**7. Discussion**

Recent reports in the public media [51,52] have argued that phonics (word recognition) instruction is a necessity for reading success and that current phonics instruction in American schools is inadequate. We agree that proficiency in word recognition accuracy is critical to reading success and that intentional and systematic instruction in phonics is required in grades kindergarten through two. However, mere accuracy in word recognition is insufficient for proficient reading. Given our understanding of the interplay between and cognitive requirements for word recognition and comprehension, the true goal for word recognition instruction should be automaticity in word decoding. For decoding skills to become automatic, fluency instruction that includes regular opportunities for repeated and assisted reading is recommended. Interestingly, neither of the previously mentioned public media articles advocating phonics instruction included reading fluency as a significant part of the recommended instruction or automatic word recognition as the ultimate foundational reading goal.

In Chall's [29] stages of reading development, the foundational reading focus in Stage 1 is decoding and occurs in grades one and two. At Stage 2 the focus of foundational reading moves to fluency and occurs in grades two and three. While we agree with and support the trajectory of Chall's model of word recognition accuracy, we argue that there is no reason why fluency cannot also be developed simultaneously in grades one and two. Perhaps Chall's fluency stage of development may be more appropriately implemented earlier in students' school careers (e.g., grades one–two) and lead to an acceleration in students' reading development.

The results of the present study offer some preliminary insight into challenging the oft-stated suggestion that phonics instruction alone is sufficient for students to achieve mastery of foundational reading. The study also questions the notion that fluency instruction should be delayed until after students have achieved full proficiency in word recognition accuracy (Stage 1). The results of our study sugges<sup>t</sup> that intentional, multi-component fluency instruction along with phonics and word work may provide an additional boost to students' reading achievement greater than phonics alone. Moreover, our results sugges<sup>t</sup> that phonics and fluency instruction can, and perhaps should, occur simultaneously as early as grade one.

Fluency's place in the history of American reading instruction could be viewed as one of benign neglect. Although oral reading recitation was a major component of reading instruction more than a century ago, it was ignored in the later half of the 20th century to the point that by 1983 Allington [2] referred to fluency as the neglected reading goal. Even though fluency did gain some resurgence with its identification as a critical component of effective reading instruction based on the National Reading Panel's [18] evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature, fluency has continued to be viewed more as a tangential component of the overall literacy curriculum. An analysis of Reading First [25], a U.S. reading initiative in the first decade of the 21st century, whose goal was for all third

grade students to be reading at grade level, found that less than five minutes per day was devoted to fluency instruction, even in schools where there was a commitment to provide instruction in the essential instructional components of reading, including fluency, identified by the National Reading Panel. Reading First failed to achieve the goal of all children reading at grade level, and we are left to wonder if a portion of those disappointing results were due to the fact that fluency was not su fficiently emphasized in instruction.

The results of the present study provide a tentative suggestion that intentional and multi-component fluency instruction, along with phonics, may be an appropriate part of a foundational first-grade reading curriculum. Indeed, recognizing the stagnant growth in reading achievement in the United States, and given the present tentative results in favor of the students receiving fluency instruction, integrating fluency into the first-grade reading curriculum has the possibility of making a significant and substantial impact on improving students' literacy outcomes. The implementation of the FDL required no more than 20 min per day, a time period that could easily be integrated into existing first-grade reading foundational skills instruction.

At a minimum, this study suggests that larger-scale and more in-depth and controlled research into the role of fluency instruction, and in particular the Fluency Development Lesson, on improving reading outcomes in first grade students may be worthwhile. If we are interested in raising reading achievement in the elementary grades, fluency cannot be neglected.
