Evaluation of Suprasegmental or Prosodic Phonological Skills: A Classification Proposal
- Nuria Calet Universidad de Granada
- Nicolás Gutiérrez-Palma Universidad de Jaén
- Gracia Jiménez-Fernández Universidad de Granada
Abstract
Suprasegmental phonological skills, or prosody, refer to the rhythmic and melodic features of language. In recent years, the study of this phonological subsystem has gained considerable interest, particularly due to evidence supporting its relationship with literacy acquisition across different languages. However, one of the main challenges in this field has been the assessment of these skills. The diversity of tasks used in research, which often evaluate different components and vary in complexity, has complicated the interpretation of results. The accumulated literature suggests that not all prosodic skill assessment tasks are comparable. Therefore, the aim of this study is to present an analysis of the key elements to consider in the assessment of prosodic skills and to propose a classification based on their characteristics and complexity. Finally, recommendations are proposed to improve the validity and comparability of prosodic assessment tasks, as well as possible directions for future research.
Downloads
References
Adams, M. J. (1990). Beginning to read: Thinking and learning about print. The MIT Press.
Alarcos Llorach, E. (2007). Gramática de la lengua española. Madrid: Espasa Calpe
Álvarez-Cañizo, M., Suárez-Coalla, P., y Cuetos, F. (2018). Reading Prosody Development in Spanish Children. Reading and Writing, 31(1), 35-52. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-017-9768-7
Anthony, J. L., y Lonigan, C. J. (2004). The nature of phonological awareness: Converging evidence from four studies of preschool and early grade school children. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 43–55. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.96.1.43.
Arvaniti, A. (2009). Rhythm, timing and the timing of rhythm. Phonetica, 66(1-2), 46–63. https://doi.org/10.1159/000208930
Barry, J. G., Harbodt, S., Cantiani, C., Sabisch, B., y Zobay, O. (2012). Sensitivity to lexical stress in dyslexia: A case of cognitive not perceptual stress. Dyslexia, 18(3), 139–165. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.1440
Bhide, A., Power, A., y Goswami, U. (2013). A rhythmic musical intervention for poor readers: A comparison of efficacy with a letter‐based intervention. Mind, Brain, and Education, 7, 113-123. https://doi.org/10.1111/mbe.12016
de Bree, E. H. de, Wijnen, F., y Zonneveld, W. (2006). Word stress production in three-year-old children at risk of dyslexia. Dyslexia, 12(3), 205-233. https://doi.org/10.1002/dys.318
Calet, N., Gutiérrez-Palma, N., Simpson, I., González-Trujillo, M. C., y Defior, S. (2015). Suprasegmental phonology development and reading acquisition: A longitudinal study. Scientific Studies of Reading, 19, 51-71. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2014.976342
Calet, N., López Almazán, J., y Martínez Castilla, P. (2022). Prosodic skills and reading acquisition in Spanish primary school children: analysis using the PEPS-C test. Psicothema, 34(2), 283-290. https://doi.org/10.7334/psicothema2021.342
Calet, N., Martínez-López, A., Lendínez, C., de la Peña, J. A., Ávila, C., y Jiménez-Fernández, G. (2024, May 16). Lexical stress awareness task. Retrieved from osf.io/ug8ay
Calet, N., Martín‐Peregrina, M. Á., Jiménez‐Fernández, G., y Martínez‐Castilla, P. (2021). Prosodic skills of Spanish‐speaking children with developmental language disorder. International Journal of Language & Communication Disorders, 56(4), 784-796. https://doi.org/10.1111/1460-6984.12627
Chiat, S. (1983). Why Mikey’s right and my key’s wrong: The significance of stress and word boundaries in a child’s output system. Cognition, 14 (3), 275–300. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(83)90007-0
Clin, E., Wade-Woolley, L., y Heggie, L. (2009). Prosodic sensitivity and morphological awareness in children’s reading. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 104(2), 197–213. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2009.05.005
Critten, S., Holliman, A. J., Hughes, D. J., Wood, C., Cunnane, H., Pillinger, C., y Deacon, S. H. (2021). A longitudinal investigation of prosodic sensitivity and emergent literacy. Reading and Writing, 34(2), 371–389. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-020-10077-7
Cuetos, F., Arribas, D., Suárez-Coalla, P., y Martínez-García, C. (2020). PROLEXIA. Diagnóstico y detección temprana de la dislexia. TEA Ediciones.
