A Research About Oral Reading Fluency of First Grade Students: Text Type and Gender Factor

Abstract

Oral reading fluency has an undeniably significant role on reading achievement. Especially, a number of studies confirm that there exists a strong correlation between general reading achievement and oral reading fluency which is obtained especially at 1st grade. Also, a regular assessment of oral reading fluency (ORF) is regarded as a crucial parameter in preventing future academic obstacles and possible school failures. In this study, oral reading fluency (WCPM, WCR) of first graders at the end of Spring term have been analyzed in terms of text type, gender and reading errors. Participants of study include sixty 1^st graders who are randomly chosen from three schools with financially middle socio-economic status in Bartın city center in western part of Black Sea. In the study, WCPM and WCR values of both expository and narrative text have been calculated with CBM (Curriculum- Based Measurement) procedure and reading errors have been analyzed with reading miscues method. As a result of study, WCPM value of first grade readers is approximately 37 in narrative text and 34 in expository text. On the other hand, when it is considered in terms of Hasbrouck & Tindal’s (2006) oral reading fluency norms, it appears that first grade students have significantly lower reading fluency in both text types when compared to lower bound norm value (WCPM=43) in Spring term. However, participants have 76.34% word recognition accuracy (WRC) in narrative text and 75.67% in expository text. According to WRC value, it draws attention that a large proportion of students (>70%) are at frustration level in both text types. In terms of reading errors and types, the number is very similar in both text types. Eventually, while there is found no significant difference in WCR scores in narrative text between female and male students, a statistically significant difference is observed in expository text in favor of males. Findings and results of study have been discussed within context of current studies and there has been made some suggestions for future

Keywords: Curriculum-based measurement, Reading miscues, First-grade readers, Oral reading fluency (ORF).