In Study 1 we evaluated whether each of three kinds of reading fluency (oral, silent—sentences, silent—passages) contributed uniquely to reading comprehension when children were in second grade (when oral reading is emphasized) and again when they were in fourth grade (when silent reading is emphasized). In Study 2 we evaluated the relationship of comprehension and other reading (automatic real word and pseudoword reading) and oral language (vocabulary) skills to each of the three kinds of fluency (oral passage, silent passage rate, and silent timed sentence comprehension) at the same grade levels. Results of both studies showed that contributions vary with the three kinds of fluency, as predictors or outcomes, and grade level, consistent with the view that fluency is a multidimensional construct that has bidirectional relationships with other language skills. Implications of multidimensional fluency for assessment and instruction are discussed.
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