The Relationship Between Natural Speech Rate and Oral Reading Fluency Rate and Reading Comprehension among Third Grade Students

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to investigate the relationship between students’ natural speech rate and oral reading fluency rate and reading comprehension. A correlational study design was used. Participants in the study were 22 third grade students who were enrolled in a public elementary school in Baltimore County, Maryland. The 22 students who participated in the study represented a wide range of ability levels and included four students with Individualized Educational Plans, students who were considered reading on grade level, and several students who were considered having above average reading achievement. Data were collected and analyzed for each student’s natural speech rate, reading fluency rate, and comprehension assessments. The analysis did not reveal a significant relationship between natural speech rate and reading fluency and comprehension rate. Recommendations for future research include using different assessment tools to gather a student’s speech rate, fluency rate, and comprehension rate to strengthen validity and creating different guidelines for speech that would involve collecting data on the speech rate when conversing with an adult.