Cognitive Abilities Related to Reading and Writing Skills in Chinese Third-grade Children

Jieping Ou; Ami Sambai; Hong Pei; Akira Uno; Hiroki Yoneda

doi:10.17977/um005v7i12023p144

Cognitive Abilities Related to Reading and Writing Skills in Chinese Third-grade Children

Jieping Ou, Ami Sambai, Hong Pei, Akira Uno, Hiroki Yoneda

Abstract

In this study, we analysed the cognitive abilities that predict reading and writing attainment in the Chinese language for Mandarin-speaking children. A total of 140 Chinese third-graders studying in Ningbo, Zhejiang were evaluated for their visual cognition including visual perception and memory, naming speed, vocabulary knowledge, phonological skills, nonverbal intelligence, and abilities to read and write. The results of multiple regression analyses revealed that word and nonword reading accuracy were predicted to a significant degree by visual memory and phonological awareness, respectively. Naming speed significantly contributed to the reading speeds regarding words, nonwords, and paragraphs. Our results also showed that the scores in word and nonword reading predicted the scores of writing as well. Visual memory and phonological awareness are essential for reading Chinese accurately, while naming speed is an important factor for Chinese reading fluency. The present results have implications regarding the design of useful tasks that screen poor readers of Chinese.

Keywords

Naming speed; Phonological awareness; Reading; Visual memory; Writing

Full Text:

PDF

References

Castles, A., & Coltheart, M. (1993). Varieties of developmental dyslexia. Cognition, 47, 149-180. http://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1016/0010-0277(93)90003-E

Chan, D. W., Ho, C. S. H., Tsang, S. M., Lee, S. H. & Chung, K. K. H. (2006). Exploring the reading-writing connection in Chinese children with dyslexia in Hong Kong. Reading and Writing, 19, 543-561.

Chen, X., Hao, M., Geva, E., & Zhu, H. (2009). The role of compound awareness in Chinese children’s vocabulary acquisition and character reading. Reading and Writing, 22, 615-631. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-008-9127-9

Cheng-Lai, A., Li-Tsang, C. W., Chan, A. H., & Lo, A. G. (2013). Writing to dictation and handwriting performance among Chinese children with dyslexia: Relationships with orthographic knowledge and perceptual-motor skills. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 34(10), 3372-3383. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2013.06.039

Chung, K. K. H., Ho, C. S-H., Chan, W. W., Tsang, S-M., & Lee, S-H. (2009). Cognitive profiles of Chinese adolescents with dyslexia. Dyslexia, 16, 2-23.

Chung, K. K. H., Lam, C. B., & Cheung, K. C. (2018) Visuomotor integration and executive functioning are uniquely linked to Chinese word reading and writing in kindergarten children. Reading and Writing, 31, 155-171.

Chow, B. W.-Y., McBride-Chang, C., & Burgess, S. (2005). Phonological processing skills and early reading abilities in Hong Kong Chinese kindergarteners learning to read English as a second language. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 81-87. http://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-0663.97.1.81

Gathercole, S. E., Willis, C. & Baddeley, A. D. (1991). Differentiating phonological memory and. awareness of rhyme: Reading and vocabulary development in children. British Journal of Psychology, 82, 387-406.

Gathercole, S. E., Willis, C., Emslie, H. & Baddeley, A. (1992). Phonological memory and vocabulary development during the early school years: A longitudinal study. Development Psychology, 28, 887-898.

Georgiou, G. K., Parrila, R., & Kirby, J. R. (2009). RAN components and reading development from Grade 3 to Grade 5: What underlies their relationship? Scientific Studies of Reading, 13, 508-534. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888430903034796

Haruhara, N., Uno, A., Asahi, M., Kaneko, M., & Awaya, N. (2011). Development of reading fluency and cognitive abilities related to reading fluency for normal child development: Fundamental study to evaluate developmental dyslexia. The Japanese Journal of Logopedics and Phoniatrics, 52(3), 263-270. https://doi.org/10.5112/jjlp.52.263

Ho, C. S.-H. (1997). The importance of phonological awareness and verbal short-term memory to children’s success in learning to read Chinese. Psychologia, 40(4), 211-219.

Ho, C. S.-H, & Bryant, P. (1997a). Learning to read Chinese beyond the logographic phase. Reading Research Quarterly, 32, 276-289. http://www.jstor.org/stable/748134

Ho, C. S.-H, & Bryant, P. (1997b). Phonological skills are important in learning to read Chinese. Developmental Psychology, 33(6), 946-951. http://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0012-1649.33.6.946

Ho, C. S.-H, & Bryant, P. (1999). Different visual skills are important in learning to read English and. Chinese. Educational and Child Psychology, 16, 4-14.

