Development of Reading Fluency from the Perspective of Automaticity Theory

Abstract

Reading fluency has been a persistent problem among learners. A couple of experimental studies reveal the existence of this problem in many primary and secondary schools as well.  In the past century, experimental psychologists have popularized automaticity theory as a relevant paradigm in developing children’s reading fluency. The theory identifies four important aspects that feature automaticity, which are speed, autotomy, effortlessness, and lack of conscious awareness. This study adopted a documentary review where various studies were collected, thoroughly reviewed and finally examined for qualitative analysis. The study aimed at expanding understanding of reading fluency by examining roles prayed by teachers in the development of child’s reading fluency basing on automaticity theory.  There were similar findings related to reading fluency and automaticity theory from various publications reviewed. However, this study considered three of them, which have shown significant information across the topic and have been cited in various books and world-class journals.