Cutler, A., y Mehler, J. (1993). The periodicity bias. Journal of Phonetics, 21, 103–108. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0095-4470(19)31323-3
Dauer, R.M. (1983). Stress-timing and syllable-timing reanalyzed. Journal of Phonetics, 11, 51–62. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0095-4470(19)30776-4
David, D., Wade-Woolley, L., Kirby, J. R., y Smithrim, K. (2007). Rhythm and reading development in school-age children: A longitudinal study. Journal of Research in Reading, 30, 169–183. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2006.00323.x
Deacon, S. H., Holliman, A. J., Dobson, G. J., y Harrison, E. C. J. (2018). Assessing direct contributions of morphological awareness and prosodic sensitivity to children’s word reading and reading comprehension. Scientific Studies of Reading, 22, 527–534. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2018.1483376
Defior, S. (1996). Assessment of phonological skills: A classification and some ideas on how to improve them. Journal for the Study of Education and Development, 19(73), 49-63. https://doi.org/10.1174/02103709660560546
Defior, S., Fonseca, L., Gottheil, B., Aldrey, A., Jiménez-Fernández, G., Pujals, M., et al. (2006). Test LEE: Lectura y Escritura en Español. Paidós
Defior, S., Gutiérrez-Palma, N., y Cano-Marín, M. J. (2012). Prosodic awarenessskills and literacy acquisition in Spanish. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 41,285–294. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10936-011-9192-0
Defior, S., Jiménez-Fernández, G., Calet, N. y Serrano, F. (2015). Learning to read and write in Spanish: phonology in addition to which other processes? Estudios de Psicología, 36, 571-591. https://doi.org/10.1080/02109395.2015.1078552
Defior, S., y Serrano, F. (2011). La conciencia fonémica, aliada de la adquisición del lenguaje escrito. Revista de Logopedia, Foniatría y Audiología, 31(1), 2-13. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0214-4603(11)70165-6
Defior, S., y Tudela, P. (1994). Effect of phonological training on reading and writing acquisition. Reading and Writing. An Interdisciplinary Journal, 6, 299–320. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF01027087
Dellatolas, G., Watier, L., Le Normand, M.-T., Lubart, T., y Chevrie-Muller, C. (2009). Rhythm reproduction in kindergarten, reading performance at second grade, and developmental dyslexia theories. Archives of Clinical Neuropsychology, 24, 555–563. https://doi.org/10.1093/arclin/acp044
Deterding, D. (2012). Issues in the Acoustic Measurement of Rhythm. In: Romero-Trillo, J. (eds) Pragmatics and Prosody in English Language Teaching. Educational Linguistics, vol 15. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-007-3883-6_2
Domínguez, A.B., Alegría, J., Carrillo, M., y Soriano, J. (2013). PEALE: Prueba de Evaluación Analítica de Lenguaje Escrita. Universidad de Salamanca. Número de asiento registral: 00/2013/40/67.
Dupoux, E., Peperkamp, S., y Sebastián-Gallés, N. (2001). A robust method to study “stress deafness”. Journal of the Acoustic Society of America, 110, 1606–1618. https://doi.org/10.1121/1.1380437
Ehri, L. C., Nunes, S. R., Stahl, S. A., y Willows, D. M. (2001). Systematic phonics instruction helps students learn to read: Evidence from the National Reading Panel’s meta-analysis. Review of Educational Research, 71(3), 393–447. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543071003393
Enderby, J. L., Carroll, J. M., Tarczynski-Bowles, M. L., y Breadmore, H. L. (2021). The roles of morphology, phonology, and prosody in reading and spelling multisyllabic words. Applied Psycholinguistics, 42(4), 865–885. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1017/ S0142 71642 10000 96
Flanagan, S., Wilson, A. M., Gabrielczyk, F. C., MacFarlane, A., Mandke, K. N., y Goswami, U. (2024). Amplitude rise time sensitivity in children with and without dyslexia: differential task effects and longitudinal relations to phonology and literacy. Frontiers in Psychology, 15, 1245589. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2024.1245589
González-Trujillo, M. C., Calet, N., Defior, S., y Gutiérrez-Palma, N. (2014). Scale of reading fluency in Spanish: measuring the components of fluency/Escala de fluidez lectora en español: midiendo los componentes de la fluidez. Studies in Psychology, 35(1), 104-136. https://doi.org/10.1080/02109395.2014.893651
Goodman, I., Libenson, A., y Wade-Woolley, L. (2010). Sensitivity to linguistic stress, phonological awareness and early reading ability in preschoolers. Journal of Research in Reading, 33(2), 113–127. https:// doi.org/10.1111/j.1467- 9817.2009. 01423.x
Goswami, U., Gerson, D., y Astruc, L. (2010). Amplitude envelope perception, phonology and prosodic sensitivity in children with developmental dyslexia. Reading and Writing, 23, 995–1019. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-009-9186-6
Goswami, U., Mead, N., Fosker, T., Huss, M., Barnes, L., y Leong, V. (2013). Impaired perception of syllable stress in children with dyslexia: A longitudinal study. Journal of Memory and Language, 69(1), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2013.03.001
Goswami, U., Thomson, J., Richardson, U., Stainthorp, R., Hughes, D., Rosen, S., y Scott, S. K. (2002). Amplitude envelope onsets and developmental dyslexia: A new hypothesis. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 99, 10911–10916. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.122368599
González-Alba, B., y Calet, N. (2021). El papel de las habilidades prosódicas en el trastorno del desarrollo del lenguaje. Un estudio de caso. Revista de Investigación en Logopedia, 11, n.º especial, 63-76. https://doi.org/10.5209/rlog.70609
Gutiérrez-Palma, N., Calet, N., Robles-Bello, M.A. y Valencia-Naranjo, N. (2025). The role of rhythm in learning to read in children with and without reading difficulties: an intervention study. (Manuscrito en revisión).
