Comparing the Use of Book Clubs and Repeated Reading in Terms of Gains in Fluency and Reading Attitudes in 5th Grade Struggling Readers

This classroom action research project compares the impact of repeated reading fluency intervention and book clubs, using partner reading and listen while reading intervention strategies, to build fluency in Tier 2 5th grade Response to Intervention (RTI) groups. The project also looks at the impact of these two reading fluency intervention strategies on the reading attitudes of 5th grade students using McKenna and Kear’s Elementary Reading Attitude Survey (ERAS) created in 1990. While scores varied drastically between individual students, the action research project shows that the repeated reading intervention led to greater gains in fluency as compared to partner reading and listen while reading in this group of students. Reading attitude scores varied between individual students and fluctuated between the interventions, however there was not a statistical difference in the fluctuation between the two interventions. Based on this study, if the goal of the intervention is strictly fluency improvement, repeated reading will lead to greater gains as compared to partner reading and listen while reading. Based on the data from this research project there is not a statistical relationship on reading attitudes with either intervention, even though some individual students showed significant changes in reading attitudes after participating in the reading interventions