A Pilot Study Exploring Elementary School-Aged Children's Knowledge of the Syntactic and Prosodic Functions of Punctuation.
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| Title: | A Pilot Study Exploring Elementary School-Aged Children's Knowledge of the Syntactic and Prosodic Functions of Punctuation. |
|---|---|
| Authors: | Ardanouy, Estelle1 (AUTHOR) estelle.ardanouy@unige.ch, Ryken, Alexandra2 (AUTHOR), Deacon, S. Hélène2 (AUTHOR) |
| Source: | Reading Psychology. Nov/Dec2025, Vol. 46 Issue 8, p868-885. 18p. |
| Subject Terms: | *School children, *Academic achievement, *Intonation (Phonetics), *Reading comprehension, *Age groups, Punctuation, Pilot projects, Semantics (Philosophy) |
| Abstract: | Learning when and where to add punctuation is key to both skilled writing and fluent reading. We report on a pilot study explore why this is the case, exploring children's and adults' knowledge of the two functions of punctuation: syntactic and prosodic. There were five participant groups: children in Grades 2-3, Grades 4-5, Grades 6-7, Grades 8-9 and adults (n = 151). Participants chose which of six symbols, four of which were punctuation marks, served a given function. They did so for each of the two functions (i.e., syntactic or prosodic) of three punctuation marks (i.e., comma, period, question mark). An ANOVA contrasted performance on the two functions (syntactic or prosodic) across the five age groups. There were significant main effects of Group and of Function, with performance on the task increasing with grade group and higher scores on questions about syntactic than prosodic functions. There was also a significant interaction between the two factors; post-hoc analyses revealed stronger performance on syntactic than prosodic functions for all of groups of children, with similar performance on the two functions in adulthood. We discuss the implications of these findings for more comprehensive models of reading development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
| Copyright of Reading Psychology is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) | |
| Database: | Education Research Complete |
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| Header | DbId: ehh DbLabel: Education Research Complete An: 188316539 AccessLevel: 6 PubType: Academic Journal PubTypeId: academicJournal PreciseRelevancyScore: 0 |
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| Items | – Name: Title Label: Title Group: Ti Data: A Pilot Study Exploring Elementary School-Aged Children's Knowledge of the Syntactic and Prosodic Functions of Punctuation. – Name: Author Label: Authors Group: Au Data: <searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Ardanouy%2C+Estelle%22">Ardanouy, Estelle</searchLink><relatesTo>1</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<i> estelle.ardanouy@unige.ch</i><br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Ryken%2C+Alexandra%22">Ryken, Alexandra</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR)<br /><searchLink fieldCode="AR" term="%22Deacon%2C+S%2E+Hélène%22">Deacon, S. Hélène</searchLink><relatesTo>2</relatesTo> (AUTHOR) – Name: TitleSource Label: Source Group: Src Data: <searchLink fieldCode="JN" term="%22Reading+Psychology%22">Reading Psychology</searchLink>. Nov/Dec2025, Vol. 46 Issue 8, p868-885. 18p. – Name: Subject Label: Subject Terms Group: Su Data: *<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22School+children%22">School children</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Academic+achievement%22">Academic achievement</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Intonation+%28Phonetics%29%22">Intonation (Phonetics)</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Reading+comprehension%22">Reading comprehension</searchLink><br />*<searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Age+groups%22">Age groups</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Punctuation%22">Punctuation</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Pilot+projects%22">Pilot projects</searchLink><br /><searchLink fieldCode="DE" term="%22Semantics+%28Philosophy%29%22">Semantics (Philosophy)</searchLink> – Name: Abstract Label: Abstract Group: Ab Data: Learning when and where to add punctuation is key to both skilled writing and fluent reading. We report on a pilot study explore why this is the case, exploring children's and adults' knowledge of the two functions of punctuation: syntactic and prosodic. There were five participant groups: children in Grades 2-3, Grades 4-5, Grades 6-7, Grades 8-9 and adults (n = 151). Participants chose which of six symbols, four of which were punctuation marks, served a given function. They did so for each of the two functions (i.e., syntactic or prosodic) of three punctuation marks (i.e., comma, period, question mark). An ANOVA contrasted performance on the two functions (syntactic or prosodic) across the five age groups. There were significant main effects of Group and of Function, with performance on the task increasing with grade group and higher scores on questions about syntactic than prosodic functions. There was also a significant interaction between the two factors; post-hoc analyses revealed stronger performance on syntactic than prosodic functions for all of groups of children, with similar performance on the two functions in adulthood. We discuss the implications of these findings for more comprehensive models of reading development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] – Name: AbstractSuppliedCopyright Label: Group: Ab Data: <i>Copyright of Reading Psychology is the property of Taylor & Francis Ltd and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites without the copyright holder's express written permission. Additionally, content may not be used with any artificial intelligence tools or machine learning technologies. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract.</i> (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.) |
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| RecordInfo | BibRecord: BibEntity: Identifiers: – Type: doi Value: 10.1080/02702711.2025.2523045 Languages: – Code: eng Text: English PhysicalDescription: Pagination: PageCount: 18 StartPage: 868 Subjects: – SubjectFull: School children Type: general – SubjectFull: Academic achievement Type: general – SubjectFull: Intonation (Phonetics) Type: general – SubjectFull: Reading comprehension Type: general – SubjectFull: Age groups Type: general – SubjectFull: Punctuation Type: general – SubjectFull: Pilot projects Type: general – SubjectFull: Semantics (Philosophy) Type: general Titles: – TitleFull: A Pilot Study Exploring Elementary School-Aged Children's Knowledge of the Syntactic and Prosodic Functions of Punctuation. Type: main BibRelationships: HasContributorRelationships: – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Ardanouy, Estelle – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Ryken, Alexandra – PersonEntity: Name: NameFull: Deacon, S. Hélène IsPartOfRelationships: – BibEntity: Dates: – D: 01 M: 11 Text: Nov/Dec2025 Type: published Y: 2025 Identifiers: – Type: issn-print Value: 02702711 Numbering: – Type: volume Value: 46 – Type: issue Value: 8 Titles: – TitleFull: Reading Psychology Type: main |
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