Reading fluency problems of students with reading difficulties and their teachers’ instructional practices towards these problems

Abstract

The aim of this study was to examine the views of third grade elementary school teachers on
reading fluency problems of their students with reading difficulties and their instructional practices towards these
problems. 39 third grade teachers and 105 students with reading difficulties in their classrooms participated in
this study. Teachers were asked to complete a questionnaire. The results showed that most of the students with
reading difficulties read without attention to punctuation marks and read words inaccurately. Most of the
teachers stated that they modeled the prosodic reading, used repeating reading and phonic analysis techniques,
and gave feedback to their students about the reading errors they made. Teachers also stated that they rarely use
choral reading and teaching sight word reading in their classrooms. In addition, it was found that most of the
teachers did not assess their students’ reading performance or complete assessments inadequately using only a
limited number of methods and did not motivate their students for independent reading.