Cross-lagged relations between phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and english word reading among native Chinese-speaking children

This study aimed to examine the cross-lagged relations between English phonological awareness (EPA), English rapid automatized naming (ERAN), and word reading among native Chinese-speaking children, and the cross-linguistic effects of Chinese phonological awareness (CPA) and Chinese rapid automatized naming (CRAN) on English reading. Participants were 132 Mandarin-speaking Chinese children from Grades 2 to 5 (70 boys, 62 girls; M_age = 9.32 years, SD = 1.07) who were followed for a year. At baseline (T1) and follow-up (T2), they were assessed on EPA, ERAN, and English word reading. At T1, they were also assessed on CPA and CRAN. Cross-lagged model analysis revealed that T1 English word reading predicted T2 EPA and ERAN. There were no cross-linguistic effects of CPA and CRAN on English word reading. These findings suggest that for native Chinese-speaking children, English metalinguistic skills are influenced by their English word reading abilities and not the opposite.

Educational relevance and implications statement

For children who do not have exposure to English at home prior to going to school and learning English, their metalinguistic skills do not develop in the same way as they do for native English speakers, where metalinguistic abilities typically precede reading development. Instead, their metalinguistic skills may be “delayed” and develop after reading. Additionally, the lack of cross-linguistic effects from Chinese metalinguistic cognition to English reading suggests the need for language-specific screening tools to accurately identify potential reading difficulties in bilingual contexts.