Elsevier

Journal of School Psychology

Volume 92, June 2022, Pages 148-165
Journal of School Psychology

Reading fluency intervention dosage: A novel meta-analysis and research synthesis

https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jsp.2022.03.008Get rights and content

Abstract

Reading fluency is a fundamental component of reading proficiency, and yet, it is a common area of need for students demonstrating reading difficulties. In response, reading fluency interventions have been researched and implemented relatively extensively, but how much intervention is needed to affect reading fluency growth is not clear. The purpose of this study was to meta-analyze and synthesize the research base regarding targeted reading fluency interventions for kindergarten through 12th grade students and to examine how intervention dosage is conceptualized and measured in these interventions. Thirty-three articles met the study inclusion criteria, and overall effects of reading fluency interventions were moderate (effect size = 0.46, 95% CI [0.23, 0.68], p < .001), with study design (group design ES = 0.41, single case design ES = 0.75) and study rigor moderating study effects (group design met standards ES = 0.57, group design did not meet standards ES = 0.34, single case design met standards ES = 0.79, single case design did not meet standards ES = 0.57). Most studies conceptualized and reported intervention dosage as the amount of time spent in intervention with intervention duration impacting total intervention growth. Implications for practice and research are discussed, particularly the need for additional research examining proximal measurement of intervention dosage in an effort to best understand how opportunities to practice impact reading fluency growth.

Section snippets

Reading fluency

Reading fluency is commonly defined as reading “quickly, accurately, and with proper expression” (National Institute of Child Health and Human Development [NICHHD], 2000), and the ability to read fluently is widely accepted as fundamental to reading success (Kim et al., 2010; Kuhn & Stahl, 2003; NICHHD, 2000; Samuels & Farstrup, 2006). According to the theory of automaticity, when readers rapidly decode or recognize words, attentional demands at the visual and phonological levels are reduced,

Common reading fluency interventions

The primary purpose of reading fluency intervention is to increase students' oral reading rate and prosody by practicing the skill of fluently reading text. It is recommended that such interventions only be implemented with students who have developed sufficient word recognition skills to read text with an adequate level of accuracy (Dudley & Mather, 2005). Meanwhile, there is some debate within the field regarding the utility of focusing intervention time on reading fluency when the ultimate

Reading fluency intervention effectiveness

Several systematic reviews of reading fluency intervention studies have been conducted to synthesize findings. Reading fluency interventions have demonstrated effectiveness for improving fluency (Chard et al., 2002; Stevens et al., 2017) and comprehension (Stevens et al., 2017). Reading fluency interventions have also resulted in improved outcomes for students with learning disabilities (Kim et al., 2017; Lee & Yoon, 2017; Stevens et al., 2017; Strickland et al., 2013; Therrien, 2004), as well

Defining intervention dosage

Implementation fidelity is fundamental to evidence-based practice, and an important component of that fidelity is intervention dosage (Durlak & DuPre, 2008; Power et al., 2005). Researchers and educators often use the terms dose or dosage colloquially to talk about how much intervention students receive, and we likewise use these terms to refer generally to the amount of intervention. A discussion of intervention dosage is salient because of its importance for learning. It is imperative that

Purpose

Given the gaps in our understanding of reading fluency intervention effects and reading fluency intervention dosage, the overarching purpose of this study was to examine dosage in reading fluency interventions. Within this purpose, two aims guided the study. The first aim was to examine the effects of targeted reading fluency interventions on reading performance in general using meta-analytic techniques, with two research questions guiding this aim: (1) What are the effects of reading fluency

Method

A comprehensive search of the literature was conducted to identify studies for the meta-analysis and synthesis, with no limitations on publication year. We conducted an electronic literature search of the Academic Search Premier, ERIC, and PsychINFO databases. The following search terms were used to identify articles related to reading fluency interventions: continuous reading, duet reading, reading fluency, reading intervention, repeated reading, silent reading, supported cloze, sustained

Research Question 1: overall reading fluency effects

The weighted mean effect size across the 33 studies included in this meta-analysis was 0.46 (95% CI [0.23, 0.68], p < .001), indicating the interventions had a moderate effect on reading performance across the studies (Cohen, 1988). Examination of variance among study effects resulted in a statistically significant Q-statistic (3005.68, df = 32, p < .001), allowing for examination of potential variables moderating study effects. Meta-analytic results are presented in Table 2.

Research Question 2: moderating variables on intervention effects

Moderator variables

Discussion

The purpose of this study was to examine the effects of targeted reading fluency interventions on reading fluency performance in general, along with conceptualizations of dosage within the literature, and what is currently known about the unique effects of dosage on reading fluency performance. In response to Research Questions 1 and 2, meta-analytic results showed an overall moderate effect of reading fluency interventions on students' oral reading fluency across the studies, with study design

Conclusion

Meta-analyses and research syntheses seek to provide a comprehensive understanding of intervention effects. This study found overall moderate effects of reading fluency interventions on students' reading fluency performance, although there was considerable variability across the studies. These results provided evidence that reading fluency interventions are generally effective for a variety of students. Meanwhile, another finding was that the majority of researchers conceptualized intervention

Compliance with ethical standards

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest. All procedures were in accordance with the ethical standards in publishing. This research was not funded by any organizations.

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