Significance of Intra- and Intersentence Pause Times in Perceptual Judgments of Oral Reading Rate

Abstract

The purpose of this investigation was to determine if alterations in intra- and intersentence pause times in an individual's recorded reading of a standard prose passage (with no changes made in speech time) would result in alterations in perceptual judgments of his oral reading rate. Intra- and intersentence pause times were manipulated in one of the following ways: no change; 25% increase; 25% decrease; 50% increase; 50% decrease; 75% increase; 75% decrease. Electronic reproductions of the original tape recording were made; the removal or addition of pause time was accomplished in all cases by the removal or addition of the appropriate percentages of actual tape at each pause point. The original and pause-altered recordings were arranged in random order on a master tape and played to a group of 78 judges for rate evaluations using an equal-appearing intervals scale. Results of listener evaluations indicate that pause time is an important variable in perceptual judgments of oral reading rate. [Research supported by the National Institute of Neurological Diseases and Blindness.]