Analysis of Reading Sample

Luis read a passage from the novel Riding the Bus with My Sister. His reading fluency is high for an English language learner, but for his age level, his reading seems substandard. Luis reads slowly through many parts of the passage and there is little intonation in his voice. The lack of expression in his voice makes it seem as though he is reading the text without fully comprehending the words as he speaks them. Luis lacks fluency in his reading, sounding more mechanical than melodic. He pauses a few times throughout the passage to decode a word in the text before continuing in his reading. Luis mentioned in the interview how some sounds that are experienced in the English language, such as ‘th’, do not occur in the Spanish language. This may have inhibited Luis’ ability to read the passage aloud as many of the sounds were still unfamiliar and difficult for him to pronounce.