Abstract
The purpose of the current study was to explore the relationship between prosody, which is the expressive quality of reading out loud, and reading comprehension in adults with low literacy skills compared to skilled readers. All participants read a passage orally, and we extracted prosodic measures from the recordings. We examined pitch changes and how long readers paused at various points while reading. Finally, for the adults with low literacy skills, we collected information on decoding, word recognition, and reading comprehension. We found several interesting results. First, adults with low literacy skills paused longer than skilled readers and paused at a substantially greater number of punctuation marks. Second, while adults with low literacy skills do mark the end of declarative sentences with a pitch declination similar to skilled readers, their readings of questions lack a change in pitch. Third, decoding and word recognition skills were related to pauses while reading; readers with lower skills made longer and more frequent and inappropriate pauses. Finally, pausing measures explained a significant amount of variance in reading comprehension among the adults with low literacy skills.
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Acknowledgments
The project described was supported by Grant Number R15HD067755 from the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors and does not necessarily represent the official views of the Eunice Kennedy Shriver National Institute of Child Health & Human Development or the National Institutes of Health.
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Appendix
Appendix
Long before colonial times, [3] in the hilly region of France, [3] there was a young, silly, [2] rich prince in search of a lover. All his wealth did not make a difference because he was very lonely [1] in his cold, large, [2] empty palace. He wanted a lady to cook him dinner and clean his dirty home. [9] He needed to add flavor to his cookery and style to his dull house [6]. But first he had to make a confession. Before he was a prince, what did he do [8]? He was a beggar and a thief. [9] He entered the lottery [1] and became a winner. Despite his financial security, he was afraid, lonely, [2] and secretive. Wasn’t it a fearsome worry that someone [1] would discover his past [7]?
One day a pretty woman [1] wearing a stylish dress with a flowery design walked by the castle. [4] What was she doing [8]? She was singing a beautiful melody. He looked at her with intensity and liked her sparkly earrings and blond hair. [4] He was drawn to her natural beauty. [9] What did he do then [8]? He went up to her with confidence and said, “I’d like to invite you to the annual music convention.” [5] Realizing his sincerity and charming good looks, she said, “Yes, I’d like to go.” [5] They sat on the grass beneath a shady tree to enjoy the serenity of the afternoon and discuss their mutual preference for classical music [6]. He took her to the opera and the ballet [9].
The prince could not stop smiling because he felt so lucky. Did the couple begin spending every moment together [7]? Sure they did [6]. The prince’s friends said, “Your dependence on her shows your stupidity and lack of maturity.” [5] He was hurt by the severity of their opinions. [4] But didn’t he hover and cling to her the majority of the time [7]? He gave her a hundred presents and asked her to marry him. She explained, “Since I am the youngest daughter, I have to stay home and take care of my mother. It’s about my cultural beliefs.” [5] He looked at her in puzzlement and his heart broke to pieces. [4] He was alone again, [3] still in search of his princess.
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[1] = word pause
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[2] = adjective pause
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[3] = clause boundary pause
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[4] = sentence boundary pause
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[5] = quotative boundary pause
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[6] = declarative pitch change
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[7] = yes/no question pitch change
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[8] = wh-question pitch change
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[9] = declarative sentence for which pitch variability and word and sentence intrusions
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Binder, K.S., Tighe, E., Jiang, Y. et al. Reading expressively and understanding thoroughly: An examination of prosody in adults with low literacy skills. Read Writ 26, 665–680 (2013). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-012-9382-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-012-9382-7