Automaticity

Jeri Stickney Phillips

Contents

• Discussion of Research• Lower-Elementary Lesson Plan• Upper-Elementary Lesson Plan• High School Lesson Plan• References

Research - Definition

• Automaticity is a part of reading fluency

• Definition 1: Fast, accurate and effortless word identification at the single word level ( Hook & Jones, 2002).

• Definition 2: Ability to perform complex skills with minimal attention and conscious effort (Samuels & Flor, 1997).

Research - Importance

• Essential for higher order processing• Allows for low-level skills to be

performed without taxing working memory

• Denotes skilled performance• Performance is accurate and

seemingly effortless• Better retained in long term memory

if automatized (Samuels & Flor, 1997)

Research – Old & New Theories

• Property-Based Theory– Based on properties of automaticity– Ex: Speed, Effortlessness– Not Explanatory

• Memory-Based Theory– Cognitive Mechanisms describe properties

of task performance (Rawson & Middleton, 2009).

• Brain Research– fMRI scans– Neural Pathways

Research – Memory-Based

• Information Reduction– Focus attention on task-relevant

info; ignore redundant

• Algorithm Efficiency– Performance speeds up with

practice; improves efficiency

• Instance Theory– Algorithm and retrieval routes to

interpretation race in parallel (Rawson & Middleton, 2009)

Research – Brain-fMRI

• Brain fMRI Scans

• Three neural routes for reading

• 2 are slower and more analytical: Parieto-Temporal and Frontal

• Occipito-Temporal is faster

• Reader forms neural model of spelling, pronunciation, meaning

• Store in occipito-temporal system if enough repetition

• Seeing word in print activates word form and relevant info about word

• Poor readers do not access the occipito-temporal neural route (Shaywitz, 2003)

Research – Strategies

• Six Syllable Types• Accents• Speed Drills• Air Writing• Orthography (Hook & Jones, 2002

Research - Orthography

• Regular for Reading and Spelling– mat, sprint

• Regular for Reading, but not Spelling– boat, rain

• Rule Based– Planning, baking

• Irregular– Beauty (Hook & Jones, 2002)

Lower-Elementary Lesson Plan

• 3 students per group• Students each have a part in

a Reader’s Theatre play• Students make props and

stage directions• Students practice/rehearse

play each day for a week• Students perform play for

class/other classes on Friday

Upper- Elementary Lesson Plan

• Pair students• Students read a short story and

answer vocabulary and comprehension questions

• Timed Readings: Each student in pair takes 2 turns reading a short story and counts how many words

• Students move a cut-up happy face on a wall chart to show how many words they read

• Timed readings are repeated every other day for 2 weeks

• Repeat with a new story

High School Lesson Plan

• Pair Students• Have students prepare a power

point of a poem• Students mark where they intone

the poem as loader, silence, quieter, questioning, etc.

• Pairs practice reading their poems to each other

• Each student in pair takes turns performing poem on power point for class/other classes

ReferencesHook, P. E., & Jones, S. D. (2002). The importance of

automaticity and fluency for efficient reading comprehension. Resource Room Retrieved July 7, 2009, from http://www.resourceroom.net/readspell/2002_automaticity.asp

Rawson, K. A., & Middleton, E. L. (2009). Memory-based processing as a mechanism of automaticity in text comprehension. Journal of Experimental Psychology / Learning, Memory & Cognition, 35(2), 353-370.

Samuels, S. J., & Flor, R. F. (1997). The importance of automaticity for developing expertise in reading. Reading & Writing Quarterly, 13(2), 107.

Shaywitz, S. (2003). Overcoming dyslexia. New York: Vintage Books.