Reading Prosody: A Listening Guide for Teachers

Abstract Prosody is an important indicator of reading development, but many teachers are unclear about how it can help students improve their reading fluency. Beyond demonstrating expressive or flowing reading, specific components of reading prosody can distinctly reveal how well word recognition and comprehension processes coalesce, providing teachers with useful information for their instruction. In this article, we review the research on reading prosody to clarify how differences in intonation, amplitude , and timing components distinguish struggling and strong readers. In addition, we discuss reading prosody considerations for classroom assessment and intervention by sharing insights drawn from educators trained to evaluate it systematically. We aim to clarify how teachers can use these reading prosody components to enhance classroom reading fluency practices.