There is a lot of debate about what is most important when assessing students’ ability to read and their general oral fluency while reading aloud. Many factors go into one’s fluency when reading orally. However, for many schools, the only real focus is on speed and accuracy.
Regardless of whether these schools focus on those aspects because they offer an easy point of measurement or because they can be reliably measured, many agree that it is an unfair measurement in light of what real fluency entails. A significant factor that is seemingly ignored is expression.
This begs the question – should expression in oral reading fluency be measured at schools?
The Issue With Focusing On Speed and Accuracy
With such an emphasis on these two factors – speed and accuracy – we end up with students reading as quickly as possible and maintaining accuracy with little regard for punctuation and stress upon their diction.
Because of this, expression in oral reading becomes less of a factor and begins to slow down. A student might be given a text or passage to read aloud for an assessment. They might provide the most tedious and monotonous delivery but with perfect accuracy and quick speed. From an objective standpoint, they might earn a high grade based on the assessment categories.
The Main Obstacle With Measuring Expression
This is the primary obstacle that you might have already realized when assessing oral reading expression. There is little to no way of measuring expression objectively. It is mainly up to the teacher to gauge how well the student could convey emotion in their speech correctly.
The teacher’s primary objective should be to measure oral fluency as a whole, not only specific aspects. For example, imagine if a taxi or Uber driver gave you an estimation that you would arrive at a destination that is about ten miles away in only five minutes.
While it may be true that they could drive at 120 miles per hour the whole way, that estimation is ultimately useless, as you not only want to be quick but safe, too.
Ways You Can Measure Expression
Even though it may be challenging to find a way to gauge it, assessing expression in oral fluency is important. You’ll want to find a healthy combination of aspects to create a flat measurement of fluency as a whole.
For this reason, one-minute reads aren’t an excellent method to choose. Three-minute reads have shown to be much better for general comprehension evaluation, as they produce much more reliable results. Additionally, make students aware that they will be questioned afterward, which makes them think and read in a more comprehension-based way rather than speed-based.
From an assessment point of view, you can now judge the student based on speed and accuracy, just as you always did. With the added time and comprehension, you also open up the opportunity to assess based on understanding and expression, expanding upon the original assessment. For more information, you can read a more direct response to the situation.
Concluding Thoughts
Expression is a vital aspect of oral fluency that is often overlooked in schools. However, by adjusting the assessment, you can include the previous aspects while introducing new evaluation levels. This way, you can measure oral literacy more completely than before.
