What does repeated reading as an instructional strategy improve?

Repeated reading is an effective instructional strategy that enhances both fluency and comprehension in learners. By engaging in repeated reading, students read the same text multiple times, which allows them to become more familiar with the vocabulary, sentence structures, and overall content of the text. This familiarity leads to increased reading speed and accuracy, which are crucial components of fluency.

As students read the same text repeatedly, they practice decoding and word recognition, which contributes to their reading fluency. Additionally, this practice allows for better cognitive processing of the text, facilitating deeper understanding and improving reading comprehension. As they revisit the same material, learners have the opportunity to engage with the text at a more profound level, making connections and enhancing their grasp of the content.

While vocabulary recognition, memory retention, and independent reading habits are important aspects of literacy development, they are not the primary outcomes of the repeated reading strategy. Instead, the convergence of improved fluency and comprehension is what makes this strategy particularly powerful for enhancing overall reading skills.