Hostname: page-component-cb9f654ff-hn9fh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2025-08-23T15:40:49.179Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Contributions of vocabulary and discourse-level skills to reading comprehension among Chinese elementary school children

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  19 November 2018

CONNIE SUK-HAN HO ,
CATHY YUI-CHI FONG  and
MO ZHENG
CONNIE SUK-HAN HO*
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong
CATHY YUI-CHI FONG
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong
MO ZHENG
Affiliation:
University of Hong Kong
*
ADDRESS FOR CORRESPONDENCE Connie Suk-Han Ho, Psychology Department, University of Hong Kong, Room 661, 6/F, The Jockey Club Tower, Centennial Campus, Pokfulam Road, Hong Kong. E-mail: shhoc@hku.hk
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Decoding and language comprehension skills have been found to be the core components of reading comprehension across many writing systems. The present study examined the contributions of vocabulary and some discourse-level skills to reading comprehension in Chinese in addition to that of decoding. One hundred and seventeen Chinese second and third graders in Hong Kong were tested on decoding, vocabulary, discourse-level skills, and verbal working memory. Results of multiple regression analyses showed that the discourse-level skills contributed an additional 5% of variance to reading comprehension over decoding, vocabulary, and other control variables, and all factors accounted for a total of 70% variance in reading comprehension. Further path analysis showed that all the direct paths of word reading, vocabulary, text-structure knowledge, and topic knowledge to reading comprehension were significant. Vocabulary also contributed to reading comprehension through indirect paths to discourse-level knowledge. The present findings support the simple view of reading with elaborations on the language comprehension component, namely, (a) vocabulary is a foundational language skill for text comprehension through its role on discourse-level knowledge, and (b) some discourse-level knowledge also plays an important role in passage comprehension.

Keywords

Chinesedecodingdiscourse-level skillsreading comprehensionvocabulary

Information

Type
Original Article
Information
Applied Psycholinguistics , Volume 40 , Issue 2 , March 2019 , pp. 323 - 349
Copyright
© Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

