At what speed do we read to ourselves? Developmental trajectories in silent reading speed
Massimo Ciuffo, Massimo Ingrassia, Antonio Milanese, Maria Venuti, Ausilia Alquino, Alice Baradello, Eva Germanò, Giacomo Stella, Antonella Gagliano
The present research is aimed to measure the silent reading speed in a sample of proficient students, assessed by an original silent reading fluency task, based on behavioural indicators of the silent reading speed. A total of 180 high school and university skilled students (age range 14-23 years) have been assessed using 3 tasks aimed to evaluate the oral reading speed (lists of words, lists of pseudowords and narrative text) and one task aimed to measure the silent reading speed. The average silent reading speed in our sample was 12.5 syllables per second, almost double than the oral reading speed rate. The silent reading speed increased from 8.9 to 12.67 syllables/sec from the first year of high school (ninth grade) to the fifth year of University. Conversely, the oral reading speed unchanged for the entire academic course. This study highlights the importance of including both silent and oral reading modes in the assessment of the older students and young adults.
Keywords
Silent reading, oral reading, fluency, skilled readers, reading assessment.