitch, pauses, punctuation and dialect.  When a person reads with accuracy, automaticity, and prosody the reader will gather meaning, leading to comprehension.  Fluency also leads to comprehension because readers spend less energy decoding words and more energy on making meaning of the text.

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Affective fluency instruction involves instruction, practice and assessment.  Fluency practice includes practicing reading with independent level text*, repeated reading, partner reading, model reading and reading aloud.  Predictable texts are books that can be read easily.  Examples include chain or circular story, cumulative story, pattern story, and question and answer.  These texts have a setting that is predictable to children and enhances fluency because it cause them to read with ease.  



*Independent level text: the level of text where a student can read on their own without any assistance. Students independent reading level means they can read with a 90-95% accuracy rate.