Which factor should a second grade teacher use to determine whether a student will benefit from a fluency-based intervention?

• A. The student uses awkward word groupings while reading aloud from a short passage
• B. The student has strong decoding skills but weak comprehension
• C. The student shows automatic word recognition
• D. The student has limited oral vocabulary

Answer: (A)

Fluency-based instruction aims to help students read smoothly with appropriate pace and expression, linking automatic word recognition to expressive phrasing. The clearest sign a student would benefit is when reading a short passage aloud, they group words awkwardly and pause at unusual places, showing choppy reading and incorrect phrasing. That pattern points to a fluency gap—not just decoding or understanding—so targeted fluency practice like repeated oral readings and explicit prosody work would support improvement. If a student already shows automatic word recognition, fluency intervention would be less needed since fluency is already present. Limited oral vocabulary can affect overall understanding, but it doesn’t by itself indicate a fluency deficit needing fluency-based strategies.