The effect of a reading aloud program on reading rate and reading prosody in a group of sixth-grade low-achievement, language-minority, and/or low-SES readers

The purpose of this study was to investigate if a group of sixth-grade low achievement language minority (LM) students’ reading skills could be improved by an intervention designed to train reading fluency, a critical component of reading development, defined as integrating speed and accuracy (reading rate) as well as prosody. The study included 54 sixth-grade LM students attending a low socio-economic school. Two groups matched on different reading and control measures were randomly assigned to an intervention condition, which consisted of a tutored reading aloud intervention combining repeated reading, assisted wide reading and modeling prosody or a control condition where students achieved their usual classroom activities. Reading rate (number of words correctly read per minute), prosody and comprehension were assessed. Students who received the intervention scored better on measures of reading prosody but not on reading rate and comprehension measures than students from the control group. The discussion questions the lack of apparent results in reading rate in relation to the progress made in reading prosody.