The contribution of sensitivity to speech rhythm and non‐speech rhythm to early reading development

Both sensitivity to speech rhythm and non‐speech rhythm have been associated with successful phonological awareness and reading development in separate studies. However, the extent to which speech rhythm, non‐speech rhythm and literacy skills are interrelated has not been examined. As a result, five‐ to seven‐year‐old English‐speaking children were assessed on measures of speech rhythm sensitivity, non‐speech rhythm sensitivity (both receptive and productive), reading attainment and phonological awareness. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that productive non‐speech rhythm was unable to predict variance in reading attainment independently of phonological awareness and speech rhythm sensitivity. Receptive sensitivity to speech rhythm and non‐speech rhythm were both able to predict a significant amount of unique variance in reading attainment after controlling for age, vocabulary, phonological awareness, short‐term memory and each other. The findings suggest that receptive sensitivity to speech rhythm and non‐speech rhythm, while related to each other, also make contributions to reading attainment that are independent of each other. These findings provide only partial consistency with the general auditory processing deficit theory of reading difficulties, but are in line with the emerging theoretical claim that sensitivity to speech prosody may be implicated in successful literacy development.     

Pilot study evaluating the impact of dialogic reading and shared reading at transition to primary school: early literacy skills and parental attitudes

Previous studies have demonstrated the positive impact of shared reading (SR) and dialogic reading (DR) on young children's language and literacy development. This exploratory study compared the relative impact of parental DR and shared reading interventions on 4‐year‐old children's early literacy skills and parental attitudes to reading prior to and following school entry. Parents were trained using a self‐instruction training DVD. The children's rhyme awareness, word reading, concepts about print and writing vocabulary were assessed before and after 6 weeks over the summer period and again after one term in school. Four illustrative case studies are presented, which reveal the differential impact of the interventions on the families who participated. Findings indicated that DR had a positive impact on children's enjoyment of reading, concepts about print, parent–child reading behaviours and parental attitudes to joint storybook reading. The children who experienced shared‐book reading during the intervention also demonstrated improvements in word reading. There were no changes in rhyme awareness or writing vocabulary for either group. Changes in print concept awareness were not maintained at follow‐up, but improvements in writing vocabulary and word reading scores were noted. The reasons for this are discussed with reference to the formal literacy instruction the children received during their first academic term.