Gutiérrez-Palma, N., Defior, S., Jiménez-Fernández, G., Serrano, F., y González-Trujillo, M. C. (2016). Lexical stress awareness and orthographic stress in Spanish. Learning and Individual Differences, 45, 144–150. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2015.11.026
Gutiérrez-Palma, N., y Palma-Reyes, A. (2007). Stress sensitivity and reading performance in Spanish: A study with children. Journal of Research in Reading, 30(2), 157–168. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2007.00339.x.
Gutiérrez-Palma, N., y Palma-Reyes, A. (2008). On the use of lexical stress in reading Spanish. Reading & Writing, 21, 645–660. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-007-9082-x
Gutiérrez-Palma, N., Raya, M., y Palma, A. (2009). Detecting stress patterns is related to children’s performance on reading tasks. Applied Psycholinguistics, 30, 1-21. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716408090012.
Gutiérrez-Palma, N., Valencia Naranjo, N., Justicia-Galiano, M. J., y Carpio Fernández, M. V. (2019). Beyond phonological awareness: Stress awareness and learning word spelling. Learning and Individual Differences, 74. https://doi.org/1.1016/j.lindif.2019.101755
Harrison, E., Wood, C., Holliman, A. J., y Vousden, J. I. (2018). The immediate and longer-term effectiveness of a speech-rhythm-based reading intervention for beginning readers. Journal of Research in Reading, 41(1), 220–241. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9817.12126
Hatcher, P.J. (2000). Sound links in reading and spelling with discrepancy-defined dyslexics and children with moderate learning difficulties. Reading and Writing 13, 257–272. https://doi.org/10.1023/A:1026486500271
Holliman, A.J. (2016). Speech rhythm sensitivity in pre-readers: What role does it have in reading acquisition? (Main Report). Nuffield Foundation. Available from: http://www.nuffieldfoundation.org/sites/default/files/files/Publicly_Available_ Report_AJHolliman_Feb_2016.pdf
Holliman, A.J., Critten, S., Lawrence, T., Harrison, E., Wood, C., y Hughes. D.J. (2014). Modeling the relationship between prosodic sensitivity and early literacy. Reading Research Quarterly, 49 (4): 469-482. http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1002/rrq.82/abstract
Holliman, A.J., Gutiérrez Palma, N., Critten, S., Wood, C., Cunnane, H. y Pillinger, C. (2017). Examining the independent contribution of prosodic sensitivity to word reading and spelling in early readers. Reading & Writing, 30, 509–521. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-016-9687-z
Holliman, A. J., Williams, G. J., Mundy, I., Wood, C., Hart, L., y Waldron, S. (2014). Beginning to disentangle the prosody-literacy relationship: A multi-component measure of prosodic sensitivity. Reading and Writing, 27(2), 255–266. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-013-9443-6.
Holliman, A.J., Wood, C., y Sheehy, K. (2008). Sensitivity to speech rhythm explains individual differences in reading ability independently of phonological awareness. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 26(3), 357–367, https://doi.org/10.1348/026151007X241623
Holliman, A. J., Wood, C., y Sheehy, K. (2010). Does speech rhythm sensitivity predict children's reading ability 1 year later? Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(2), 356–366. https://doi.org/10.1037/a0018049
Holliman, A. J., Wood, C., y Sheehy, K. (2012). A cross-sectional study of prosodic sensitivity and reading difficulties. Journal of Research in Reading, 35(1), 32–48. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2010.01459.x.
