What Is Reading Fluency? Reading fluency refers to the speed at which you are able to read words correctly from a text, either to yourself or aloud. There are a few different skills (other than raw speed) that you may be interested in boosting if you are interested in improving your reading fluency. These are: Automaticity: how “fluidly” you are able to read and decode words. Prosody: your tone and changes in your voice when you read aloud. Accuracy: the rate at which you can read words correctly and not skip words. One way to assess your fluency quickly is to time yourself at various points to see how many words you can read in a certain amount of time. Programs such as Read Naturally, a subscription-based reading developer program, use this technique. Some people are naturally faster readers, while others start out more slowly and may remain on the slower side for a while. In addition, some readers struggle with pausing at awkward places. Others have trouble incorporating expression into their reading. However, there are techniques you can use, even when you are by yourself, that may improve your reading fluency. Methods for Improving Fluency Find things you enjoy reading. Reading can be a drag if you are only reading content you find dull. Whether it is the newspaper, mystery novels, or history books, find some things you love to read to make the process of improving your reading skills less tedious. Read and re-read passages aloud. Once you find material you enjoy, practice as much as you can (it is probably a good idea to find more than one thing you like to read so you do not get bored). Better yet, read aloud. This will likely help improve your prosody and might also help with fluency and comprehension. While doing so, think about what tone you are using to read and whether it fits the context. You can even try recording yourself to see how you sound. Pick material appropriate for your reading level. Right now, there may be reading material that is simply too difficult for you. If you can read about 95% of words from a text without too much trouble, you are probably at a good level. You can try leveling up slowly over time as you become more capable of decoding and comprehending more challenging material. Listen to recordings of passages. Listening to a recording of another person reading can help you understand how a passage should sound. Practice being mindful of punctuation. Punctuation provides you with a good guide about where to stop and pause, which can subsequently help shape prosody and more naturalistic reading. The more reading you have on your plate, the more being a slow reader can make reading seem like a drag. But try out these techniques! They may surprise you by turning you on to reading.