Printed Intonation Cues and Reading in Children

Abstract

Eighty third- and fourth-graders read one of four types of printed texts: standard print; print in which word size was varied to reflect aspects of speech information (three stress-pitch levels); print in which word size reflected differences in the grammatical form class of words; and print in which word size was varied randomly. Reading speed and comprehension with standard print were compared to performances with each of the other texts. Results revealed that the intoned text was read faster than the standard text by third-graders but not by fourth-grades. No other major effects were observed. Findings though preliminary are consistent with the view that less experienced readers transform graphic to aural input before deriving a semantic interpretation.