Abstract
This study examined the direct and indirect relations of foundational language skills (vocabulary, syntactic knowledge, and orthographic knowledge), higher-order cognitive skills (inference making and comprehension monitoring), and word reading to reading comprehension in Chinese. Consistent with the hierarchical relations specified in the Direct and Indirect Effect Model of Reading (DIER, Kim, Journal of Educational Psychology, 112(4):667–684, 2020a; Journal of Learning Disabilities, 2020b), the foundational language skills are considered as lower level skills, and the higher-order cognitive skills and word reading are considered as upper level skills in this study. Participants were 164 Chinese (Mandarin)-speaking third graders. Results revealed that syntactic knowledge, orthographic knowledge, inference making, comprehension monitoring, and word reading made direct contributions to reading comprehension. In addition, syntactic knowledge contributed indirectly to reading comprehension via inference making, comprehension monitoring, and word reading. Orthographic knowledge also contributed indirectly to reading comprehension via comprehension monitoring. Language skills, higher-order cognitive skills, and word reading explained 72% of variances in reading comprehension. The findings highlight both the direct and indirect pathways and effects of various language and higher-order cognitive skills on reading comprehension in Chinese.
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This study was funded by a grant awarded to the first author by Humanities and Social Science Fund of Ministry of Education of China (Grant Number: 17YJC740126).
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Zhao, A., Guo, Y. & Dinnesen, M.S. The direct and indirect effects of language and cognitive skills on Chinese reading comprehension. Read Writ 35, 539–564 (2022). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-021-10192-z
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-021-10192-z