Improving Reading Fluency in an ESL Classroom

Abstract

Teachers, teacher trainers, and curriculum writers are particularly
concerned with the development of reading skills as it is pertinent to
the English language. Fluent reading skills according to Mikulecky
(1990, p.1), helps to stir the minds of readers and incontrovertibly
contribute to the conscious and unconscious thinking processes.
Reading is and has become one of the most challenging areas in the
ESL classrooms, and in the education system in general. The subject
of what makes a good approach to improve reading fluency is widely
debated. Some of the conventional teaching methods would suggest
that teachers can make little or no difference in improving their
pupils’ reading fluency unless through remedial classes or in small
groups. In contrast, there is research that indicates that teachers can
make a noticeable difference by using the ideal approach or
intervention to produce positive results. This article attempts to share
and create an awareness of the potentials found in using multi
approaches through the use of songs, rhymes, music, realia, flashcards
and games to improve reading fluency, and the use of Principled
Eclecticism in a selected ESL classroom in a primary school in
Subang Jaya. Drawing on research findings and reports, the use of
multi approaches could be a panacea for improving reading fluency in
English at the primary level.