Fluent Reading Opens the Door to Comprehension (page 2) Fluency
and comprehension are related and interact (Chard, Pikulski, &
McDonagh, 2006). Although the exact extent and nature of this
interaction is not well understood, there is reason to believe
that comprehension informs fluency at some level. Similarly,
fluency affects comprehension by making it possible for the
reader to pay attention to meaning. Fluent readers learn more
with less effort, read more text, complete homework in less
time, and have higher achievement than nonfluent readers (Joshi,
2005). Nonfluent readers miss information that fluent readers
grasp. Missing information is less problematic when the text is
a good match for readers’ life experiences, more problematic
when text introduces unfamiliar ideas and concepts. By and
large, text for first and second graders does not stray far from
children’s background knowledge. Even though nonfluent readers
in these grades miss information, some children still have good
comprehension. These child