Interplay of achievements in mathematics and Chinese language: A six-year longitudinal study

The present study aimed to apply multilevel longitudinal cross-lagged analysis to examine reciprocal relationship between achievements in mathematics and Chinese language of students over six years from Primary 3 to Secondary 3. Students’ previous achievements in Chinese language and in mathematics were used to predict their achievements in these subjects three and six years later. The project made use of longitudinal data collected by the Education Bureau in 2004 (students in Primary 3), 2007 (students in Primary 6) and 2010 (students in Secondary 3) in the Territory System-wide Assessment (TSA). Participants comprised of 49,526 Primary 3 students in Hong Kong when data were first collected in 2004. These students were tracked for six years, with achievement data collected every three years. Multilevel longitudinal cross-lagged panel analysis of the data allowed the exploration of bidirectional causal relationships between students’ achievements in mathematics and Chinese language, while controlling for school contextual variables.