Meredith Murray is a passionate educator with nearly two decades of experience in transforming literacy instruction. As a Product Development Manager at Booksource, she focuses on aligning engaging literature with research-based strategies to support readers of all levels. With two advanced educational degrees and certification in Orton-Gillingham, Meredith is committed to making literacy accessible and enjoyable for all students. Outside of work, she enjoys playing Ultimate Frisbee, hiking with her dog, and discovering new reads with her book club.
If you’re a teacher, a tutor, an interventionist, or in any other role that involves delivering targeted instruction to students, then you have likely sat through an evaluative observation. Last year, I had such an experience as a dyslexia practitioner-trainee at a tutoring center. I had written a thoughtful and responsive lesson plan and was excited that the student I was working with had grown into an exceptional decoder. I was looking forward to a debrief with the center’s director that would reflect high marks and accolades.
Imagine my surprise when the debrief kicked off with the director kindly saying, “You know, your student is not fluent. We need to work on that.”
Not fluent? How? Every word was decoded accurately, and every sound accounted for. What followed was one of the most important growth conversations I could have had while on my journey to certified practitioner.
Reading is more than just decoding words; it’s about making sense of the text and bringing it to life with rhythm, tone, and expression. This ability to read with natural flow and emotion is known as prosody, a critical component of reading fluency. However, for some students, prosody doesn’t come easily, even after they’ve mastered decoding skills. When prosody is the problem, targeted strategies can help build this skill.
Why Prosody Matters
Prosody is not just about sounding expressive; it’s about understanding the meaning behind the words. When students read with appropriate intonation and phrasing, they are better able to grasp the text’s nuances. Struggling with prosody, however, can make it hard for students to understand complex texts, infer emotions, and engage with what they’re reading. Here are some practical strategies to help students develop prosody.
1. Model Fluent Reading
Students benefit from hearing skilled readers demonstrate how prosody enhances meaning. Regularly read aloud to students, emphasizing important words and pausing appropriately at punctuation marks. Hearing this as a model can help students recognize what fluent reading sounds like and begin to imitate it in their own reading.
2. Use Echo Reading
In Echo reading, the teacher reads a passage aloud and the student repeats it back. Choose a short passage or a section of text with expressive dialogue or varied sentence structures. Read the text aloud with expression, then have the student “echo” it back to you, trying to match your tone, pitch, and pacing.
3. Incorporate Choral Reading
Choral reading involves reading a passage together as a group. This strategy allows students to practice reading aloud without the pressure of doing it alone. The group’s rhythm can help guide students in learning how to naturally pace their reading, make pauses, and vary intonation.
4. Highlight Phrasing and Pauses
Teach students to recognize natural breaks in sentences. Use slashes (//) to indicate pauses between phrases in a text. For example, “The cat // sat on the mat.” This visual cue helps students understand where they might pause naturally.
5. Practice with Poetry and Song Lyrics
Poetry and songs naturally incorporate rhythm and expression. Poems often use repetition and rhyme, which can guide students in learning how to vary their pitch and tone. Singing along with song lyrics can also help students understand pacing and emphasis in a fun, low-stakes way.
6. Record and Playback
Recording students as they read aloud and allowing them to listen back to their reading can be very insightful. Encourage them to evaluate their own reading, focusing on whether they varied their tone, used appropriate pauses, and emphasized important words. Rerecording the same passage multiple times allows them to hear their progress.
Applying these strategies, I heard the change as my student moved from a decoder to a reader and observed her becoming more “in-tune” with the text. By using these strategies, educators can support students in developing a natural, expressive reading style, leading to greater reading enjoyment and understanding.