The Effects Of Repeated Reading On English Reading Fluency Of Poor And Good Readers In Middle School In China

Researchers testified that the development of reading fluency was a criticalaspect of learning to read, it played a vital role in developing effective and efficientreading. Educators agreed that reading fluency was a multidimensional constructincluding reading rate, accuracy and appropriate expression. Little attention hasbeen paid to research on Repeated Reading in L2or FL settings while RepeatedReading has been received considerable attention in English as Ll settings for years.This study focused on whether and how repeated reading enhances Chinesemiddle students’ reading fluency and the effectiveness on good readers and poorreaders. Based on the precious research, it addressed three research questions:（1）How effective is Repeated Reading for developing reading fluency ofmiddle school students in China?（2）Which group will benefit more from Repeated Reading, poor readers orgood readers?（3）What factors affect the subjects’ reading fluency?Based on these questions, the author designed a10—week experiment,including pre-test, main study, post-test and questionnaire. A class of53studentsattended the interest group named Repeated Reading,25good and poor readers werechosen through pre-test. The reading speeds of good readers were no less than130words read per minute, and the accuracy of them were no less than70percent. Whilethe reading speeds of poor readers were no more than120words read per minute,and the accuracy of them were no more than60percent. The materials were chosenfrom New Horizon College English—Fast Reading, which are evaluated by anexperienced English teacher. An informal test was done before the experiment. Theexperiment was carried out once a week for45minutes, pre-test for the first week,main study from the second to the ninth weeks, and post-test and questionnaire forthe last week. Comparisons of Chinese middle students’ performances in repeatedreading programs were conducted to find out factors affecting their reading fluency.Results of the quantitative and qualitative analysis of student subjects’ readingbehaviors suggested that repeated reading was effective in improving both good andpoor readers’ reading fluency of Chinese middle students. However, it is moreeffective for good readers. Through questionnaire, factors affecting reading fluencywere investigated.