Mechanisms by which morphological awareness contributes to Chinese and English reading comprehension

Abstract

Background: Research has established the link between morphological awareness and reading comprehension. However, the theoretical mechanisms underlying the association remain unclear. This study examined the direct and indirect effects of morphological awareness on reading comprehension in L1 Chinese and L2 English, with a sample of Chinese children who speak English as a second language (ESL). We tested theoretically driven predictions regarding the ways in which morphological awareness might impact reading comprehension. Methods: One hundred and fifty-six children in Grades 3 and 4 completed Chinese and English measures of morphological awareness (English: derivational awareness; Chinese: compound awareness), expressive vocabulary, word reading and reading comprehension, in addition to age, working memory and the other language's word definitions as control measures. Results: For both languages, analyses showed that morphological awareness had significant direct effects on both English and Chinese reading comprehension above and beyond mediators and control variables. In addition, morphological awareness had significant indirect effects on reading comprehension mediated by word reading (indirect path 1) as well as vocabulary and word reading in sequence (indirect path 2) after taking control variables into account. Vocabulary did not emerge as a mediator for either the English or the Chinese models. Conclusions: The results underscore the importance of morphology for reading comprehension and reveal the potential mechanisms that underpin their relations in L1 Chinese and L2 English. Our findings further specify the role of morphology in the reading systems framework and highlight the value of incorporating morphology into reading instruction for Chinese ESL children.

Morphological Awareness in L2 Chinese Reading Comprehension: Testing of Mediating Routes

“…Second, morphological awareness facets had both direct and indirect effects on L2 reading comprehension through the mediation of lexical inference. Prior studies tested a few pathways assuming the developmental order of morphological awareness and vocabulary in L1 Chinese reading comprehension (Zhang, 2016a;Zhao et al, 2019;Kim et al, 2020;Qiao et al, 2021). Nevertheless, the current study found that morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge were the two parallel components in predicting L2 Chinese reading comprehension.…”

“…The utility of morphological awareness has been endorsed in reading across languages. Several prior studies explored the facilitative role of morphological awareness in Chinese reading comprehension among the first language (L1) or bilingual children (Wang et al, 2006;Pan et al, 2016;Zhang, 2016a,b;Lin et al, 2018;Zhao et al, 2019;Qiao et al, 2021).…”

“…The findings revealed that Chinese compound awareness was related to reading comprehension directly and indirectly through the mediation of all tested mediating variables. Similarly, Qiao et al (2021) analyzed the manner in which morphological awareness contributes to Chinese and English reading comprehension among Chinese children in Grades 3 and 4. The results showed both direct and indirect effects of morphological awareness on Chinese and English comprehension.…”

Special issue editorial: Advances in understanding the role of morphemes in literacy development

“…To this end, this special issue includes studies in Chinese (Cantonese; Qiao et al, 2021), French (Rassel et al, 2021), German (Fleischhauer et al, 2021;Görgen, De Simone, Schulte-Körne, & Moll, 2021) and Norwegian (Lyster et al, 2021) and studies in English that draw upon the varied educational contexts of the United Kingdom (Dawson et al, 2021;James et al, 2021), the United States (Goodwin et al, 2021) and Canada (Georgiou et al, 2021;Ginestet et al, 2021). Qiao et al (2021) explored the relationship between morphological awareness and reading comprehension in both Chinese and English with Chinese-English bilingual children in Hong Kong (8 to 10 years old). In both languages, morphological awareness contributed indirectly to reading comprehension through two paths: via word reading and via vocabulary to word reading.…”

“…Several papers in this special issue add to this body of evidence. For instance, the relationship between morphological awareness and reading ability is demonstrated cross-sectionally in French by Rassel, Facon, and Casalis (2021), in Chinese-English bilinguals by Qiao, Liu, and Yeung (2021) and longitudinally over a span of 9 years by Lyster, Lervag, Hulme, and Snowling (2021).…”