Word-level knowledge in Chinese children’s word reading and lexical inference development: A multivariate latent growth curve analysis

The present study aims to explore the developmental courses for different aspects of reading skills (word reading and lexical inference) and examine how lexical knowledge (vocabulary and morphological awareness) supports reading development among mid-elementary students. We assessed vocabulary, morphological awareness, word reading, and lexical inference among 161 Chinese students, who were followed from Grade 3 to Grade 4. Latent growth curve models revealed compensatory developmental trajectories for both word reading and lexical inference, in which low-achieving students in both domains in Grade 3 had steeper growth trajectories than their higher performing peers. Multivariate latent growth curves indicated that both vocabulary and morphological awareness directly predicted the initial level and growth rate of word reading. Their longitudinal links with the initial level and growth rate of lexical inference had to go through the path of initial word reading, indicating that students with better lexical knowledge had better word reading and lexical inference achievement in Grade 4, but they tended to have slower growth rates than their lower-achieving counterparts, which subsequently narrowed individual differences in reading development. These findings underscore the salient role of morphological awareness and vocabulary in reading development and add to the current literature about the ways in which lexical knowledge supports the growth of higher-order reading skills.