Unpacking the relation between morphological awareness and reading comprehension in Chinese children

BACKGROUND AND AIMS

Morphological awareness is an essential ability for successful reading. This study aimed to explore the contribution of morphological awareness to reading comprehension (RC) in Chinese. Particularly, this study sought to determine whether the relation between morphological awareness and RC differs across various facets of morphological awareness (homophone awareness, homonym awareness, and compounding awareness), grades, or ability levels.

SAMPLES AND METHODS

A total of 148 Chinese students were evaluated on a battery of tests from third to sixth grade. Multiple regression analyses were used to examine the unique roles of homophone, homonym, and compounding awareness on RC in different grades. Quantile regression analyses were conducted to investigate the more or less influences of facets of morphological awareness on RC across the ability range.

RESULTS

A series of multiple and quantile regressions revealed that (1) compounding awareness rather than homophone awareness and homonym awareness, directly and uniquely explained the development of RC, (2) the effect of compounding awareness on RC increased with grade level, and (3) the contribution of compounding awareness to RC decreased as children move from poor to better readers.

CONCLUSIONS

The findings reveal a developmental shift in the relation between morphological awareness and RC, as well as clarify when and for whom to enhance which facet of morphological awareness is particularly important.

The Relationship Between Morphological Awareness and Reading Comprehension Among Chinese Children

The present study examined the developmental relationship between morphological awareness and reading comprehension, using a 1-year longitudinal study with a sample of 439 Chinese-speaking students in Grades 1, 3, and 5, respectively. Children's text reading and three components of morphological awareness: homophone awareness, homograph awareness and compounding awareness were measured. After controlling for word reading, vocabulary knowledge, IQ, rapid automatized naming and phonological awareness measured at the initial level, the structural equation modeling results indicated that children's compounding awareness made a significant direct contribution to reading comprehension only from Grade 5 to 6. Children's reading comprehension also made a unique contribution to compounding awareness from Grade 5 to 6. Thus a reciprocal relationship between compounding awareness and reading comprehension was found for Grade 5 to 6. Reading comprehension in Grades 3 and 5 predicted homophone awareness in Grades 4 and 6 were marginal significance, respectively, but initial homophone awareness did not predict later reading comprehension across grades. Furthermore, there no unique connection between homograph awareness and reading comprehension across grades. These findings suggest a dynamic relationship between different aspects of morphological awareness and reading comprehension in Chinese-speaking children across elementary school years.