Increasing Oral Reading Fluency: An Examination of a Small Group Reading Intervention

Abstract

Research comparing one-on-one and small group reading fluency interventions suggests that both types of intervention may result in similar improvements in students' reading fluency (Vaughn et al., 2003; NICHD, 2000; Begeny & Silber, 2006). Nevertheless, small group interventions are thought to be a more efficient strategy for helping students achieve greater success in reading (NICHD, 2000; Begeny & Silber, 2006). The purpose of this study was to examine whether an intervention package including modeling, repeated reading, performance feedback, and error correction would result in similar fluency performance for students when implemented in a 1:1 setting compared to a 2:1 setting. This study examined data from an academic intervention program delivered by undergraduate students from a mid-sized public university in the Midwest to students in an elementary school. This study used a single-case research design (i.e., ABC) to compare six elementary-aged students' rate of progress in reading fluency during the intervention when it was implemented in a one-on-one setting to their rate of progress when it was implemented in groups of two. Rate of progress in number of words read correctly per minute on AIMSweb R-CBM reading passages was evaluated for each student during baseline (A), 1:1 intervention (B), and 2:1 intervention (C) phases. Results indicated that three of the students' rate of progress during the small group intervention was similar to rate of progress during one-on-one implementation of the intervention. These results demonstrate how small group implementation of a reading intervention can be comparable to one-on-one intervention for increasing students' oral reading fluency.