Tapping to Music Predicts Literacy Skills of First-Grade Children.

Csaba Kertész,Ferenc Honbolygó

doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2021.741540

Abstract

The ability to synchronise one’s movements to the sound of a regular beat has been found to be associated with children’s language and reading abilities. Sensorimotor synchronisation or tapping performance can among other factors [e.g., working memory and rapid automatized naming (RAN)] predict phonological awareness and word reading accuracy and fluency of first graders. While tapping tasks that use a simple metronome sound are more often used, applying musical stimuli has the potential advantage of being more engaging and motivating for children. In the present study, we investigated whether tapping to a metronome beat or complex musical stimuli would predict phonological awareness and reading outcomes of Hungarian 6-7-year olds (N=37). We also measured participants’ general cognitive abilities (RAN, non-verbal intelligence and verbal working memory). Our results show that phonological awareness, spelling and reading accuracy were associated with the musical tasks while reading fluency was predicted by the metronome trials. Our findings suggest that complex musical tasks should be considered when investigating this age group, as they were, in general, more effective in predicting literacy outcomes.

Highlights

Moving together with the rhythm of music is a human universal (Nettl, 2000) that has been associated with the use of vocal learning and communication (Patel et al, 2009)
We investigated the relationship between Hungarian first graders’ ability to tap to a beat and their literacy development, and we studied the difference between tapping to music and tapping to a metronome
By building linear models using the stepwise method, we found that measures of tapping performance were successful in predicting literacy scores

Summary

Introduction

Moving together with the rhythm of music is a human universal (Nettl, 2000) that has been associated with the use of vocal learning and communication (Patel et al, 2009). We investigated whether a specific rhythmic ability that is synchronising one’s tapping to a steady beat could predict 6-7-year-olds’ literacy. Rhythmical skills have been associated with language and literacy investigating individuals with typical (David et al, 2007; Gordon et al, 2015; Bonacina et al, 2018; Politimou et al, 2019) and atypical language development, developmental dyslexia (Flaugnacco et al, 2014; Woodruff Carr et al, 2014; Flaugnacco et al, 2015; Colling et al, 2017) and specific language impairment (Alcock et al, 2000; Corriveau and Goswami, 2009; Cumming et al, 2015)

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