Acoustic characteristics of resyllabification process in Korean

Purpose: This study aims to analyze acoustic characteristics of Korean words and nonwords according to resyllabification and meaningfulness.Methods: The experimental data consisted of 10 homonyms and 10 corresponding words. Computerized Speech Lab (CSL) 4150B was used in a quiet place for recording. Moreover, the randomized word list was presented to 20 subjects, and they were asked to read naturally as if they were talking comfortably to the subjects. The analysis program was Praat 6151 win 64bit (Boersma & Weenink, 2021). Pitch, intensity, and duration of the words and the first and the second syllables were measured, and the resyllabification liaison rules and resyllabification influenced them. To investigate acoustic characteristics according to resyllabification, independent sample t-test and multivariate test were conducted using SPSS 26 for the statistical processing of a syllable’s pitch, intensity, and duration changes.Results: First, there was a significant difference between the groups in post-syllable pitch ratio in words and nonwords, which was 40s–50s pitch change was greater than that of 20s–30s. Second, the post-syllable pitch ratio was a significant difference between gender groups and according to the effect of the liaison rule. Third, the post-syllable duration ratio showed a significant difference between age groups. The post-syllable pitch ratio was a significant difference according to the effect of the liaison rule.Conclusions: Therefore, when resyllabifications are generated by the liaison rule, the change of the post-syllable pitch can be explained by the focus prosody, and further research will be needed to establish a solid basis for this study.

Reading Comprehension Strategy Instruction and Attribution Retraining for Secondary Students With Learning and Other Mild Disabilities

A pre-post experimental design with 6-week delayed posttest was implemented to investigate the effects of reading comprehension strategy (RCS) instruction with and without attribution retraining (AR) on reading outcomes for seventh, eighth, and ninth graders with learning and other mild disabilities. Students were randomly assigned to one of three treatments: RCS+AR, RCS, or a Read Naturally (Ihnot, 1992) comparison condition. Results indicated that compared to the comparison group, both strategy instruction groups performed better on a summarization measure of comprehension after treatment producing large effect sizes. Both groups also performed better after a 6-week delay; however, only the RCS+AR group maintained a large effect size. In addition, RCS+AR students displayed higher attributions for reading success at post- and delayed posttesting. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

Phonics for the Aboriginal Classroom

Much has been said and written by the reading specialists about the way children learn to read and how teachers should be facilitators in this natural process. Frank Smith says that phonics need not be taught in the classroom; in fact he says it makes the learning to read process more difficult for children (Smith 1973, p.185).Phonics or grapho-phonics tells a reader and writer how spelling patterns relate to sound sequences (Reed 1977, p.393). Whether phonics is taught incidentally on a one-to-one basis or whether it is taught more formally, I believe phonics does have a place in the classroom today, particularly in the bilingual Aboriginal classroom. Teachers of Aboriginal children should feel free to teach phonics, despite what the specialists say.Much that has been written relates to native English-speaking children, brought up in a literate society where newspapers and bedtime stories are the norm. In this paper I am concerned with non-English speaking tribal Aboriginal children, in a pre-literate society. They attend bilingual schools where they learn to read and write first in the vernacular and then in English. I will point out that what the reading specialists advocate in learning to read naturally, is not always sound advice for tribal Aboriginal children learning to read and write in the vernacular.