Read It Again - How Can Repeated Reading Boost Fluency and Confidence?

Hattie’s Visible Learning Effect Size Series – #20 Repeated Reading Programs – Effect Size 0.67 - The last in the series!

To note: John Hattie’s Visible Learning research brings together over 1,500 meta-analyses, covering more than 90,000 studies and millions of students. Its aim is to identify what works best in education by measuring impact using ‘effect size’. In this context, an effect size of 0.4 is considered average progress over a year. Anything above 0.6 is seen as highly impactful. This blog is part of a 20-post series exploring the top-ranked influences in Hattie’s Visible Learning research, with a focus on practical strategies teachers can use to make a meaningful difference.

There’s power in going back over something with purpose. Repeated reading isn’t about rote memorisation or mechanical drills, it’s about building fluency, confidence, and deeper understanding.

Hattie places Repeated Reading Programs at an effect size of 0.67, which puts them firmly among the high-impact strategies for improving learning. These programs are especially effective for developing reading fluency, supporting struggling readers, and giving students the confidence to tackle increasingly complex texts.

When students reread with intention, they don’t just become faster readers, they become better ones.

What Do We Mean by Repeated Reading?

Repeated reading involves students reading the same passage or text aloud multiple times with the aim of improving accuracy, expression, and understanding. It often includes:

• Reading aloud with teacher or peer support

• Timed rereading with fluency tracking

• Teacher modelling of expressive reading

• Use of meaningful, high-interest texts

• Discussion and reflection after rereading

Repeated reading is most powerful when it is paired with feedback, goal setting, and progress monitoring. It’s not simply repetition, it’s supported rereading with a clear learning purpose.

Why It Matters

• Builds automaticity, which frees up cognitive space for comprehension

• Improves expression and prosody, helping students sound like fluent readers

• Strengthens vocabulary and sight word recognition

• Boosts confidence, especially in reluctant or struggling readers

• Reinforces content, supporting deeper understanding across subjects

Fluency is not just speed. It is accuracy, pace, expression, and understanding and repeated reading supports all of these.

Practical Strategies for Repeated Reading

1. Choose high-impact texts - Select short, engaging passages that are just slightly above students’ current fluency level. This might be poetry, dialogue, nonfiction extracts, or content-linked texts.

2. Model fluent reading first - Read the passage aloud with expression. Highlight pacing, pausing, and emphasis. Explain what you’re doing and why it helps understanding.

3. Set rereading goals - Give students a purpose for rereading: improved speed, fewer errors, smoother phrasing, or clearer expression.

4. Use paired or echo reading - Students can reread with a partner or mimic a teacher model, alternating by line, paragraph, or sentence.

5. Monitor and celebrate progress - Use fluency rubrics, reading records, or self-assessment checklists to show growth. Celebrate even small improvements.

Quick Wins for This Week

• Identify one key text in your next unit that students can revisit with increasing independence

• Try echo reading in a small group to model fluency and build confidence

• Ask students to reflect on how their reading improved between attempts

• Use a “Read Aloud and Record” tool for students to listen back and self-assess

• Post fluency goals in the classroom and refer to them explicitly during lessons

Try This

Ask students:

“How does your reading sound different now than when you started?”

Let them hear the difference, in voice, in pace, in confidence. Repeated reading doesn’t just grow skills, it grows self-belief.

Challenges and Considerations

Repeated reading should be meaningful. Avoid overly simple texts or reading for speed alone. It can be especially beneficial for EAL learners and students with SEND, but must be scaffolded appropriately. Use visuals, vocabulary pre-teaching, and paired support to build confidence.

Teacher modelling is essential. If we want students to read with fluency, they need to hear what it sounds like, regularly.

Reflections

For Teachers

• Do I provide enough opportunities for students to reread with purpose and support?

• Am I modelling fluent reading often enough, and making that process visible?

• How do I help students monitor and reflect on their reading growth?

For Leaders

• Is reading fluency a visible priority in our literacy strategy?

• Do all staff understand the role of repeated reading in developing confident learners?

• Are we supporting teachers with modelling, scaffolding, and choosing appropriate texts?

Further Reading and Resources

• Reading Fluency and Repeated Reading – Reading Rockets

  https://www.readingrockets.org/article/reading-fluency-and-its-importance

  A detailed explanation of fluency, how repeated reading supports it, and classroom practices that work.

• EEF Literacy Guidance for KS1 and KS2 – Repeated Reading

  https://educationendowmentfoundation.org.uk/education-evidence/guidance-reports/literacy-ks-1

  Evidence-based recommendations on fluency and repeated reading strategies, including small-group work and modelling.

Research Connections

• Hattie, J. (2009) – Visible Learning

  Repeated reading is among the most impactful interventions for reading fluency and comprehension.

• Samuels, S. J. (1979) – The Method of Repeated Readings

  Foundational research showing repeated reading improves fluency and comprehension for struggling readers.

• Rasinski, T. V. (2010) – The Fluent Reader

  Practical classroom applications for building fluency through rereading, performance, and modelling.

Visible Learning Blog Series

1. Stronger Together: How Collective Teacher Efficacy Unlocks Student Potential (1.57)

2. Students Knowing Themselves: How Self-Reported Grades Support Progress (1.33)

3. Judging Potential: The Power of Teacher Estimates of Achievement (1.29)

4. Supporting Every Learner: How Response to Intervention Changes Trajectories (1.29)

5. Teaching for Thinking: Why Piagetian Programs Make a Difference (1.28)

6. From Misconception to Mastery: How Conceptual Change Programs Support Deep Learning (0.99)

7. Knowing Where to Start: Why Understanding Prior Knowledge Enables Effective Teaching (0.94)

8. Making It Stick: Why Connecting New Learning to What Students Already Know Matters (0.93)

9. Belief Before Progress: Why Self-Efficacy Is a Game-Changer for Learning (0.92)

10. The Trust to Teach: Why Teacher Credibility Drives Student Engagement (0.90)

11. Micro-Teaching: How Short Reflections Make a Big Difference (0.88)

12. Classroom Discussion: Dialogue as a Driver of Thinking (0.82)

13. Targeted Support: What Works for Learners with Additional Needs (0.77)

14. Relationships That Matter: How Teacher–Student Connection Fuels Learning (0.72)

15. Revisiting and Remembering: Why Spaced Practice Outperforms Cramming (0.71)

16. Learning to Learn: Why Does Teaching Thinking Matter So Much? (0.69)

17. Stretching Forward: What Does Acceleration Really Mean in Practice? (0.68)

18. Calm and Clear: How Classroom Management Enables Progress (0.52)

19. Word Power: Why Vocabulary Programs Widen Access (0.67)

20. Read It Again: How Repeated Reading Builds Fluency and Confidence (0.67) — You are here

This concludes the Visible Learning Top 20 series. Thank you for reading, sharing, and discussing these ideas. A free downloadable summary will be shared soon for those who want to explore or revisit the full sequence in one place.