The Power of Partner Reading
We all know what it sounds like to hear students reading fluently. They read accurately, at a good pace and with expression. Their reading appears to be effortless and natural. This is the end goal for students in our classrooms.
Research shows that when students read fluently they are able to understand more of what they read. There is a very strong correlation between a student’s reading fluency and their reading comprehension. This is why it is so important for us to include evidence-based fluency instruction in our literacy block. What can we do to help support fluency development?
This is where the power of partner reading comes in. If implemented well there are numerous benefits for developing students’ reading fluency.
- Enhanced Engagement: The role-switching routine of partner reading helps keep students engaged, the pace and interactive nature of the routines hold their interest and focus throughout the session.
- Increased Reading Time: Students have more opportunities to practice reading aloud. Students are all actively engaged in either reading or listening.
- Collaboration/Peer Support: Partner reading encourages peer support. Students help each other with difficult words and reading strategies.
- Confidence Building: A supportive, encouraging environment is established where students feel comfortable reading with their peers.
Text Selection Years F-2
Focus on using decodables for partner reading. Choose decodable books or passages that reinforce the phonics patterns that your students have already learnt such as texts from the Sunshine Phonics Decodable Series. As students gain more proficiency you can gradually begin to add more authentic texts such as Sunshine Starters. At this level students will need to be monitored closely and will require assistance to ensure that the partner routines are strong and they understand the process. Next Steps Decodables texts are fully decodable but contain grapheme-phoneme correspondences from the entire scope and sequence, meaning they are a good bridge from decodable texts to authentic texts.
Years 3-6
From Year 3 upwards, students can read authentic texts, class texts and passages relating to the curriculum topics that they are learning about. Incorporate challenging texts to continue developing comprehension and fluency skills. Engage in discussion prior or post reading to deepen understanding.
Avoid books or passages of text that are disjointed or choppy, such as visual texts. These types of texts are not suitable for reading fluency practice. Use prose text which are organised into sentences and paragraphs and which follow everyday speech patterns and grammatical rules. These may be fiction prose or non-fiction prose which have direct straightforward communication of ideas and narrative.
Establishing Pair Reading Routines
Dr Nathanial Swain emphasises the importance of establishing ‘watertight’ routines when implementing paired reading. The success and efficiency of the practice depends on it. Set students up for success by investing in explicitly teaching the routine. Pre-teach your expectations and practice each step with them, review and re-teach as needed.
Fluency Partners: Pair your students up (similar or same reading level). These partners will be different from their turn and talk partners or seating partners. You will change these pairs regularly, as students’ reading levels change and due to absences etc. I have name tags on magnets which I can easily move and change on my whiteboard (as needed). Students can decide who is going to be partner A and partner B.
Material/Books: Ensure your students know where to find the books or passages that they will read. Ensure that there is enough material and consider where extra material will be found. You want to prevent students from having to get up and search for more reading material once the timed session has begun.
Paired Reading Fluency Routine
There are numerous different versions of a partner fluency routine (a Google search will come up with many variations). They are slightly different but essentially all require students to engage in role-switching (reader/listener) and providing peer support and feedback.
Below is the partner routine I use in my class of Year 6 students. We do our partner reading routine straight after lunch, which was historically the time of the day we would have engaged in silent reading (SSR, DROP). I have found that my students are far more engaged, read a lot more text and enjoy it a lot more than silent reading. The upside for me is that I still have 10-15 minutes where I am free to roam and listen, take a small group for reading or have a 1:1 reading session with a student.
- Students gather their materials (books, passages, etc).
- Students sit next to their partner (shoulder to shoulder/knee to knee). They can choose to sit around the room (mat, floor or at tables).
- The timer is set for 10-15 minutes max.
- Partner A (alternate each day) reads 1 paragraph then partner B reads the next paragraph.
- They alternate reading aloud, taking turns until they finish the piece of text or passage. If the timer has not gone off then they will continue reading from another book.
- The student who is the listener follows along with their finger or tracks with their eyes. They support the reader if they have any difficulty with new vocabulary or understandings.
- At the end of the session we do a quick check in (5 min). These might be a few key questions to check for comprehension. Some students may share key ideas from the text they have just read or we may write a gist statement together to summarise a class text.
Our school days are incredibly full and it is a real struggle to fit everything in. Replacing silent reading with partner reading has been an ‘evidence informed’ decision for my students. This small change in classroom routine has transformed the time into an effective and productive fluency session. Have a try!
Johnna Alborn
Deputy Principal/Literacy Facilitator
References:
Nathaniel Swain, ‘How to: paired fluency reading’ 2024 (blogpost) https://www.nathanielswain.com/cognitoriumblog/2024/7/how-to-paired-fluency-reading
Implementing impactful paired reading routines in your classroom – Webinar (Oxford University Press ANZ)
Five from Five Website – Paired/partner reading: Multilit Ltd 2026
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