The roles of morphology, phonology, and prosody in reading and spelling multisyllabic words

While most English words are multisyllabic, research on literacy acquisition has tended to focus on early acquisition of monosyllabic words. The processes involved in multisyllabic word reading and spelling in middle childhood are likely to differ from those in monosyllabic reading and spelling. The current paper examines the contributions of morphological awareness (MA; awareness of derivational morphemes), prosodic sensitivity (sensitivity to lexical stress), and phonological awareness (PA; awareness of phonemes) for multisyllabic word reading and spelling, after accounting for background variables (age, vocabulary, nonverbal IQ, short-term memory). Seventy 7–10-year-old children completed a battery of tasks. MA and prosodic sensitivity were independent predictors of multisyllabic reading, while MA and PA were independent predictors of multisyllabic spelling. These results contrast with previous research, which instead found that PA plays a more prominent role while prosodic sensitivity appears to demonstrate only an indirect influence. However, those studies largely examined reading of shorter, one to three syllable words. These findings indicate when words are longer and multisyllabic, prosodic sensitivity, PA, and MA have differing direct influences on literacy. MA and prosodic sensitivity relate to word reading, while MA and PA are important for spelling.

Prosodic sensitivity and reading fluency of musicians and non-musicians

This study investigates the effects of prosodic sensitivity on reading. Highly capable adult musicians (i.e., persons with potentially excellent prosodic skills) and non-musicians were compared in terms of prosodic sensitivity and reading. Furthermore, the study examines possible reciprocal effects of prosodic sensitivity and reading. Sixty native German-speaking university students, musicians (n = 30) and non-musicians (n = 30), completed three measures of prosodic sensitivity on the sentence level. In addition, word and nonword reading were tested. To check for possible reciprocal effects of prosodic sensitivity and reading, groups of musicians and non-musicians matched on the reading level as well as the prosodic sensitivity level were compared. The results showed that musicians outperformed non-musicians in two of the three prosodic sensitivity measures and both reading measures. Considering subgroup analysis this seems to indicate a non-reciprocal effect of prosodic sensitivity on reading. Moreover, when controlling for phonological awareness, prosodic sensitivity showed a unique effect on reading in the whole sample. Based on the results, we argue that good prosodic sensitivity can facilitate reading performance.

Morphological Awareness and Prosodic Sensitivity in the Development of Advanced Reading Skills

That language abilities and literacy abilities are intrinsically linked is a well-founded conclusion, driven by the past three decades of research examining reading development. Although the effects of phonological awareness (PA) - the conscious ability to manipulate the sound structure of one’s native language - in developing successful early reading skills are well-known, its predictive abilities attenuate rapidly as development progresses. Accordingly, more recent research has also examined the influence that other linguistic skills present. The present study examines how morphological awareness (MA) - the conscious understanding of how words can be created by using different morphemes, the meaningful units of language - and prosodic sensitivity (PS) - the perception of how stress patterns in English can change the meaning of a word or phrase - affect the reading skills of children in grades 3, 5, and 7 from the Kingston area. Each child was given three batteries of tests, comprised to measure the child’s abilities in reading, MA, PS, PA, language comprehension, memory, general intelligence, and other skills. Our results show that both morphological awareness and prosodic sensitivity are significant predictors of reading skills, above and beyond the significance of phonological awareness, and after controlling for other skills such as memory and intelligence. Such findings are critical to improving our understanding of how reading ability develops in children and how we as researchers may be of aid to improving the skills of children struggling to learn literacy skills.