LETRS Fluency & Comprehension 2 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: Which component of reading fluency refers to the ability to read with appropriate expression and phrasing?
- Accuracy
- Rate
- Prosody (Correct answer)
- Automaticity
Correct answer: Prosody
Prosody is the melodic component of fluency that includes expression, phrasing, and intonation reflecting the meaning of text.
Question 2: A student reads 95 words per minute with 98% accuracy but ignores punctuation and reads in a monotone. Which fluency component is most deficient?
- Rate
- Accuracy
- Decoding
- Prosody (Correct answer)
Correct answer: Prosody
The student's rate and accuracy are adequate, but the lack of expression and punctuation attention points to a prosody deficit.
Question 3: According to LETRS, what is the primary reason fluency instruction supports reading comprehension?
- It builds phonological awareness
- It frees cognitive resources for meaning-making (Correct answer)
- It increases vocabulary knowledge
- It improves letter-sound knowledge
Correct answer: It frees cognitive resources for meaning-making
When decoding becomes automatic, working memory resources are freed to focus on constructing meaning from text.
Question 4: Which instructional practice is MOST effective for building reading fluency according to research cited in LETRS?
- Round-robin reading
- Silent sustained reading alone
- Repeated oral reading with feedback (Correct answer)
- Listening to audiobooks
Correct answer: Repeated oral reading with feedback
Repeated oral reading with corrective feedback is the most evidence-based practice for improving fluency.
Question 5: A 2nd-grade student reads at 60 WCPM, which is below the 50th percentile benchmark. What does this suggest about the student's reading?
- The student has a phonological awareness deficit only
- The student's reading may not be fluent enough to support comprehension (Correct answer)
- The student requires morphological instruction
- The student reads within the normal range for 2nd grade
Correct answer: The student's reading may not be fluent enough to support comprehension
Reading below benchmark WCPM rates suggests the student is not yet reading fluently, which can impede comprehension.
Question 6: The Simple View of Reading defines reading comprehension as the product of which two components?
- Fluency and vocabulary
- Decoding and language comprehension (Correct answer)
- Phonics and background knowledge
- Accuracy and rate
Correct answer: Decoding and language comprehension
The Simple View of Reading (Gough & Tunmer, 1986) states that Reading Comprehension = Decoding × Language Comprehension.
Question 7: When a student can decode a word quickly and without effort, this is described in LETRS as:
- Phonemic awareness
- Automaticity (Correct answer)
- Orthographic mapping
- Prosodic reading
Correct answer: Automaticity
Automaticity refers to fast, effortless word recognition that does not require conscious attention to decoding.
LETRS Fluency & Comprehension 2
Which component of reading fluency refers to the ability to read with appropriate expression and phrasing?