http://www.readingcenter.buffalo.edu/center/research/tmgrr.html

CENTER FOR LITERACY AND READING INSTRUCTION
University at Buffalo

Supporting Theory, Research, and Rationale for TMgRR. A theory underlying the process of reading is that a reader has only so much attention that can be focused on gaining meaning while reading a specific text. If part of that attention is diverted from comprehension and understanding, the result is limited reading fluency and comprehension. For beginning readers and children with reading problems, the factors most likely to detract from fluency and meaning are the reader’s (a) inability to identify quickly most of the words of the text, (b) reading in stilted, word-by-word, or otherwise unnatural language, and (c) lack of attention to meaning. Teacher Modeling with Guided Repeated Readings (TMgRR) helps children develop fluency in reading. Fluency is reading smoothly, without hesitation, and with comprehension (The Literacy Dictionary, IRA: 1995). A requirement for fluent reading is automaticity in word recognition. Automaticity comes from the word automatic, and means the recognition of individual words in text with little effort or attention: i.e., sight vocabulary.