INFORMATION

Psicothema was founded in Asturias (northern Spain) in 1989, and is published jointly by the Psychology Faculty of the University of Oviedo and the Psychological Association of the Principality of Asturias (Colegio Oficial de Psicología del Principado de Asturias).
We currently publish four issues per year, which accounts for some 100 articles annually. We admit work from both the basic and applied research fields, and from all areas of Psychology, all manuscripts being anonymously reviewed prior to publication.

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  • Director: Laura E. Gómez Sánchez
  • Frequency:
         February | May | August | November
  • ISSN: 0214-9915
  • Digital Edition:: 1886-144X
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Reading Competency, Speech Rate and Rhythm

Ariel Cuadro1, Alvaro Mailhos2, Ignacio Estevan2, and Francisco Martínez-Sánchez3


1 Universidad Católica del Uruguay, 2 Universidad de la República, and 3 Universidad de Murcia

Background: There is increasing evidence defining reading competency in terms of accuracy, speed and prosody, as well as interest in gaining better understanding of the interrelation as a function of prosodic features. This study aims to analyze the relationship between reading competency, in terms of accuracy and speed of written word recognition, and two attributes related to prosody in oral reading of texts: speech rate and rhythm. Method: Oral reading of a narrative text by 141 third and fourth grade Spanish-speaking students was analyzed using an automated acoustic speech procedure and their reading competency was assessed. Results: Reading proficiency was associated with a lower proportion of the number and duration of pauses and greater regularity of syllable intervals, resulting in a higher rate of speech and higher regularity of rhythm. The reading experience improves rhythmic reading with some independence from the levels of automation achieved in written word recognition. Conclusions: The results suggest that when there is greater reading competence there is greater speed and rhythmic expressiveness; this improves with reading experience when a sufficient level of automation has been achieved in reading access.

Competencia Lectora, Fluidez y Ritmo. Antecedentes: cada vez más evidencias define la competencia lectora en términos de precisión, velocidad y prosodia;  así hay interés en  comprender esa relación en función de los rasgos prosódicos que se consideren. Este estudio  analiza la relación entre precisión y velocidad de reconocimiento de la palabra escrita y dos atributos relacionados con la prosodia en la lectura oral de textos: la velocidad y el ritmo del habla. Método: se analizó la lectura oral de un texto narrativo de 141 estudiantes de habla hispana de tercer y cuarto grado de primaria mediante un procedimiento acústico automatizado del habla, evaluada su competencia lectora. Resultados: la competencia lectora se asocia con una menor proporción en el número y duración de las pausas y con una mayor regularidad de los intervalos silábicos, lo que produce mayor tasa de habla y una mayor regularidad del ritmo. La experiencia lectora mejora la lectura rítmica con cierta independencia  de los niveles de automatización alcanzado en el reconocimiento de la palabra escrita. Conclusiones: los resultados sugieren que cuando hay una mayor competencia lectora hay  mayor velocidad y expresividad rítmica; que mejora con la experiencia lectora cuando se ha logrado un nivel suficiente de automatización en el acceso lector.

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Impact Factor JCR SSCI Clarivate 2023 = 3.2 (Q1) / CiteScore SCOPUS 2023 = 6.5 (Q1)