Abstract

Background: Most studies have proved that phonological awareness is closely related to reading ability. However, the correlation between syllable stress sensitivity and English reading ability remains to be further investigated, especially for English learners in Chinese colleges and universities.
Methods: This study was designed to examine the correlation between syllable stress sensitivity-one of the main prosodic features-reading and auditory perception in a sample of 68 Chinese university students. The students were divided into three groups according to their English proficiency and were assessed for their syllable stress, phonological measures and psychoacoustic tasks along with their reading and spelling ability.
Results: Correlation analyses revealed that stress sensitivity was significantly associated with English reading ability. The duration and intensity of sound were significantly correlated with the perception of stress. However, the correlation between rise time measures and English word stress sensitivity were not significant as expected. There was a significant difference in stress perception among the three groups.
Conclusion: The findings suggest that stress sensitivity can be used as an important indicator of second language learning ability and great emphasis should be placed on fostering their stress awareness to enhance their syllable awareness, sharpen their ability to recognize the phonemes in (unstressed syllables, and finally facilitate the development of their English reading and spelling ability.

Keywords:Auditory perception; Reading ability; Stress sensitivity