Promoting foundational linguistic skills for reading development in young Chinese language learners: A 1‐year intervention study

Wong, Y. K. , Zang, X. and Inoue, T. (2023) Promoting foundational linguistic skills for reading development in young Chinese language learners: A 1‐year intervention study. Journal of Research in Reading, 46(3), pp. 247-277. (doi: 10.1111/1467-9817.12423)

Abstract

Background: Using a 1-year longitudinal design, we evaluated the effectiveness of an intervention programme to improve reading attainments among Chinese-as-a-second-language (CSL) learners. Using the simple view of reading as a theoretical framework, the intervention focused on students' orthographic knowledge, word reading and listening comprehension to facilitate reading comprehension. Method: A total of 186 Grade 4 CSL students (mean age = 9.22, SD = 0.56) participated in the study and were grouped into the treatment (N = 96) and control (N = 90) groups. A range of Chinese language and literacy skills were assessed before and after the intervention. Results: The path analysis showed that the intervention significantly affected orthographic knowledge, word reading and listening comprehension directly and reading comprehension indirectly through the three componential skills after controlling for nonverbal reasoning, vocabulary and autoregressors. Conclusions: The findings suggest that orthographic knowledge, word reading and listening comprehension may be promising targets for instructing young CSL learners.

• Item Type: Articles
• Additional Information: This research was supported by the Hong Kong Standing Committee on Language Education and Research under a research and development project scheme (EDB (LE)/P&R/EL/ 203/6).
• Status: Published
• Refereed: Yes
• Glasgow Author(s) Enlighten ID: Wong, Dr Gary
• Authors: Wong, Y. K., Zang, X., and Inoue, T.
• College/School: College of Social Sciences > School of Social & Environmental Sustainability
• Journal Name: Journal of Research in Reading
• Publisher: WileyWiley
• ISSN: 0141-0423
• ISSN (Online): 1467-9817
• Published Online: 06 June 2023
• Copyright Holders: Copyright © 2023 The Authors.
• First Published: First published in Journal of Research in Reading 46(3):247-277
• Publisher Policy: Reproduced under a Creative Commons license