Prosody of syntactically complex sentences in the oral reading of young children.

Abstract

Prosodic, or expressive, reading is considered to be one of the essential features of the achievement of reading fluency. The purpose of this study was to determine (a) the degree to which the prosody of syntactically complex sentences varied as a function of reading speed and accuracy and (b) the role that reading prosody might play in mediating individual differences in comprehension. Spectrographic analysis of 80 third graders' and 29 adults' reading of a syntactically complex text was carried out. Oral reading skill was measured through standardized assessments. Pitch changes (changes in fundamental frequency) and pause duration were measured for sentence-final words of basic declarative sentences, basic declarative quotatives, wh questions, and yes-no questions; words preceding commas in complex adjectival phrases; and words preceding phrase-final commas. Children who had quick and accurate oral reading had shorter and more adultlike pause structures, larger pitch declinations at the end of basic declarative sentences, and larger pitch rises at the end of yes-no questions. Furthermore, children who showed larger basic declarative sentence declinations and larger pitch rises following yes-no questions tended to demonstrate greater reading comprehension skills. Keywordsprosody; comprehension; oral reading; fluency; punctuation Over the past 3 decades, our understanding of what constitutes fluent reading has expanded considerably. What once was characterized solely by fast and accurate word recognition has grown to include a number of component skills. Although differing definitions are available, there is general agreement as to the elements of fluent reading. Fluent reading is typically defined as reading text with speed, accuracy, and proper expression (National Reading Panel, 2000). Moreover, Rasinski (2004) referred to reading fluency as the reader's ability to develop control over surface-level text processing, so that he or she can focus on understanding the deeper levels of meaning embedded in the text. Thus, fluency is not considered an end in itself but rather is seen as a crucial bridge to comprehension (Fuchs, Fuchs, Hosp, & Jenkins, 2001;Prescott-Griffin & Witherell, 2004).Although most would concur that the definition of fluent reading should include expressiveness as well as quick and accurate reading, expressiveness is rarely defined. Dowhower (1991) described the expressiveness aspect of fluency as synonymous with prosody (a term that refers to appropriate phrasing, pause structures, stress, and rise and fall patterns) and emphasized the syntactically linked nature of prosody. Cowie, Douglas-Cowie, and Wichmann (2002), however, made a distinction among prosody, fluency, and expressiveness. In their research, Correspondence concerning this article should be addressed to Paula J. Schwanenflugel, Department of Educational Psychology, 325 Aderhold Hall, University of Georgia, Athens, GA 30602. E-mail: pschwan@uga.edu. NIH Public Access NIH-PA Author ManuscriptNIH-PA Author Manuscript ...

Fluência e compreensão da leitura em escolares do 3º ao 5º ano do ensino fundamental

“…Com base nesse resultado, verificou-se que o desenvolvimento individual de leitura dos escolares pode ser o fator responsável pela variabilidade de pausas realizadas. No entanto, os elevados números de pausas apresentados pelos escolares do G1 indicam que eles estão tendo dificuldades com relação à decodificação das palavras (Miller & Schwanenflugel, 2006). Observa-se que, na variável número de frases entonacionais, o N dos Grupos 1 e 2 se modificou (Tabela 2).…”

“…Dessa maneira, é possível indicar que muitas das dificuldades de leitura e compreensão podem surgir em decorrência da ausência de fluência e de estímulos prosódicos/entonacionais adequados (Miller & Schwanenflugel, 2006). Para os escolares que estão aprendendo a ler, diversas habilidades precisam entrar em ação, assim como processos relacionados à decodificação e à compreensão textual precisam ser desenvolvidos para que haja sucesso na aprendizagem.…”

“…Já nos estudos que consideram a prosódia como medida de fluência, a pausa tem sido uma das medidas mais utilizadas para observar o uso da entonação durante a leitura, sendo um recurso de grande importância na organização do discurso; quando usada de forma inadequada, pode afetar a compreensão do texto lido (Alves, 2007;Alves, Pinheiro, Capellini, & Reis, 2006;Miller & Schwanenflugel, 2006;Tristão, 2009). Os sinais de pontuação, que indicam o momento da pausa necessária, são como sensores para o leitor, indicando as variações melódicas que ele deve realizar durante a leitura oral (Pacheco, 2007).…”

Examining the independent contribution of prosodic sensitivity to word reading and spelling in early readers

“…the fluency of expression when reading 'out loud' and has evidenced a relationship with both the ability to decode (e.g., Schwanenflugel et al, 2004) and comprehend (e.g., Miller & Schwanenflugel, 2006;Ravid & Mashraki, 2007) a text. However, when considering the nature of the relationship in either pre-readers or early readers who are not yet able to read aloud texts, it is sensitivity to, or receptive understanding of, prosody that needs to be considered and the conceptualisation of this in relation to literacy development is under-represented in the literature.…”

Fluency and Comprehension of Expository Texts in Turkish Students in Grades Four through Eight

“…Akıcı okumaya ilişkin yapılan araştırmalar (Chard, Vaughn ve Tyler, 2002;Kuhn, Schwanenflugel ve Meisinger, 2010;Rasinski, Reutzel, Chard ve Linan-Thompson, 2011) okuma gelişiminin sağlanmasında akıcı okumanın önemini güçlendirmekte ve akıcı okuma becerisinin ilkokul yıllarında geliştirilmesi gerektiğini vurgulamaktadır. Araştırmalar, akıcı okumanın sesli ve sessiz okumanın birinci amacı olan anlama ile yüksek düzeyde ilişkili olduğunu göstermektedir (Daane, Campbell, Grigg, Goodman ve Oranje, 2005;Miller ve Schwanenflugel, 2006;Pinnell vd., 1995;Wiley ve Deno, 2005). Bu nedenle akıcı okuma anlamaya, genel okuma ve okul başarısına olan katkısı bakımından İngilizce okuma eğitiminde önemli bir yer tutmaktadır (Lane et al, 2008).…”