Increasing Elementary-aged Students’ Reading Fluency with

Small-group Interventions: A Comparison of Repeated Reading,

Listening Passage Preview, and Listening Only Strategies
Abstract In research found from Begeny et al. (2009), small-group
interventions are practical and often more time efficient than
individualized interventions aimed to address this problem. The
primary purpose of this study was to examine three
small-group reading interventions that have been used to
improve students’ reading fluency (repeated reading, listening
passage preview, and listening only).

Method - 4 second grade students participated in the study

- 2 female, 2 male, two African-American, 1 Hispanic, & 1
caucasian
- Students were selected based off of a Winter screening
assessment
- All participants read between 25th & 50th percentile
- 3 in-school psychologists implemented the intervention
- Interventions were evaluated immediately after
implementation & 2 days after using a CBM measurement
(Begeny et al., 2009)
- DIBELS/ORF-CBM used in this study
- Students received 16 simultaneously sessions
- Control condition: students read the passage
- Listening Passage Preview (LLP): Students were group
together, instructor read scripted directions & explicitly
instructed students what to do in each lesson (Begeny et
al., 2009). Instructor would read the passage multiple
times. Students would read after the instructor read the
passage 4-5 times. Students would follow along on the
passage.
- Repeated Readings: the student group leader would read
the passage, while the other students read Along quietly
with the leader. Students would switch roles & read the
same passage.
- Listening Only: Students would only listen to their
instructor read the passage twice. Students were not
provided the passage while their instructor read aloud.

Results - Research found from Begeny et al. (2009), supported the

repeated reading intervention, followed by listening
passage preview, as most effective. Findings also
suggested that improvements from each intervention
remained 2 days later.
- Each of the intervention strategies outperformed the
Control condition
Discussion - The data from this study do suggest that small-group
interventions can be effective in improving students’
reading fluency of materials practiced for relatively brief
periods of time (Begeny et al., 2009).
- Educators need to provide these interventions to
students who are struggling with reading fluency

Begeny, J. C., Krouse, H. E., Ross, S. G., & Mitchell, R. C. (2009). Increasing

Elementary-aged Students’ Reading Fluency with Small-group Interventions: A

Comparison of Repeated Reading, Listening Passage Preview, and Listening Only

Strategies. Journal of Behavioral Education, 18(3), 211–228.

https://doi.org/10.1007/s10864-009-9090-9