Article purchase

Temporarily unavailable

References

REFERENCES

Aaron, P. G., Joshi, R. M., Gooden, R., & Bentum, K. E. (2008). Diagnosis and treatment of reading disabilities based on the component model of reading an alternative to the discrepancy model of LD. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 41, 67–84. doi:10.1177/0022219407310838Google Scholar
Aaron, P. G., Joshi, M., & Williams, K. A. (1999). Not all reading disabilities are alike. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 32, 120–137. doi:10.1177/002221949903200203Google Scholar
Baker, L. (1984). Children’s effective use of multiple standards for evaluating their comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 76, 588–597. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.76.4.588Google Scholar
Baldwin, R. S., Peleg-Bruckner, Z., & McClintock, A. H. (1985). Effects of topic interest and prior knowledge on reading comprehension. Reading Research Quarterly, 20, 497–504. doi:10.2307/747856Google Scholar
Bloom, P. (2000). How children learn the meanings of words. Cambridge, MA: MIT Press.Google Scholar
Cain, K. (2010). Reading development and difficulties. Oxford: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Cain, K., & Oakhill, J. V. (1996). The nature of the relationship between comprehension skill and the ability to tell a story. British Journal of Developmental Psychology, 14, 187–201. doi:10.1111/j.2044-835x.1996.tb00701.xGoogle Scholar
Cain, K., & Oakhill, J. V. (1999). Inference making ability and its relation to comprehension failure in young children. Reading and Writing, 11, 489–503. doi:10.1023/A:1008084120205Google Scholar
Cain, K., Oakhill, J. V., Barnes, M. A., & Bryant, P. E. (2001). Comprehension skill, inference-making ability, and their relation to knowledge. Memory and Cognition, 29, 850–859.Google Scholar
Cain, K., Oakhill, J., & Bryant, P. (2004). Children’s reading comprehension ability: Concurrent prediction by working memory, verbal ability, and component skills. Journal of Educational Psychology, 96, 31–42. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.96.1.31Google Scholar
Carr, S. C., & Thompson, B. (1996). The effects of prior knowledge and schema activation strategies on the inferential reading comprehension of children with and without learning disabilities. Learning Disability Quarterly, 19, 48–61. doi:10.2307/1511053Google Scholar
Catts, H. W., Adlof, S. M., & Weismer, S. E. (2006). Language deficits in poor comprehenders: A case for the simple view of reading. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 49, 278–293. doi:10.1044/1092-4388(2006/023)Google Scholar
Chang, H. W. (1992). The acquisition of Chinese syntax. Advances in Psychology, 90, 277–311. doi:10.1016/S0166-4115(08)61895-6Google Scholar
Chao, Y. R. (1968). A grammar of spoken Chinese. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Chen, R. S., & Vellutino, F. R. (1997). Prediction of reading ability: A cross-validation study of the simple view of reading. Journal of Literacy Research, 29, 1–24. doi:10.1080/10862969709547947Google Scholar
Chik, P. P.-M., Ho, C. S.-H., Yeung, P.-S., Wong, H. Y.-K., Chan, D. W., Chung, K. K.-H., & Lo, L.-Y. (2012). Contribution of discourse and morphosyntax skills to reading comprehension in Chinese dyslexic and typically developing children. Annals of Dyslexia, 62, 1–18. doi:10.1007/s11881-010-0045-6Google Scholar
de Jong, P. F., & van der Leij, A. (2002). Effects of phonological abilities and linguistic comprehension on the development of reading. Scientific Studies of Reading, 6, 51–77. doi:10.1207/S1532799XSSR0601_03Google Scholar
Duff, F. J., Reen, G., Plunkett, K., & Nation, K. (2015). Do infant vocabulary skills predict school-age language and literacy outcomes? Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 56, 848–856.Google Scholar
Florit, E., & Cain, K. (2011). The simple view of reading: Is it valid for different types of alphabetic orthographies? Educational Psychology Review, 23, 553–576. doi:10.1007/s10648-011-9175-6Google Scholar
Gentaz, E., Sprenger-Charolles, L., & Theurel, A. (2015). Differences in the predictors of reading comprehension in first graders from low socio-economic status families with either good or poor decoding skills. PLOS ONE, 10, e0119581. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0119581Google Scholar
Gough, P. B., & Tunmer, W. E. (1986). Decoding, reading, and reading disability. Remedial and Special Education, 7, 6–10. doi:10.1177/074193258600700104Google Scholar
Ho, C. S. H., Chan, D. W. O., Chung, K., Tsang, S. M., Lee, S. H., & Cheng, R. W. Y. (2007). The Hong Kong test of specific learning difficulties in reading and writing for primary school students (2nd ed.). Hong Kong, China: Hong Kong Specific Learning Difficulties Research Team.Google Scholar
Ho, C. S.-H., Chow, B. W.-Y., Wong, S. W.-L., Waye, M. M. Y., & Bishop, D. V. M. (2012). The genetic and environmental foundation of the simple view of reading in Chinese. PLOS ONE, 7, e47872. doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0047872Google Scholar
