The role of rhythm in learning to read in children with and without reading difficulties: an intervention study

IF 5.7 1区教育学 Q1 EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH

Learning and Instruction Pub Date : 2026-04-01 Epub Date: 2025-12-02 DOI:10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102273

Nicolás Gutiérrez-Palma , Nuria Calet , María Auxiliadora Robles-Bello , Nieves Valencia-Naranjo

{"title":"The role of rhythm in learning to read in children with and without reading difficulties: an intervention study","authors":"Nicolás Gutiérrez-Palma , Nuria Calet , María Auxiliadora Robles-Bello , Nieves Valencia-Naranjo","doi":"10.1016/j.learninstruc.2025.102273","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<div><h3>Background</h3><div>Recent research indicates that rhythm can influence the development of phonological awareness and, thus, the learning to read.</div></div><div><h3>Aims</h3><div>This work aimed to test the relationship between rhythm and reading in Spanish through an intervention study in children with and without reading difficulties.</div></div><div><h3>Methods</h3><div>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.</div></div><div><h3>Results</h3><div>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.</div></div><div><h3>Conclusions</h3><div>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.</div></div>","PeriodicalId":48357,"journal":{"name":"Learning and Instruction","volume":"102 ","pages":"Article 102273"},"PeriodicalIF":5.7000,"publicationDate":"2026-04-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Learning and Instruction","FirstCategoryId":"95","ListUrlMain":"https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0959475225001975","RegionNum":1,"RegionCategory":"教育学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2025/12/2 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q1","JCRName":"EDUCATION & EDUCATIONAL RESEARCH","Score":null,"Total":0}

引用次数: 0

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.

查看原文本刊更多论文

节奏在有和无阅读困难儿童学习阅读中的作用：一项干预研究

最近的研究表明，节奏可以影响语音意识的发展，从而影响阅读的学习。目的本研究旨在通过对有和无阅读困难儿童的干预研究来测试西班牙语节奏和阅读之间的关系。方法采用前测/后测设计，对131名小学一年级儿童（其中29名有阅读困难）进行研究，根据他们是否接受语音意识、节奏训练或语音意识和节奏训练，将他们随机分为三组。对于节奏训练，练习的基础是用音节“la”再现一个或多个单词的重读音节和非重读音节的顺序。在语音意识组和节奏组中，还进行了数学练习。结果各训练组儿童阅读能力均有提高。对整个样本的中介分析表明，节奏通过语音意识与单词阅读有关。此外，没有困难的儿童在语音意识方面有所提高，但在节奏训练组中提高的程度更大。有困难的儿童在阅读假词方面有所改善，但只有在语音意识或节奏分开训练时才会有所改善。结论节奏训练对语音意识的发展有促进作用。对于有阅读困难的孩子，节奏训练可能有助于提高对新单词的阅读，但应该与语音意识分开进行。

本文章由计算机程序翻译，如有差异，请以英文原文为准。

求助全文

约1分钟内获得全文求助全文

来源期刊

Learning and Instruction Multiple-

CiteScore

11.30

自引率

4.80%

发文量

109

期刊介绍： As an international, multi-disciplinary, peer-refereed journal, Learning and Instruction provides a platform for the publication of the most advanced scientific research in the areas of learning, development, instruction and teaching. The journal welcomes original empirical investigations. The papers may represent a variety of theoretical perspectives and different methodological approaches. They may refer to any age level, from infants to adults and to a diversity of learning and instructional settings, from laboratory experiments to field studies. The major criteria in the review and the selection process concern the significance of the contribution to the area of learning and instruction, and the rigor of the study.