Longitudinal predictors of spelling and reading comprehension in Chinese as an L1 and English as an L2 in Hong Kong Chinese children.

• DOI: 10.1037/a0026445
• Publication Date: 2012-01-17T17:57:27Z
• Authors: Tong Li; Catherine McBride...; Anita Wong; Hua Shu
• Keywords: Spelling; Longitudinal Study

Predictors of age 10 spelling and reading comprehension skills in both Chinese English from vocabulary knowledge, phonological awareness, rapid automatized naming (RAN), word at 8 were tested this longitudinal study 141 Hong Kong children learning to read as a second language. The correlation between was .64, whereas the two languages .66. For spelling, only RAN target language unique predictors; association reduced once concurrent other statistically controlled. In contrast, predictors knowledge English, well awareness reading. Father's income reliable predictor but not comprehension; girls also tended be better readers than boys overall. With all literacy variables included separate regression equations, or uniquely associated with language, supporting notion transfer for each skill. Findings highlight possibility show that L2 differ predictable ways.