What is a primary way to increase reading fluency?

• A. Provide many reading opportunities.
• B. Focus on decoding only.
• C. Read once and then stop.
• D. Allow silent reading only with no discussion.

Answer: (A)

Fluency develops through lots of practice reading. When students have many opportunities to read, they repeatedly encounter words, phrases, and sentence patterns, which helps their word recognition become automatic, frees cognitive effort for understanding, and supports smooth, expressive reading. Reading aloud in varied texts with feedback and guidance helps students develop pacing, intonation, and phrasing, all essential parts of fluid reading.

Other approaches fall short because decoding-only work improves accuracy but not speed or expression, a single reading provides almost no practice, and silent reading with no discussion misses chances to hear fluent models and receive feedback that guides improvement. Providing abundant reading opportunities combines practice with guidance, leading to stronger fluency and better comprehension.