Elementary Students Prefer Extra Reading Practice Before Reading in Front of Peers

Abstract We used a multi-element design to determine student preferences for the arrangement of a repeated reading intervention, as either preparation for (i.e., pre-teaching) or review of reading material, and how these arrangements affected their likelihood of volunteering to read during small-group sessions. Three fourth-grade students, identified by their teacher as behind in reading proficiency, participated in small-group reading sessions together. We used a concurrent chains arrangement to assess preference for repeated reading timing. During the choice phase, all three participants selected the pre-teaching condition most frequently. During small group sessions, all three participants consistently volunteered to read their practiced pre-teaching passage at almost every opportunity. For all three participants, words read correctly per minute was higher during small group for the pre-teaching passage that was practiced during the morning intervention session in comparison to other conditions and other passages in the pre-teaching condition across all phases. These findings are consistent with literacy research demonstrating that repeated reading improves oral reading fluency for practiced passages and indicate that using repeated reading as a pre-teaching strategy enhances students’ willingness to volunteer to read aloud. Additionally, these findings suggest that students prefer to practice before reading in a group setting.