Jarmulowicz, L., Taran, V. L., y Hay, S. E. (2007). Third graders' metalinguistic skills, reading skills, and stress production in derived English words. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 50(6), 1593–1605. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2007/107)
Jiménez-Fernández, G., Gutiérrez-Palma, N., y Defior, S. (2015). Impaired stress awareness in Spanish children with developmental dyslexia. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 37, 152–161. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2014.11.002.
Jiménez-Fernández, G., Pérez, S. R., Martínez-López, A., Lendínez, C., de la Peña, J. A., y Calet, N. (2024, May 13). Tarea de procesamiento prosódico a nivel de frase (Phrase-level prosodic processing task). Retrieved from osf.io/zrcbk
Kim, Y.-S. G., y Petscher, Y. (2016). Prosodic sensitivity and reading: An investigation of pathways of relations using a latent variable approach. Journal of Educational Psychology, 108, 630–645. http://doi.org/10.1037/edu0000078
Kitzen, K. (2001). Prosodic sensitivity, morphological ability, and reading ability in young adults with and without childhood histories of reading difficulty. Unpublished doctoral dissertation, University of Colombia, Colombia.
Leong, V., Hämäläinen, J., Soltész, F., y Goswami, U. (2011). Rise time perception and detection of syllable stress in adults with developmental dyslexia. Journal of Memory and Language, 64(1), 59–73. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jml.2010.09.003
Lundetræ, K., y Thomson, J. M. (2018). Rhythm production at school entry as a predictor of poor reading and spelling at the end of first grade. Reading and Writing, 31(1), 215–237. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-017-9782-9
Marshall, C. R., Harcourt-Brown, S., y van der Lely, H.K. J. (2009). The link between
prosody and language skills in children with specific language impairment (SLI) and/or dyslexia. International Journal of Language and Communication Disorders, 44(4), 466–488. https://doi.org/10.1080/13682820802591643
Martínez-Castilla, P., y Peppé, S. (2008). Developing a test of prosodic ability for speakers of Iberian Spanish. Speech Communication, 50, 900-915. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.specom.2008.03.002
Melby-Lervåg, M., Lyster, S.-A., y Hulme, C. (2012). Phonological skills and their role in learning to read: A meta-analytic review. Psychological Bulletin, 138(2), 322–352. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1037/a0026 744
Metsala, J.L. (1999). Young children’s phonological awareness and nonword repetition as a function of vocabulary development. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 3 – 19. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.91.1.3
Miller, J., y Schwanenflugel, P. J. (2008). A longitudinal study of the development of reading prosody as a dimension of oral reading fluency in early elementary school children. Reading Research Quarterly, 43(4), 336e354. http://dx.doi.org/10.1598/RRQ.43.4.2.
Mundy, I. R., y Carroll, J. M. (2016). Which prosodic skills are related to reading ability in adulthood? In J. M. Thomson y L. Jarmulowicz (Eds.), Trends in language acquisition research: linguistic rhythm and literacy chapter 3 (pp. 51–76). John Benjamins Publishing Company
Mundy, I.R., y Wood, C. (2024). Prosody and developmental dyslexia: a meta-analysis. Reading & Writing, https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-024-10610-y
Nash, R., y Arciuli, J. (2016). Prosodic awareness is related to reading ability in children with autism spectrum disorders. Journal of Research in Reading, 39, 72–87. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-9817.12033
National Reading Panel (NRP). (2000). Teaching children to read: An evidence-based assessment of the scientific research literature on reading and its implications for reading instruction. National Institute of Child Health and Human Development.
Peppé, S., Martínez-Castilla, P., Coene, M., Hesling, I., Moen, I., y Gibbon, F. (2010). Assessing prosodic disorder in five European languages. International Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, 12(1), 1-7. https://doi.org/10.3109/17549500903093731
Peppé, S., y McCann, J. (2003). Assessing intonation and prosody in children with atypical language development: The PEPS–C test and the revised version. Clinical Linguistics and Phonetics, 17, 345–354. https://doi.org/10.1080/0269920031000079994
Perfetti, C., y Stafura, J. (2014). Word knowledge in a theory of reading comprehension, Scientific Studies of Reading, 18, 22–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2013.827687
Pierrehumbert, J. B. (2003). Phonetic Diversity, Statistical Learning, and Acquisition of Phonology. Language and Speech, 46(2-3), 115-154. https://doi.org/10.1177/00238309030460020501
Ramos, J. L. y Cuadrado, I. (2006). Prueba para la Evaluación del Conocimiento Fonológico. PECO. EOS.
