A model of reading comprehension in Chinese elementary school children

Pui sze Yeung, Connie Suk han Ho, David Wai ock Chan, Kevin Kien hoa Chung, Yau Kai Wong

Research output: Journal article publicationJournal articleAcademic researchpeer-review

65 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

The relationships of reading-related skills (rapid naming, morphological awareness, syntactic skills, discourse skills, and verbal working memory) and word reading to reading comprehension were examined among 248 Chinese fourth graders in Hong Kong. Multiple regression analysis results showed that syntactic skills (word order knowledge, morphosyntactic knowledge), discourse skills (sentence order knowledge) and verbal working memory contributed significant unique variance to reading comprehension after word reading was controlled for. Path analysis results showed that syntactic skills, discourse skills and verbal working memory had significant direct effects on reading comprehension, while rapid naming and morphological awareness had indirect effects on reading comprehension through word reading. These findings, in part, support the models of reading comprehension developed for alphabetic writing systems, but also reflect the unique Chinese language learning experience of Chinese children in Hong Kong.
Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)55-66
Number of pages12
JournalLearning and Individual Differences
Volume25
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 1 Jun 2013

Keywords

  • Chinese
  • Discourse skills
  • Morphological awareness
  • Rapid naming
  • Reading comprehension
  • Syntactic skills

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • Social Psychology
  • Education
  • Developmental and Educational Psychology

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