Direct and indirect effects of visual pattern understanding on word reading in Chinese kindergarten children

The present study investigated the direct effect of pattern understanding on Chinese word reading, and the indirect effects via metalinguistic awareness. Participants were 138 children (73 boys, mean age = 59.60 months at the first wave of assessment) recruited from four kindergartens in Hong Kong. They were assessed twice with an interval of 14 months. In the first wave of assessment, which took place in the spring term in the second year of kindergarten, children were assessed regarding pattern understanding, phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and orthographic awareness. Working memory, spatial visualization, and receptive vocabulary were also assessed as control variables. In the second wave, which took place at the end of the third kindergarten year, Chinese word reading was measured using two tasks, i.e. single-character word reading and double-character word reading. Results of a multivariate multiple regression showed that pattern understanding made a unique contribution to subsequent Chinese single- and double-character word reading independently of spatial visualization, working memory, vocabulary, and demographic variables. Results of the mediation model showed that the unique effects of pattern understanding were mediated by phonological awareness. The direct effect of pattern understanding remained significant on Chinese double-character reading. The findings highlight the importance of pattern understanding in Chinese word reading for Chinese kindergarten children.