Snowling, M. J. (2000). Language and literacy skills: Who is at risk and why?. In D. V. M. Bishop, y L. B. Leonard (Eds.), Speech and language impairment in children: Causes, characteristics, interventions and outcome. Hove, UK: Psychology Press.
Soriano, M., Miranda, A., Soriano, E., Nievas, F., y Félix, V. (2011). Examining the Efficacy of an Intervention to Improve Fluency and Reading Comprehension in Spanish Children with Reading Disabilities. International Journal of Disability, Development and Education, 58(1), 47–59. https://doi.org/10.1080/1034912X.2011.547349
Speer, S. R., y Ito, K. (2009). Prosody in first language acquisition – Acquiring intonation as a tool to organize information in conversation. Language and Linguistics Compass, 3(1), 90–110. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1749-818X.2008.00103.x
Thomson, J. M., Fryer, B., Maltby, J., y Goswami, U. (2006). Auditory and motor rhythm awareness in adults with dyslexia. Dyslexia, 12(3), 166-192. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2006.00312.x
Thomson, J., y Jarmulowicz, L. (2016). Linguistic rhythm and literacy. John Benjamins Publishing.
Thomson, J., Leong, V., y Goswami, U. (2013). Auditory processing interventions and developmental dyslexia: A comparison of phonemic and rhythmic approaches. Reading and Writing: An Interdisciplinary Journal, 26(2), 139–161. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-012-9359-6
Torgesen, J.K., Alexander, A.W., Wagner, R.K., Rashotte, C.A., Voeller, K.K., y Conway, T., (2001). Intensive remedial instruction for children with severe reading disabilities: Immediate and long-term outcomes from two instructional approaches. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 34, 33–58. https://doi.org/10.1177/002221940103400104
Valencia-Naranjo, N., Calet, N., Robles-Bello, MA., y Gutiérrez-Palma, N. (2024). On the role of non-linguistic rhythm skills in the early stages of formal learning to read. Revista de psicodidáctica, 29(2), 166-175. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psicod.2024.04.001
van der Meulen, S., Janssen, P., y den Os, E. (1997). Prosodic abilities in children with specific language impairment. Journal of Communication Disorders, 30, 155-170. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0021-9924(96)00059-7
Wade-Woolley, L., y Heggie, L. (2016). The contributions of prosodic and phonological awareness to reading: A review. In J. M. Thomson y L. Jarmulowicz (Eds.), Linguistic rhythm and literacy (pp. 3–23). Amsterdam, NL: John Benjamins Publishing Company.
Wade-Woolley, L., y Wood, C. (2006). Editorial: Prosodic sensitivity and reading development. Journal of Research in Reading, 29(3), 253–257. https:// doi. org/ 10. 1111/j. 14679 817. 2006. 00306.x
Wade-Woolley, L., Wood, C., Chan, J., y Weidman, S. (2022). Prosodic competence as the missing component of reading processes across languages: Theory, evidence and future research. Scientific Studies of Reading, 26(2), 165–181. https:// doi.org/ 10. 1080/10888 438. 2021.19953 90
Wells, B., y Peppé, S. (2003). Intonation abilities of children with speech and language impairments. Journal of Speech, Language and Hearing Research, 46, 5-20. https://doi.org/10.1044/1092-4388(2003/001)
Whalley, K., y Hansen, J. (2006). The role of prosodic sensitivity in children’s reading development. Journal of Research in Reading, 29(3), 288-303. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467-9817.2006.00309.x
Wood, C. (2006). Metrical stress sensitivity in young children and its relationship to phonological awareness and reading. Journal of Research in Reading, 29(3), 270-287. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1467- 9817.2006.00308.x
Wood, C., y Terrell, C. (1998). Poor readers’ ability to detect speech rhythm and perceive rapid speech. The British Journal of Developmental
Article download
Crossmark
License
In order to support the global exchange of knowledge, the journal Revista de Investigación en Logopedia is allowing unrestricted access to its content as from its publication in this electronic edition, and as such it is an open-access journal. The originals published in this journal are the property of the Complutense University of Madrid and any reproduction thereof in full or in part must cite the source. All content is distributed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 use and distribution licence (CC BY 4.0). This circumstance must be expressly stated in these terms where necessary. You can view the summary and the complete legal text of the licence.
