Speech connectedness predicts reading performance three months in advance: a longitudinal experiment

Abstract

Aiming to verify the predictive value of oral narrative structure on reading acquisition, we followed 253 children (first and second graders) during an entire school year, assessing oral narratives and reading performances in five sessions. Transcriptions of oral narratives were represented as word-recurrence graphs to measure connectedness attributes. Connectedness predicted performance in phonological awareness, reading comprehension, and word reading accuracy 3–4 months in advance.