Information for parents

Building fluency – Echo Reading and The 6 Ps

Echo reading is a rereading strategy designed to help students develop expressive, fluent reading. In echo reading, the adult or confident reader reads a short segment of text, sometimes a sentence or short paragraph, and the student will echo it back.

“Students must hear fluent readers begin modelling if they are to understand how they should sound when they read fluently” (Miller and Veatch, 2011). Since echo reading uses modelling as a form of assisted reading, students are able to gain the support and guidance they need to develop fluent reading skills.

What does echo reading look like?

• Adult/confident reader models fluent reading of a short segment, usually one sentence. 
• Student repeats or ‘echo reads’ the segment they have just read.
• Adult/confident reader reads next sentence and has student echo… repeat until done.
• The adult/confident reader must track the reading with their finger so that the student can follow.

What does fluent reading look like?

• To help learners focus on their reading fluency, various aspects of reading aloud have been separated into six key elements. Each aspect works in partnership with the others to produce a rich and vibrant reading performance:

  Pitch: The musicality of the reading voice – including tone and intonation.

  Power: The strength given to the reading voice – including volume and stress.

  Pace: The speed and rhythm at which we read.

  Punctuation: The adherence to and understanding of the marks an author has placed upon the page.

  Pause: The knowing of when not to read and for how long.

  Passion: The emotion of the reading – including empathy and sympathy and the development of a reader’s love for the written word.