Hong Kong Education Department. (1986). Hong Kong supplement to guide to the standard progressive matrices. Hong Kong, China: Hong Kong Government.Google Scholar
Hoover, W. A., & Gough, P. B. (1990). The simple view of reading. Reading and Writing, 2, 127–160. doi:10.1007/BF00401799Google Scholar
Johnston, T. C., & Kirby, J. R. (2006). The contribution of naming speed to the simple view of reading. Reading and Writing, 19, 339–361. doi:10.1007/s11145-005-4644-2Google Scholar
Joshi, R. M., & Aaron, P. G. (2000). The component model of reading: Simple view of reading made a little more complex. Reading Psychology, 21, 85–97. doi:10.1080/02702710050084428Google Scholar
Joshi, R. M., Ji, X. R., Breznitz, Z., Amiel, M., & Yulia, A. (2015). Validation of the simple view of reading in Hebrew—A semitic language. Scientific Studies of Reading, 19, 243–252. doi:10.1080/10888438.2015.1010117Google Scholar
Joshi, R. M., Tao, S., Aaron, P. G., & Quiroz, B. (2012). Cognitive component of componential model of reading applied to different orthographies. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 45, 480–486. doi:10.1177/0022219411432690Google Scholar
Keenan, J. M., Betjemann, R. S., Wadsworth, S. J., DeFries, J. C., & Olson, R. K. (2006). Genetic and environmental influences on reading and listening comprehension. Journal of Research in Reading, 29, 75–91. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9817.2006.00293.xGoogle Scholar
Kintsch, W., & Kintsch, E. (2005). Comprehension. In S. G. Paris & S. A. Stahl (Eds.), Children’s reading comprehension and assessment (pp. 71–92). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Kirby, J. R., Desrochers, A., Roth, L., & Lai, S. S. (2008). Longitudinal predictors of word reading development. Canadian Psychology, 49, 103–110. doi:10.1037/0708-5591.49.2.103Google Scholar
Kirby, J. R., & Savage, R. S. (2008). Can the simple view deal with the complexities of reading? Literacy, 42, 75–82.Google Scholar
Leong, C. K., Tse, S. K., Loh, K. Y., & Hau, K. T. (2008). Text comprehension in Chinese children: Relative contribution of verbal working memory, pseudoword reading, rapid automatized naming, and onset-rime phonological segmentation. Journal of Educational Psychology, 100, 135–149. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.100.1.135Google Scholar
Lepola, J., Lynch, J., Laakkonen, E., Silvén, M., & Niemi, P. (2012). The role of inference making and other language skills in the development of narrative listening comprehension in 4–6‐year‐old children. Reading Research Quarterly, 47, 259–282. doi:10.1002/rrq.020Google Scholar
Leung, M. T., & Lee, A. (2002). The Hong Kong corpus of primary school Chinese. Paper presented at the 9th meeting of the International Clinical Phonetics and Linguistics Association, Hong Kong.Google Scholar
Li, C., & Thompson, S. (1981). A functional reference grammar of Mandarin Chinese. Berkeley, CA: University of California Press.Google Scholar
Lo, L.-Y., Ho, C. S.-H., Wong, Y.-K., Chan, D. W., & Chung, K. K.-H. (2015). Understanding the microstructure and macrostructure of passages among Chinese elementary school children. Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 45, 1287–1300. doi:10.1007/s10936-015-9402-2Google Scholar
McKeown, M. G., Beck, I. L., Omanson, R. C., & Perfetti, C. A. (1983). The effects of long-term vocabulary instruction on reading comprehension: A replication. Journal of Literacy Research, 15, 3–18. doi:10.1080/10862968309547474Google Scholar
Muter, V., Hulme, C., Snowling, M. J., & Stevenson, J. (2004). Phonemes, rimes, vocabulary, and grammatical skills as foundations of early reading development: Evidence from a longitudinal study. Developmental Psychology, 40, 665–681. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.40.5.665Google Scholar
Muthén, L. K., & Muthén, B. O. (2012). MPlus users guide (7th ed.). Los Angeles: Author.Google Scholar
Nation, K., & Snowling, M. J. (1998). Semantic processing and the development of word-recognition skills: Evidence from children with reading comprehension difficulties. Journal of Memory and Language, 39, 85–101. doi:10.1006/jmla.1998.2564Google Scholar
Norman, D. A., & Bobrow, D. G. (1975). On data-limited and resource-limited processes. Cognitive Psychology, 7, 44–64. doi:10.1016/0010-0285(75)90004-3Google Scholar
Oakhill, J. V., & Cain, K. (2012). The precursors of reading ability in young readers: Evidence from a four-year longitudinal study. Scientific Studies of Reading, 16, 91–121. doi:10.1080/10888438.2010.529219Google Scholar
Oakhill, J. V., Cain, K., & Elbro, C. (2014). Understanding and teaching reading comprehension: A handbook. London: Routledge.Google Scholar
Oakhill, J. V., Hartt, J., & Samols, D. (2005). Levels of comprehension monitoring and working memory in good and poor comprehenders. Reading and Writing, 18, 657–686. doi:10.1007/s11145-005-3355-zGoogle Scholar
