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Disease transmission is a fruitful domain in which to examine how scientific and folk theories interrelate, given laypeople’s access to multiple sources of information to explain events of personal significance. The current paper reports an in-depth survey of U.S. adults’ (N = 238) causal reasoning about two viral illnesses: a novel, deadly disease that has massively disrupted everyone’s lives (COVID-19), and a familiar, innocuous disease that has essentially no serious consequences (the common cold). Participants received a series of closed-ended and open-ended questions probing their reasoning about disease transmission, with a focus on causal mechanisms underlying disease contraction, transmission, treatment, and prevention; non-visible (internal) biological processes; and ontological frameworks regarding what kinds of entities viruses are. We also assessed participants’ attitudes, such as their trust in scientific experts and willingness to be vaccinated. Results indicated complexity in people’s reasoning, consistent with the co-existence of multiple explanatory frameworks. An understanding of viral transmission and viral replication existed alongside folk theories, placeholder beliefs, and lack of differentiation between viral and non-viral disease. For example, roughly 40% of participants who explained illness in terms of the transmission of viruses also endorsed a non-viral folk theory, such as exposure to cold weather or special foods as curative. Additionally, participants made use of competing modes of construal (biological, mechanical, and psychological) when explaining how viruses operate, such as framing the immune system response (biological) as cells trying to fight off the virus (psychological). Indeed, participants who displayed greater knowledge about viral transmission were significantly more likely to anthropomorphize bodily processes. Although comparisons of COVID-19 and the common cold revealed relatively few differences, the latter, more familiar disease elicited consistently lower levels of accuracy and greater reliance on folk theories. Moreover, for COVID-19 in particular, accuracy positively correlated with attitudes (trusting medical scientists and taking the disease more seriously), self-protective behaviors (such as social distancing and mask-wearing), and willingness to be vaccinated. For both diseases, self-assessed knowledge about the disease negatively predicted accuracy. The results are discussed in relation to challenges for formal models of explanatory reasoning.

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Words’ morphemic structure and their orthographic representations vary across languages. How do bilingual experiences with structurally distinct languages influence children's morphological processes for word reading? Focusing on English literacy in monolinguals and bilinguals (N = 350, ages 5–9), we first revealed unique contributions of derivational (friend-li-est) and compound (girl-friend) morphology to early word reading. We then examined mechanisms of bilingual transfer in matched samples of Spanish–English and Chinese–English dual first language learners. Results revealed a principled cross-linguistic interaction between language group (Spanish vs. Chinese bilinguals) and type of morphological awareness. Specifically, bilinguals’ proficiency with the type of morphology that was less characteristic of their home language explained greater variance in their English literacy. These findings showcase the powerful effects of bilingualism on word reading processes in children who have similar reading proficiency but different language experiences, thereby advancing theoretical perspectives on literacy across diverse learners.

Morphological awareness, or awareness of the smallest meaningful units of language, is a well-established predictor of literacy in late elementary school and beyond. Across languages, morphemes are combined to help create and recognize new words primarily through two common principles: derivation (friend-li-est, un-friend-ly) and compounding (boy-friend). Yet, the complexity of English phonology and orthography make it difficult for young learners to identify morphemes in speech as well as in print. This manuscript explores two unresolved issues about how morphological awareness contributes to English literacy in linguistically diverse beginning readers. First, we examined the relation between children’s awareness of derivational and compound morphology and their emerging literacy in kindergarten through 3rd grade. Second, we examined the impact of bilingual experiences with morphologically distinct languages on this relation. Three hundred fifty children, ages 5-9, participated in this study, including English monolinguals, and Spanish-English and Chinese-English dual first language learners. Results revealed a robust, concurrent relationship between morphological awareness and both word reading and reading comprehension. Furthermore, bilingualism moderated this relationship. In bilinguals, the type of morphology that was less characteristic of the children’s heritage language was more closely associated with their English literacy: derivational in Chinese-English bilinguals’ word reading, and compound morphology in Spanish-English bilinguals. These findings inform theoretical perspectives on learning to read across linguistically diverse learners.