All About Prosody: What It Is, Why It's Important
Prosody
Last week we discussed what reading fluency means in reading and how we measure fluency. This week’s post will take a deeper look into prosody.
What is prosody?
Why do we need to focus on it when teaching reading to students? Prosody is the aspect of language that deals with the rhythm, stress, and intonation of words in a sentence. Students need to develop strong prosodic skills because this is what helps them convey a meaning when they speak. In addition, good prosody can make their speech more intelligible to others.
So let’s take a closer look at what prosody is and how we can help our students improve their skills!
What is Prosody?
As discussed last week, prosody is how one reads aloud with expression, intonation, etc. It’s the music of reading. Good prosody allows readers to read with proper phrasing, intonation, and stress on words. This is important because it enables the reader to understand better what they are reading and makes the text sound more natural when spoken aloud.
The Six Components of Prosody
Each of these components plays an essential role in conveying meaning through speech. By understanding and utilizing these tools, readers can improve their fluency and comprehension when reading aloud.
There are six components of prosody that we need to be aware of when teaching reading:
- Phrasing refers to how a sentence is divided into smaller chunks. Good phrasing helps the reader understand the meaning of the text and makes it sound more natural when spoken aloud.
- Intonation: This is the rise and fall of the voice when reading aloud.
- Stress: Certain words in a sentence are emphasized more than others.
- Rhythm: refers to how words are stressed and unstressed when spoken aloud. A good rhythm can help the reader to understand the meaning of the text and also makes it sound more pleasant to listen to
- Pause: Refers to the interruption, voiced or unvoiced, that a reader uses to separate chunks or to help enhance the context.
- Pace or tempo: This refers to the speed at which the words are read aloud. A good pace can help the reader understand the text and make it sound more natural when spoken aloud. Speeding up or slowing down to add context to the passage.
Why is Prosody Important?
Now that we have a better understanding of prosody let’s discuss why it’s so important. As we mentioned before, prosody helps readers understand the text’s meaning better. In addition, good prosody can make speech more intelligible to others.
When students can read with prosody, they are better able to convey the meaning of the text. This is because prosody helps to emphasize certain words and phrases. For example, if a student wanted to emphasize the word “not” in the sentence “I did not eat the cookie,” they would need to use stress. By stressing the word “not,” the student emphasizes the meaning of the sentence. Without prosody, the listener and the reader may miss the term “not” and have a completely different understanding of the passage.
Reading Prosody Aids Comprehension
Reading comprehension is a complex task that requires the reader to understand and remember a large amount of information. In addition, readers must be able to make connections between the text and their prior knowledge. This can be a difficult task, especially for young readers. However, research has shown that prosodic cues can help readers better comprehend the text.
The relationship between fluency and reading comprehension skills is complex. Still, it is generally accepted that fluency is a prerequisite for comprehension. In other words, readers must be able to read text quickly and accurately to understand it. However, recent research has shown that prosody—the way we read aloud with expression—is also vital for comprehension. Reading with the appropriate intonation, stress, and rhythm is essential for reading comprehension.
There are several reasons why fluency is essential for comprehension:
Fluent readers can focus their attention on the meaning of the text rather than on decoding individual words.
Fluency contributes to automatic word recognition, which frees up mental resources to understand the text.
Fluent readers tend to have better reading achievement overall.
These benefits of fluency underscore the importance of developing strong reading skills in early childhood.
Developing Reading Prosody
There are several ways that parents and teachers can help students develop reading prosody skills. One way is to provide students with opportunities to read aloud. This can be done in many ways, such as by having students read aloud to the class, in small groups, or individually to each other and having them practice reading aloud at home.
Modeling Fluent Reading with Good Prosody
We all know how essential reading aloud to our children is. When you read aloud to your child, use prosody extensively to help them understand and also to help them learn how to use prosody themselves. Here is another example of how our early readers can benefit.
Read Like You Are Speaking to Someone
In addition, it is crucial to provide feedback to students on their reading prosody. This can be done by listening to them read aloud and providing corrective feedback. Let them know if they are reading monotone with no expression or using poor prosody. Provide the input and perhaps read the passage as they read it to understand what it sounds like when there is poor prosody in their reading.
Stay Consistent and Practice
Prosody is an essential aspect of reading fluency that contributes to a reader’s understanding of the text. By providing opportunities for students to read aloud and giving feedback on their reading prosody, parents and teachers can help students improve their reading fluency skills. In addition, prosody can be developed through practice and modeling. Consistent practice and focus will improve these skills quickly and improve your child reading fluency and comprehension.
