The relationships between cognitive-linguistic skills and paired associate learning with Chinese reading skills in kindergarten children

Paired associate learning (PAL) has shown to be a significant predictor of reading development. This study investigated the relations of paired associated learning to vocabulary and word reading in Chinese kindergarten children. Four mapping conditions of PAL, namely visual-verbal, verbal-verbal, visual-visual and verbal-visual PAL, were included to dissociate what underlying components of PAL may drive Chinese reading skills. Furthermore, a set of cognitive-linguistic skills such as executive functioning (EF), visual-motor integration, and phonological awareness, were incorporated to examine the underlying mechanisms of PAL-reading relationship. A total of 204 second-year kindergarten children (Mean age: 5.07 years, SD = .34; 104 boys, 51.2 %) participated in this study. Results showed that the four mapping conditions of PAL were significantly correlated with Chinese reading skills and the subsequent factor analysis showed that they were significantly loaded on a latent factor of PAL. After controlling for age and nonverbal IQ, this latent factor of PAL uniquely predicted vocabulary and Chinese word reading. In addition, EF skills, in particular working memory, visual-motor integration and phonological awareness significantly predicted the performance of PAL, which, in turn, independently contributed to Chinese reading skills. These findings underscored the specificity of PAL-reading relationship in Chinese orthography as well as the importance of considering PAL as a mediator between a set of cognitive-linguistic skills and Chinese reading skills. Copyright © 2020 ARWA.