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Syntactic skills in sentence reading comprehension among Chinese elementary school children

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Abstract

The present study examined the role of syntactic skills for reading comprehension in Chinese. Two hundred and seventy-two Chinese children were tested on their phonological processing, orthographic, morphological, syntactic, and literacy skills at Grades 1 and 2. Hierarchical multiple regression results showed that syntactic skills, in terms of word order, connective usage, and knowledge of morphosyntactic structure (measured by an oral cloze task) in Grade 1, significantly predicted sentence reading comprehension in Grade 2 after controlling for the children’s age, IQ, and word level reading-related cognitive skills in Grade 1, and word reading in Grade 2. As in alphabetic languages, syntactic skills are essential for reading comprehension in Chinese. The unique roles of individual syntactic skills for understanding sentences in Chinese are discussed.

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Acknowledgments

This research was funded by READ & WRITE: A Jockey Club Learning Support Network from The Hong Kong Jockey Club Charities Trust. Special thanks are due to Ms. Suk-han Lee and Ms. Suk-man Tsang, Education Bureau, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government, Hong Kong, China, for their valuable advices and suggestions.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Curriculum and Instruction, Centre for Learning Study, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, 10 Lo Ping Road, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong

    Pakey Pui-man Chik

  2. Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam Road, Pokfulam, Hong Kong

    Connie Suk-han Ho & Pui-sze Yeung

  3. Department of Educational Psychology, Faculty of Education, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Sha Tin, Hong Kong

    David Wai-ock Chan

  4. Department of Special Education and Counselling, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, 10 Lo Ping Road, Tai Po, New Territories, Hong Kong

    Kevin Kien-hoa Chung

  5. Faculty of Social Sciences, Psychology Unit, Hong Kong Baptist University, Sha Tin, Hong Kong

    Hui Luan

  6. Department of Counselling and Psychology, Hong Kong Shue Yan University, 10 Wai Tsui Crescent, Braemar Hill, North Point, Hong Kong

    Lap-yan Lo

  7. Hong Kong, China

    Wendy Suet-yee Lau

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  1. Pakey Pui-man Chik
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  2. Connie Suk-han Ho
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  6. Hui Luan
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Correspondence to Connie Suk-han Ho.

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Chik, P.Pm., Ho, C.Sh., Yeung, Ps. et al. Syntactic skills in sentence reading comprehension among Chinese elementary school children. Read Writ 25, 679–699 (2012). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-010-9293-4

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