Ho, C. S.-H., Chan, D. W.-O., Lee, S-H., Tsang, S.-M., & Luan, V. H. (2004). Cognitive profiling and preliminary subtyping in Chinese developmental dyslexia. Cognition, 91, 43-75. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(03)00163-X

Ho, C. S.-H., Chan, D. W.-O., Tsang, S.-M., & Lee, S.-H. (2002). The cognitive profile and multiple-deficit hypothesis in Chinese developmental dyslexia. Developmental Psychology, 38, 543-553. http://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0012-1649.38.4.543

Ho, C. S.-H., & Lai, D. N-C. (2000). Naming-speed deficits and phonological memory deficits in Chinese developmental dyslexia. Learning and Individual Differences, 11, 173-186. https://doi.org/10.1016/S1041-6080(00)80004-7

Ho, C. S.-H., Law, T. P.-S., & Ng, P. M. (2000), The phonological deficit hypothesis in Chinese developmental dyslexia. Reading and Writing, 13, 57-79.

Ho, C. S.-H., Ng, T. T., & Ng, W.-K. (2003). A ‘radical’ approach to reading development in Chinese: The role of semantic radicals and phonetic radicals. Journal of Literacy Research, 35, 849-878.

Hu, C. F., & Catts, H. W. (1998). The role of phonological processing in early reading ability: What we. can learn from Chinese? Scientific Studies of Reading, 2, 55-79. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532799xssr0201_3

Huang, H. S., & Hanley, J. R. (1995). Phonological awareness and visual skills in learning to read Chinese and English. Cognition, 54, 73-98. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(94)00641-W

Huang, H. S., & Hanley, J. R. (1997). A longitudinal study of phonological awareness, visual skills, and Chinese reading acquisition among first-graders in Taiwan. International Journal of Behavioral Development, 20, 249-268. https://doi.org/10.1080/016502597385324

Kaneko, M., Uno, A., & Haruhara, N. (2004). Relationship between rapid automatized naming and Kana. reading tasks in preschool children. The Japanese Journal of Logopedics and Phoniatrics, 45(1), 30-34. https://doi.org/10.5112/jjlp.45.30

Kao, H. S. R. (2000) The visual-spatial features of Chinese characters and a psychogeometric theory of. Chinese character writing. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press.

Landerl, K., & Wimmer, H. (2008). Development of word reading fluency and spelling in a consistent. orthography: An 8-year follow-up. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 150-161. DOI: 10.1037/0022-0663.100.1.150

Lei, L., Pan, J., Liu, H., McBride-Chang, C., Li, H., ...& Shu, H. (2011). Developmental trajectories of reading development and impairment from ages 3 to 8 years in Chinese children. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52, 212-220.

Liao, C. H., Georgiou, G. K., & Parrila, R. K. (2008). Rapid naming speed and Chinese character. recognition. Reading and Writing, 21, 231-235. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02311.x

Lin, C. Y., & Uno, A. (2015). Cognitive Abilities Underlying Reading in Chinese: Typical Readers among Third-Grade Children in Taiwan. The Japanese Journal of Logopedics and Phoniatrics, 56, 37-42. https://doi.org/10.5112/jjlp.56.37

Liu, Y. & Liu, D. (2020) Morphological awareness and orthographic awareness link Chinese writing to reading comprehension. Reading and Writing, 33, 1701-1720.

Liu, P. D., McBride-Chang, C., Wong, A. M.-Y., Tardif, T., Stokes, S., Fletcher, P., & Shu, H. (2010). Early language markers of poor reading performance in Hong Kong Chinese children. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 43, 322-331.

Liu, P. D., & McBride-Chang, C. (2010) What is morphological awareness? Tapping lexical compounding awareness in Chinese third graders. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(1), 62-73.

Lo, J. C. M., Ye, Y., Tong, X., McBride, C., Ho, C. S.-H., & Waye, M. M. Y. (2018). Delayed copying is unique related to dictation in bilingual Cantonese-English-speaking children in Hong Kong. Writing Systems Research, 10(1), 26-42.

Manis, F. R., Seidenberg, M. S., Doi, L. M., McBride-Chang, C., & Petersen, A. (1996). On the bases of two subtypes of developmental dyslexia. Cognition, 58, 157-195. https://doi.org/10.1016/0010-0277(95)00679-6

McBride, C.-A. (2016) Is Chinese special? Four aspects of Chinese literacy acquisition that might distinguish learning Chinese from learning alphabetic orthographies. Educational Psychology Review, 28, 523-549.

McBride-Chang, C., Cho, J. R., Liu, H., Wagner, R. K., Shu, H., ...Muse, A. (2005). Changing models. across cultures: Associations of phonological awareness and morphological structure awareness with vocabulary and word recognition in second graders from Beijing, Hong Kong, Korea, and the United States. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 92(2), 140-160. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2005.03.009

McBride-Chang, C., Chung, K. K. H., & Tong, X. (2011). Copying skills in relation to word reading and writing in Chinese children with and without dyslexia. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 110, 422-433.