Ouellette, G. P. (2006). What’s meaning got to do with it: The role of vocabulary in word reading and reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98, 554–566. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.98.3.554Google Scholar
Perfetti, C. A. (1999). Comprehending written language: A blueprint of the reader. In C. M. Brown & P. Hagoort (Eds.), The neurocognition of language (pp. 167–208). Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Perfetti, C. A., Landi, N., & Oakhill, J. (2005). The science of reading: A handbook. In M. J. Snowling, & C. Hulme (Eds.), The acquisition of reading comprehension skill (pp. 227–247). Malden, MA: Blackwell.Google Scholar
Perfetti, C. A., Marron, M. A., & Foltz, P. W. (1996). Sources of comprehension failure: Theoretical perspective and case studies. In C. Cornoldi & J. V. Oakhill (Eds.), Reading comprehension difficulties: Processes and remediation (pp. 137–165). Mahwah, NJ: Erlbaum.Google Scholar
Plaut, D. C., McClelland, J. L., Seidenberg, M. S., & Patterson, K. (1996). Understanding normal and impaired word reading: Computational principles in quasi-regular domains. Psychological Review, 103, 56–115. doi:10.1037/0033-295x.103.1.56Google Scholar
Priebe, S. J., Keenan, J. M., & Miller, A. C. (2012). How prior knowledge affects word identification and comprehension. Reading and Writing, 25, 131–149. doi:10.1007/s11145-010-9260-0Google Scholar
RAND Reading Study Group. (2002). Reading for understanding: Toward an R&D program in reading comprehension. Santa Monica, CA: RAND Corporation.Google Scholar
Raven, J. C., Court, J. H., & Raven, J. (1996). Standard progressive matrices. Oxford: Oxford Psychologists.Google Scholar
Rydland, V., Aukrust, V. G., & Fulland, H. (2012). How word decoding, vocabulary and prior topic knowledge predict reading comprehension: A study of language-minority students in Norwegian fifth grade classrooms. Reading and Writing, 25, 465–482. doi:10.1007/s11145-010-9279-2Google Scholar
Savage, R. (2006). Reading comprehension is not always the product of nonsense word decoding and linguistic comprehension: Evidence from teenagers who are extremely poor readers. Scientific Studies of Reading, 10, 143–164. doi:10.1207/s1532799xssr1002_2Google Scholar
Silva, M., & Cain, K. (2015). The relations between lower and higher level comprehension skills and their role in prediction of early reading comprehension. Journal of Educational Psychology, 107, 321–331. doi:10.1037/a0037769Google Scholar
Spencer, M., Quinn, J. M., & Wagner, R. K. (2014). Specific reading comprehension disability: Major problem, myth, or misnomer? Learning Disabilities Research & Practice, 29, 3–9. doi:10.1111/ldrp.12024Google Scholar
Tannenbaum, K. R., Torgesen, J. K., & Wagner, R. K. (2006). Relationships between word knowledge and reading comprehension in third-grade children. Scientific Studies of Reading, 10, 381–398. doi:10.1207/s1532799xssr1004_3Google Scholar
Tobia, V., & Bonifacci, P. (2015). The simple view of reading in a transparent orthography: The stronger role of oral comprehension. Reading and Writing, 28, 939–957. doi:10.1007/s11145-015-9556-1Google Scholar
Torgesen, J. K., Wagner, R. K., Rashotte, C. A., Burgess, S., & Hecht, S. (1997). Contributions of phonological awareness and rapid automatic naming ability to the growth of word-reading skills in second-to fifth-grade children. Scientific Studies of Reading, 1, 161–185. doi:10.1207/s1532799xssr0102_4Google Scholar
Tse, S. K., Lam, W. Y., Lam, Y. H., & Law, K. Y. (2005). Children’s reading development: Hong Kong and international comparison. Hong Kong: Hong Kong University Press. (In Chinese)Google Scholar
Uppstad, P. H., & Solheim, O. J. (2012). Code and comprehension in written language—Considering limitations to the simple view of reading. L1-Educational Studies in Language and Literature, 11, 159–174.Google Scholar
Wong, T. T. Y., Ho, C. S.-H., & Tang, J. (2015). Defective number sense or impaired access? Differential impairment in different subgroups of children with mathematics difficulties. Journal of Learning Disabilities. Advance online publication. doi:10.1177/0022219415588851Google Scholar
Yeung, P.-S., Ho, C. S.-H., Chan, D. W., & Chung, K. K.-H. (2016). A componential model of reading in Chinese. Learning and Individual Differences, 45, 11–24.Google Scholar
Yeung, P.-S., Ho, C. S.-H., Chan, D. W., Chung, K. K.-H., & Wong, Y.-K. (2013). A model of reading comprehension in Chinese elementary school children. Learning and Individual Differences, 25, 55–66. doi:10.1016/j.lindif.2013.03.004Google Scholar
Yovanoff, P., Duesbery, L., Alonzo, J., & Tindal, G. (2005). Grade‐level invariance of a theoretical causal structure predicting reading comprehension with vocabulary and oral reading fluency. Educational Measurement: Issues and Practice, 24, 4–12. doi:10.1111/j.1745-3992.2005.00014.xGoogle Scholar
Yuill, N., & Oakhill, J. (1991). Children’s problems in text comprehension: An experimental investigation. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar