Abstract
Purpose: The present study aimed at examining the relationship between visual-spatial attention and reading comprehension in Chinese children and exploring the mediating role of word detection skill in this relationship.
Method: A total of 290 Hong Kong Chinese children (168 third graders, 84 girls, mean age = 8.82, SD = .59, and 122 fourth graders, 46 girls, mean age = 9.90, SD = .49) were administered with visual search, reading comprehension, word detection, and other controlling measures. In the visual search task, children were asked to circle the targets among a number of distractors. There are two types of stimuli used in this task, namely symbols and alphabetic letters. In the word detection task, children were asked to circle the two-character Chinese words among a number of characters.
Results: In the structural equation modelling analyses, visual search was found to significantly predict reading comprehension, even after age, non-verbal IQ, and Chinese character reading were controlled in the model. When word detection entered the model, it showed a full mediation effect on the relationship between visual search and reading comprehension, even after reading comprehension measured one-year ago was further controlled. A significant predicting effect of reading comprehension measured one-year ago on visual search was also found.
Conclusion: The results indicate the importance of visual search in passage reading in Chinese, and highlight the mediating role of word detection in understanding this relationship. Copyright © 2018 Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR).
Method: A total of 290 Hong Kong Chinese children (168 third graders, 84 girls, mean age = 8.82, SD = .59, and 122 fourth graders, 46 girls, mean age = 9.90, SD = .49) were administered with visual search, reading comprehension, word detection, and other controlling measures. In the visual search task, children were asked to circle the targets among a number of distractors. There are two types of stimuli used in this task, namely symbols and alphabetic letters. In the word detection task, children were asked to circle the two-character Chinese words among a number of characters.
Results: In the structural equation modelling analyses, visual search was found to significantly predict reading comprehension, even after age, non-verbal IQ, and Chinese character reading were controlled in the model. When word detection entered the model, it showed a full mediation effect on the relationship between visual search and reading comprehension, even after reading comprehension measured one-year ago was further controlled. A significant predicting effect of reading comprehension measured one-year ago on visual search was also found.
Conclusion: The results indicate the importance of visual search in passage reading in Chinese, and highlight the mediating role of word detection in understanding this relationship. Copyright © 2018 Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR).
| Original language | English |
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| Publication status | Published - Jul 2018 |
| Event | Twenty-Fifth Annual Meeting of Society for the Scientific Study of Reading - Brighton, United Kingdom Duration: 18 Jul 2018 → 21 Jul 2018 https://www.triplesr.org/twenty-fifth-annual-meeting |
Conference
| Conference | Twenty-Fifth Annual Meeting of Society for the Scientific Study of Reading |
|---|---|
| Abbreviated title | SSSR 2018 |
| Country/Territory | United Kingdom |
| City | Brighton |
| Period | 18/07/18 → 21/07/18 |
| Internet address |
Citation
Liu, P. D., & Chen, X. (2018, July). Visual search and reading comprehension in Chinese children: Word detection skill as a mediator. Poster presented at the Twenty-Fifth Annual Meeting Society for the Scientific Study of Reading (SSSR), Hilton Brighton Metropole, Brighton, UK.Keywords
- Visual attention
- Reading comprehension
- Chinese