Ears, eyes & voices: Rhythm in early reading development

When did you last feel your ears ‘pop’ and lose the familiar connection with the sound of your own voice? This happens to me fairly frequently on flights. Adapting to the muffled world of partial hearing is quite intriguing, as it offers a rare glimpse into what my brain is doing behind the scenes while I’m having a simple conversation. Of course, I’m always extremely grateful when my hearing returns to normal again.

Our awareness of speech

Our awareness of speech is organised for the most part around our perception of sound. This is probably why our awareness of the rapid changes in jaw movements or the movements of facial muscle groups necessary for the articulation of words and phrases, is suppressed while we are speaking. Consequently, losing the sound of our own voice is extremely disruptive to normal speech because the way we experience our articulatory system changes in a fundamental way.

If like me you’ve tried to persevere with a conversation in the absence of normal levels of sound perception, you may have experienced that the movement sensations of facial muscles and the jaw are no longer suppressed. Rather, the perception of the facial muscles is in the foreground, revealing in detail, the intricate facial shapes necessary for the formation of syllables and words.

Even though the power of speech feels far slower and more effortful in the absence of sound, it’s still possible to continue speaking by monitoring a sense of the rhythmic patterning of the jaw and movements of the facial muscles.

The role of rhythm

In my opinion, this strange situation shows rather beautifully that rhythm unifies our intentions and the coordination of fine muscle movements that allow us to communicate, and it is also remarkable to discover the extent that rhythm mediates communication, during the temporary disruption to the auditory system.

Losing the sound of my own voice on a recent flight made me realise how tiring communication can be, if the sounds of language are unclear when they are relayed from the voice to the auditory system. It also indicated the importance of the role of rhythm, both for anticipating and also monitoring the syllables that I produced while I was speaking. Let’s bring this back to early reading.

Early reading development

The development of early reading depends on efficient coordination between the ear and the eye. After all, strong associations between letters and their sounds enable children to learn to recognise words on the page. Voices matter too. Educators have realised that poor oral language skills are a strong predictor of poor literacy (Stackhouse & Well, 1997) and that socially disadvantaged children are more likely to lag behind in their vocabulary development when compared with their classmates (Fernauld et al, 2013).

Problems and their solutions

It is not enough to identify problems. To help these children overcome the challenges that they face, a solution is needed and they require a reading intervention programme. A rhythm-based solution works with the deepest structures of communication. Indeed, research indicates that sharpening rhythmic awareness supports children’s ability to (1) process the sounds of language (Long, 2016), (2) perceive the sounds of language, and (3) read more fluently and with greater understanding (Long, 2014).

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REFERENCES

Fernald, A, Marksman, A & Weisleder, A (2013) SES differences in language processing skill and vocabulary are evident at 18 months. Developmental science 16, (2) pp. 234-248.

Long, M. (2016) Rhythm for Reading, English 4-11, 56, pp. 5-6

Long, M. (2014) “I can read further and there’s more meaning while I read” An exploratory study investigating the impact of a rhythm-based music intervention on children’s reading Research Studies in Music Education, vol. 36, no. 1, pp.107-124

Stackhouse, J. & Well, B. (1997) Children’s Speech and Literacy Difficulties: A psycholinguistic framework. London: Whurr.