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Longitudinal predictors of Chinese word reading and spelling among elementary grade students

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 August 2012

PUI-SZE YEUNG ,
CONNIE SUK-HAN HO ,
YAU-KAI WONG ,
DAVID WAI-OCK CHAN ,
KEVIN KIEN-HOA CHUNG  and
LAP-YAN LO
PUI-SZE YEUNG
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong
CONNIE SUK-HAN HO*
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong
YAU-KAI WONG
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong
DAVID WAI-OCK CHAN
Affiliation:
Chinese University of Hong Kong
KEVIN KIEN-HOA CHUNG
Affiliation:
Hong Kong Institute of Education
LAP-YAN LO
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Connie Suk-Han Ho, Department of Psychology, Knowles 616A, University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong. E-mail: shhoc@hku.hk
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Abstract

The longitudinal predictive power of four important reading-related skills (phonological skills, rapid naming, orthographic skills, and morphological awareness) to Chinese word reading and writing to dictation (i.e., spelling) was examined in a 3-year longitudinal study among 251 Chinese elementary students. Rapid naming, orthographic skills, and morphological awareness assessed in Grade 1 were significant longitudinal predictors of Chinese word reading in Grades 1 to 4. As for word spelling, rapid naming was the only significant predictor across grades. Morphological awareness was a robust predictor of word spelling in Grade 1 only. Phonological skills and orthographic skills significantly predicted word spelling in Grades 2 and 4. After controlling for autoregressive effects, morphological awareness and orthographic skills were the significant longitudinal predictors of Chinese word reading and word spelling, respectively. These findings reflected the impacts of the Chinese orthography on children's reading and spelling development.

Type
Articles
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 34 , Issue 6 , November 2013 , pp. 1245 - 1277
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012 

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