What do fluent readers do?

Janet Hickman Faculty of Early and Middle Childhood Education The Ohio State University Columbus, Ohio T eachers intent on producing fluent readers sometimes lose sight of just what fluent readers do. Since fluency does not lend itself to objective research, there is no definitive description. There are two ways, however, of finding out: watch and ask. Some years ago Robinson (1965) referred to research at the University of Chicago using techniques of introspection and retrospection. After a pilot study involving fourth-graders who thought aloud as they read from various sources and then drafted reports for social studies, he concluded that it was possible to gain information about the reading process through introspection coupled with observation.