McBride-Chang, C., & Ho, C. S. H. (2005). Predictors of beginning reading in Chinese

and English: A 2-year longitudinal study of Chinese kindergartners. Scientific Studies of Reading, 9, 117-144. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532799xssr0902_2

McBride-Chang, C., & Kail, R. V. (2002). Cross-cultural similarities in the predictors of reading acquisition. Child Development, 73, 1392-1407. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8624.00479

McBride-Chang, C., Lam, F., Lam, C., Doo, S., Wong, S. W. L., & Chow, Y. Y. Y. (2008). Word recognition and cognitive profiles of Chinese pre-school children at-risk for dyslexia through language delay or familial history of dyslexia. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 49(2), 211-218. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2007.01837.x

McBride-Chang, C., Lam, F., Lam, C., Chan, B., Fong, C. Y. C., ... & Wong, S. W. L. (2011). Early predictors of dyslexia in Chinese children: familial history of dyslexia, language delay, and cognitive profiles. Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 52(2), 204-211. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1469-7610.2010.02299.x

Mo, J., McBride, C. & Yip, L. (2018) Identifying the unique role of orthographic working memory in a componential model of Hong Kong kindergarteners’ Chinese written spelling. Reading and Writing, 31, 1083-1108

Osterrieth, P. A. (1993). The complex figure copy test. The Clinical Neuropsychologist, 7(1), 4-21.

Park, H.-R. & Uno, A. (2015). Cognitive abilities underlying reading accuracy, fluency and spelling acquisition in Korean Hangul Learners from Grades 1 to 4: A cross-sectional study. Dyslexia,21(3), 235-253. http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/dys.1500

Pan, J., McBride-Chang, C., Shu, H., Liu, H., Zhang, Y. & Li, H. (2011). What is in the naming? A 5-year longitudinal study of early rapid naming and phonological sensitivity in relation to subsequent reading skills in both native Chinese and English as a second language. Journal of Educational Psychology, 103(4), 897-908.

Rack, J. P., Snowling, M. J., & Olson, R. K. (1992). The nonword reading deficit in developmental dyslexia: A review. Reading Research Quarterly, 27, 28-53. http://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.2307/747832

Raven, J. C., Court, J. H., & Raven, J. (1995). Coloured progressive matrices. Oxford, UK: Oxford Psychologists Press.

Shu, H., McBride-Chang, C., Wu, S., & Liu, H. Y. (2006). Understanding Chinese developmental dyslexia: Morphological awareness as a core cognitive construct. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 122-133. http://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0022-0663.98.1.122

Siegel, L. S., & Ryan, E. B. (1988). Development of grammatical-sensitivity, phonological, and short-term memory skills in normally achieving and learning disabled children. Developmental Psychology, 24, 28-37. http://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0012-1649.24.1.28

Siok, W. T., & Fletcher, P. (2001). The role of phonological awareness and visual-orthographic skills in Chinese reading acquisition. Developmental Psychology, 37(6), 886-899. http://psycnet.apa.org/doi/10.1037/0012-1649.37.6.886

Snowling, M. J. (1981). Phonemic deficits in developmental dyslexia. Psychological Research, 43, 219-234.

Snowling, M.J. (2000). Dyslexia (2nd ed.). Oxford, UK: Blackwell Publishers.

Snowling, M., & Hulme, C. (1989). A longitudinal case study of developmental phonological dyslexia. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 6(4), 379-401.

Tan, L. H., Spinks, J. A., Eden, G. F., Perfetti, C. A., & Siok, W. T. (2005). Reading depends on writing, in Chinese. Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, 102(24), 8781-8785. https://dx.doi.org/10.1073%2Fpnas.0503523102

Tong, X., McBride-Chang, C., Wong, A. M.-Y., Shu, H., Reitsma, P., & Rispens, J. (2011). Longitudinal. predictors of very early Chinese literacy acquisition. Journal of Research in Reading, 34, 315-332.

Treiman, R., Tincoff, R., Rodriguez, K., Mouzaki, A., & Francis, D. J. (1998). The foundations of literacy: learning the sounds of letters. Child Development, 69(6), 1524-1540. doi:10.2307/1132130

Uno, A., Haruhara, N., & Kaneko, M. (2002). SCTAW-The Standardized Test of Abstract Words. Tokyo: Interuna Publishers.

Wang, Y., McBride-Chang, C., & Chan, S. F. (2014) Correlate of Chinese kindergarteners’ word reading and writing: The unique role of copying skills? Reading and Writing, 27(7), 1281-1302.

Wang, Y., Yin, L., & McBride, C., (2015) Unique predictors of early reading and writing: A one-year longitudinal study of Chinese kindergarteners. Early Childhood Research Quarterly, 32, 51-59.

Wolf, M., & Bowers, P. G. (1999). The double deficit hypothesis for the developmental dyslexias. Journal of Educational Psychology, 91(3), 415-438.

Woo, E. Y. C., & Hoosain, R. (1984). Visual and auditory functions of Chinese dyslexics. Psychologia, 27, 164-170.

DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.17977/um005v7i12023p144