Relationship between Reading Fluency and Reading Comprehension of Secondary Level Pashto Speaking Learners of English in Parachinar, KP Pakistan
Reading fluency, a key aspect of reading is an increasingly important area in teaching and researching reading. Currently, researchers have shown an increased interest in finding its relationship with reading comprehension. The current study aimed to investigate correlation between reading fluency and reading comprehension among secondary level Pashtoo speaking learners of English. Reading fluency was measured individually for 54 secondary level Pashto speaking learners of English by using Curriculum Based Measurement (CBM) also called oneminute probe. Words read correct in a minute were counted only. During one minute, words read accurately, self corrected and repeated were counted only. Words read incorrectly, left, substituted, mispronounced, omitted, inserted and words on which students hesitated for more than three seconds were counted as error. Transposition of a word pair was counted as a single error. Errors were subtracted from total number of words read in a minute. Fluency in this study was measured as reading speed and accuracy of students only. After measuring reading fluency all students were given a comprehension test with 15 multiple choice questions and 5 open ended questions. The scores of both variables were correlated by using SPSS 21, Perason Correlation to find a correlational strength between fluency and comprehension. The results obtained indicated that there was a significant correlation between reading fluency and comprehension of the participants. Key Words; Reading Fluency, Reading Comprehension, Secondary Level. Introduction Reading, an important aspect in academic plays a pivotal role in overall academic success. Readers read with an aim to gain and interpret information preserved in a written language. This process of gaining and interpreting information is referred as reading comprehension. Effective comprehension needs readers to develop various skills. A number of factors like phonic knowledge, vocabulary knowledge, reading fluency, proir knowledge and its linkage with given information, contributes to reading comprehension (Fuschs, Hosp, Jenckin, 2001; Simmons, Coyne, Kwok, McDonagh, Harn, Kame'enui, 2008) As many factors contribute to reading International Journal of English and Education ISSN: 2278 4012, Volume:7, Issue:3, July 2018 228 www.ijee.org comprehension, reading fluency is an important factor among these factors. Thus, current study aims to examine correlational strength among reading fluency and comprehension. Pardo (2004) opined that, to know the meaning of text it is important to improve decoding skills and fluency. In reading, fluency is the skill of reading accurately with proper speed and appropriate expressions (Rasinski, 2006) Reading with speed and reading accuracy, a process of accurately detecting words were considered fundamental components of reading fluency for a long time (Fuchs et al. 2001) Including these components currently, reading with appropriate expression i.e. reading with pitch, pause and duration is also well thought out to be a key component of reading fluency (Kuhn Stahl, 2003; National Reading Program, 2000) Grabe (2009) opined that fluency is the skill of reading accurately and rapidly with appropriate expression in a natural way without struggle and the anticipated result of such reading is comprehension. Reading fluently requires automaticity, speed and reading expression. Automaticity, that is, constant operations which are speedy, free of resource, not subjected to hindrance, and tough to restrain. A fluent reader must be rapid, automatic complete and accurate. Speed, a key component of fluency is rapid overall rate of reading, contributing to comprehension. In L1 context a fluent reader readers 250 to 300 words per minute (WPM) because of familiarity with L1 syntax. In L2 context the results obtained have variations, readers in most cases are unable to read with the speed of 250 to 300 WPM, as they are unfamiliar with L2 syntax. L2 syntax complexity and poor decoding skills are the factors affecting reading rate. Successful L2 reading requires the same rate as L1 i.e. 250 to 300 WPM. Reading with appropriate expression is also one of the fundamental components of reading fluency. Defining fluency from reading with expression perspective has many conflicting ideas due to variations in correlation between reading with expression and reading comprehension. Some studies like Meyer and Felton (2000) Meller and Schwanenflugel (2006) examined that the correlation between reading with expression and reading comprehension was significant. However, Schatschnieder, Buck, Wagner, Hassler and Hetch (2004) find no relationship between reading expressions and comprehension. Eldredge (2005) observed that phonemic awareness is necessary for phonic knowledge which is the precursor of word recognition. Word recognition is required for reading fluency and fluency is the essential of overall reading comprehension. To be a fluent reader, mastery of decoding skill is essential (Cotter, 2012) Readers struggling with decoding face problems in comprehension as they concentrate more on decoding rather comprehension (Armbruster, Lehr, Osborn, 2001) Fluency facilitates reader to know that meaning of words are carried out through expression, punctuations and phrasing, not through words only (Rasinski, 2003) In L1 context fluency allows readers for reading extensively, exploring the length and depth of vocabulary, developing skills for reading large amount of assigned reading tasks, learning for outside classroom and improving automaticity. All these aims make fluency an International Journal of English and Education ISSN: 2278 4012, Volume:7, Issue:3, July 2018 229 www.ijee.org important dimension of curricular and instructional goals and focus of the reading research in L2 contexts. In L1 context many researchers have explored fluency and a considerable literature has been published on reading fluency, however, in L2 contexts far too little attention has been paid to reading fluency and its relationship with reading comprehension. Many studies like (Lawrence et al. 2010; Leems, 2003; Klauda et al. 2007; Kim et al. 2010; Cotter, 2012) have reported relationship between reading fluency and reading comprehension score in different contexts. Very limited research has been conducted in EFL contexts on fluency, in addition, no research has been found that investigates the relationship between reading fluency and comprehension among secondary level Pashto speaking learners of English. This study is an attempt to investigate the correlation between reading fluency and comprehension of secondary level Pashto speaking learners of English. Method