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Transfer? Reading, writing, and parental factors in Hong Kong Chinese families across Chinese and English

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Abstract

The role of parental literacy skills in cross-linguistic transfer, the phenomenon of the sharing of skills and competence from one language to another, is under-researched. The present study tested 147 Hong Kong Chinese children and their parents (76 boys; mean age = 7.16). Parental literacy skills significantly explained children’s reading and spelling in English after controlling for socioeconomic status, highlighting the role of parental skills in facilitating children’s second language development. Cross-linguistic transfers between Chinese and English were found between reading and writing after controlling for age, grade, non-verbal intelligence, and socioeconomic status. The results were replicated with another twin sample.

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The data that support the findings of this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

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Acknowledgements

This research was funded by the Collaborative Research Fund from the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Research Grants Council (C4054-17W) awarded to Catherine McBride.

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Author notes

  1. Christine Kong-Yan Tong

    Present address: Department of Psychology, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

  2. Xiujie Yang

    Present address: School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

  3. Catherine McBride

    Present address: Department of Human Development and Family Studies, Purdue University, Indiana, United States

  4. Dora Jue Pan

    Present address: School of Humanities and Social Science, The Chinese University of Hong Kong (Shenzhen), Shenzhen, China

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Psychology, Faculty of Social Sciences, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong, Hong Kong

    Christine Kong-Yan Tong, Jana Chi San Ho, Xiujie Yang, Catherine McBride, Melody Chi Ying Ng & Dora Jue Pan

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Appendix

Appendix

See Tables 3, 4 and Figs. 10 , 11 , 12 , 13 , 14 , 15 , 16 and 17

Table 3 Mean scores, standard deviations, and reliability of all measures (in the Other Twins) (N = 147)
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Table 4 Zero-order correlational analyses of all variables (in the other twins) (N = 147)
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Fig. 10
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Model 1a of English word reading with standardized coefficient estimates

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Fig. 11
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Model 1b of English spelling with standardized coefficient estimates. Ageyr1 = Age in Years; Grade1 = Grade; NVIQ = non-verbal intelligence; SESComposite = Composite score in socioeconomic status; EWR1Log = log-transformed English Word Reading; EDICT1Log = log-transformed English Spelling; SWRAV = parental English literacy skills. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

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Fig. 12
figure 12

Model 1c of Chinese word reading with standardized coefficient estimates

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Fig. 13
figure 13

Model 1d of English spelling with standardized coefficient estimates. Ageyr1 = Age in Years; Grade1 = Grade; NVIQ = non-verbal intelligence; SESComposite = Composite score in socioeconomic status; CWR = Chinese word reading; CDICT Chinese Spelling; ParentCDICTAvg = parental Chinese literacy skills. *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

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Fig. 14
figure 14

Model 2a of English word reading with standardized coefficient estimates

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Fig. 15
figure 15

Model 2b of English spelling with standardized coefficient estimates. Ageyr1 = Age in Years; Grade1 = Grade; NVIQ = non-verbal intelligence; SESComposite = Composite score in socioeconomic status; EWR1Log = log-transformed English Word Reading; EDICT1Log = log-transformed English Spelling; CWR Chinese word reading; CDICT Chinese spelling *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

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Fig. 16
figure 16

Model 2c of Chinese word reading with standardized coefficient estimates

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Fig. 17
figure 17

Model 2d of English spelling with standardized coefficient estimates. Note. Ageyr1 = Age in Years; Grade1 = Grade; NVIQ = non-verbal intelligence; SESComposite = Composite score in socioeconomic status; EWR1Log = log-transformed English Word Reading; EDICTLog = Log-transformed English Spelling; CWR = Chinese Word Reading; CDICT = Chinese Spelling *p < .05, **p < .01, ***p < .001

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Tong, C.KY., Ho, J.C.S., Yang, X. et al. Transfer? Reading, writing, and parental factors in Hong Kong Chinese families across Chinese and English. Read Writ 36, 1997–2023 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10372-5

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