Abstract Background: To identify readers who are struggling or at risk of reading difficulties, reference standards in oral reading fluency (ORF) are used to conduct an assessment that is based on a widely reported method known as curriculum-based measurement (CBM), which itself is based on 1-min fluency measures. The purpose of this study was to evaluate students’ ORF (with a 1-min fluency measure) to characterize their fluency and to determine references of appropriate development in reading at the 50th percentile. Method: For this study, a database of readings made available by the Learning Studies Research Laboratory was used. This database consisted of 365 readings by elementary-school students from the third to fifth grades in two cities in the interior of the state of São Paulo from two different public school systems that use the same teaching methodology. The data consisted of digital audio recordings of the passage “The Umbrella” (text suitable for schooling levels) of the Protocol for Assessment of Reading Comprehension procedure. For this procedure, three steps were performed: step 1—listening to the 365 readings and assessing the scores for the number of words read correctly per minute; step 2—the calculation of the mean and percentiles for each grade; and step 3—the adaptation of the reference table to indicate students eligible to receive reading fluency intervention. Results: Third-year students who correctly read 86 or more words per minute, fourth-year students who correctly read 104 or more words per minute, and fifth-year students who correctly read 117 or more words per minute were considered students who had made adequate progress in reading. Conclusion: It was possible to classify students based on the 1-min fluency measures, with reference intervals of words read correctly per minute per school year (for the third, fourth, and fifth years) for those who were making adequate progress in reading and reference intervals for those who were considered readers who were struggling or at risk of reading difficulties.

RESUMO Objetivo Relacionar o desempenho na fluência de leitura oral com a compreensão de leitura de escolares do Ensino Fundamental I. Método Participaram deste estudo 97 escolares, distribuídos em três grupos: Grupo I (GI): composto por 32 escolares do 3º ano; Grupo II (GII): composto por 28 escolares do 4º ano; e Grupo III (GIII): composto por 37 escolares do 5º ano. A leitura oral de um texto foi gravada e analisada, observando-se as pausas realizadas pelos escolares, percebidas auditivamente por juízes, medidas a velocidade de leitura, por meio do número de palavras lidas corretamente, e realizada também a avaliação da compreensão de leitura. Resultados Para os escolares do Grupo I e III, o desempenho na compreensão foi relacionado com os escores de palavras lidas corretamente por minuto, o que não ocorreu com os escolares do Grupo II. O GII e GIII apresentaram relações negativas não significantes entre o número de pausas e a compreensão. Conclusão Os dados demonstraram que a taxa de leitura oral tem relação com a compreensão de leitura, entretanto, o número de pausas não demonstrou diferenças significantes em relação à compreensão de leitura para a maior parte dos anos escolares analisados.

ABSTRACT Purpose Relate oral reading fluency performance to reading comprehension in students of the Elementary School. Methods The study included 97 students, distributed in three groups: Group I (GI): composed by 32 students from 3rd grade level; Group II (GII): composed by 28 students from 4th grade level and Group III (GIII): composed by 37 students from 5th grade level. The oral reading of a text was recorded and analyzed observing the pauses made by the students, auditory perceived by judges, speed reading measured by the number of words correctly read and reading comprehension assessment. Results Students of Group I and III presented relation between reading comprehension and number of words correctly read per minute, which did not occur with the students from Group II. The GII and GIII showed negative relation, not significant between the number of pauses and reading comprehension. Conclusion The data showed that oral reading rate is related to the reading comprehension, however, the number of pauses showed no significant differences between reading comprehension for most grade level analyzed.

RESUMO A capacidade para ler e compreender textos é fundamental tanto em nossa vida diária como no contexto educativo. Considerando esse aspecto, o objetivo deste estudo foi comparar a fluência e a compreensão de leitura de escolares do segundo para o quinto ano do ensino fundamental com e sem dificuldades de aprendizagem. Participaram oitenta escolares divididos em oito grupos: GI a GIV (escolares sem dificuldades de aprendizagem); GV a GVIII (escolares com dificuldades de aprendizagem). Por meio da leitura oral de um texto, foram medidos tempo, exatidão, velocidade e compreensão de leitura. Houve diferenças estatisticamente significativas em todas as variáveis, indicando desempenho inferior para os escolares com dificuldades de aprendizagem. Verificou-se que as dificuldades de fluência de leitura interferiram na compreensão leitora.

ABSTRACT The capacity to read and comprehending text is essential in our daily life and in the educational context. Considering this aspect the objective of this study was to compare fluency and reading comprehension of students from second to fifth grade of primary school with and without learning difficulties. The eighty students who participated were divided into eight groups: GI to GIV (students without learning difficulties); GV to GVIII (students with learning difficulties). Of the oral reading of a text were measured the time, accuracy, speed and reading comprehension. Statistically significant differences were observed on all these variables indicating inferior performance to the students with learning difficulties. It was found that difficulties in reading fluency interfered with reading comprehension.

Este estudo tem como objetivo caracterizar e relacionar a fluência na leitura e a compreensão do texto lido. Participaram da pesquisa 97 escolares do 3º ao 5º ano da rede pública de ensino do município de Marília, São Paulo. Como procedimentos, foram avaliados o tempo de leitura, a prosódia e a compreensão leitora. Foi gravada a leitura oral de um texto e aplicado um teste com questões de múltipla escolha para avaliar a compreensão. Os resultados foram analisados estatisticamente e revelaram que o desempenho em fluência de leitura dos escolares influencia aspectos das dificuldades apresentadas durante o processo.

The study aims to characterize and report on performance in reading fluency and comprehension. The study sample included 97 students from 3 rd to 5 th grade at a state school in the city of Marília in São Paulo State of Brazil. The procedures involved an evaluation of reading time, prosody and text comprehension. The oral reading of a text was recorded, and a multiple choice test was applied to evaluate performance in comprehension. The results were statistically analyzed and showed that performance in students' reading fluency was able to highlight aspects of the difficulties that arise during the processing of reading.

TEMA: intervenção precoce em escolares de risco para a dislexia. OBJETIVO: este estudo tem por objetivo geral mapear os artigos publicados sobre intervenção com escolares de risco para dislexia e, como objetivos específicos, analisar descritivamente aspectos específicos dos textos. CONCLUSÃO: as publicações na área em relação ao tema não são constantes, porém, os artigos científicos analisados evidenciam a preocupação dos pesquisadores em elaborar, desenvolver e validar instrumentos de avaliações e intervenções que contribuam para a identificação precoce da dislexia.

BACKGROUND: early intervention in students at risk for dyslexia. PURPOSE: this study aims to map the general articles on intervention with students at risk for dyslexia and specific objectives, descriptively analyzing specific text aspects. CONCLUSION: there are few published data on this issue; however, the reviewed scientific articles highlight the concern of the researchers to elaborate, develop and validate assessments and interventions that contribute to the early identification of dyslexia.