The role of rhythm in learning to read in children with and without reading difficulties: an intervention study
Year: 2025
Type: article
Study designs: Randomized Controlled Trial, Clinical Trial
Abstract: Background Recent research indicates that rhythm can influence the development of phonological awareness and, thus, the learning to read. Aims This work aimed to test the relationship between rhythm and reading in Spanish through an intervention study in children with and without reading difficulties. Methods We used a pre-test/post-test design and worked with a sample of 131 children in the first year of primary education (29 with reading difficulties) who were randomly assigned to three groups, depending on whether they received training on phonological awareness, rhythm, or phonological awareness and rhythm. For rhythm training, exercises based on reproducing the sequence of stressed and unstressed syllables of one or more words using the syllable “la” were used. In the phonological awareness-only or rhythm-only groups, mathematical exercises were also used. Results The results indicated that children improved in word reading in all training groups. Mediation analyses with the whole sample suggested that rhythm was related to word reading through phonological awareness. Moreover, children without difficulties improved in phonological awareness, but to a greater extent in the groups where rhythm was trained. Children with difficulties improved in reading pseudowords, but only when phonological awareness or rhythm was trained separately. Conclusions These results suggest that rhythm training can facilitate the development of phonological awareness. For children with reading difficulties, rhythm training may be useful for improving the reading of novel words, but it should be done separately from phonological awareness.
Source: Learning and Instruction
Institutions: Universidad de Jaén, Universidad de Granada
Language: English
Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology
Field: Psychology
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: hybrid
Estimated APC paid: $4,580
OpenAlex ID: W4416920298