Emotional intelligence and reading comprehension: Examining mediating roles of word reading, vocabulary, and working memory

Abstract

This study examined the potential pathways connecting emotional intelligence to reading comprehension of narrative and non-narrative texts, and the influence of family socioeconomic status (SES) on these pathways. We tracked 689 Chinese third-grade students (341 female; Mage = 9.23 years, SD = 0.66) from wave 1 (grade three) to wave 3 (grade five). Results revealed that after controlling for gender, reading comprehension, and non-verbal intelligence at wave 1, word reading and vocabulary knowledge at wave 2 were significant mediators linking emotional intelligence at wave 1 to reading comprehension of both narrative and non-narrative texts at wave 3. In contrast, working memory at wave 2 served as a mediator only between emotional intelligence at wave 1 and reading comprehension of non-narrative texts at wave 3. Additionally, family SES moderated the pathways linking emotional intelligence to reading comprehension. These findings provide a comprehensive understanding of mechanisms linking emotional intelligence to reading comprehension.

Educational relevance and implications statement

Using both narrative and non-narrative texts, our study found that for Chinese primary school students, word reading (β = 0.04, 95 % CI [0.03, 0.07] for narrative texts; β = 0.04, 95 % CI [0.02, 0.06] for non-narrative texts) and vocabulary knowledge at age 10 (β = 0.03, 95 % CI [0.01, 0.05] for narrative texts; β = 0.02, 95 % CI [0.10, 0.04] for non-narrative texts) significantly mediate the relationship between emotional intelligence at age 9 and reading comprehension at age 11. These results highlight the importance of combining word reading, vocabulary knowledge, and emotional intelligence during intervention to improve children's reading comprehension. We also found that working memory at age 10 significantly mediates the relationship between emotional intelligence at age 9 and reading comprehension at age 11 for non-narrative (β = 0.01, 95 % CI [0.01, 0.03]), but not narrative, texts (β = 0.01, 95 % CI [−0.004, 0.02]). These findings underscore the importance of considering text genre when examining the development of reading comprehension, designing reading instruction, and establishing reading interventions. Additionally, emotional intelligence at age 9 is more strongly associated with word reading, vocabulary knowledge, and working memory at age 10 for children from low socioeconomic status (SES) families compared to those from high-SES families, highlighting the need for more attention to the emotional intelligence development in children from low-SES backgrounds.