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Synergetic effects of phonological awareness, vocabulary, and word reading on bilingual children’s reading comprehension: A three-year study

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlespeer-review

Abstract

Using comparable measures of first language (L1) Chinese and second language (L2) English, this three-year longitudinal study examined the synergetic effects of phonological awareness, vocabulary, and word reading on reading comprehension development among 227 Hong Kong Chinese-English bilinguals from Grades 2-4. Structural equation growth modeling revealed that all three factors were significantly linked to one another and to initial reading comprehension for each language. Across languages, L1 Chinese vocabulary was directly linked to initial L2 English reading comprehension, while L1 Chinese phonological awareness was indirectly linked to initial L2 English reading comprehension via L2 English vocabulary and word reading. These findings underscore the synergetic effects of early phonological and lexical skills in determining early reading comprehension ability in both L1 and L2. Copyright © 2023 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Original languageEnglish
Article number102153
JournalContemporary Educational Psychology
Volume73
Early online dateJan 2023
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - Apr 2023

UN SDGs

This output contributes to the following UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)

  1. SDG 4 - Quality Education
    SDG 4 Quality Education

Keywords

  • Reading comprehension development
  • Phonological awareness
  • Vocabulary
  • Biliteracy acquisition

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