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Cross-lagged relationships between vocabulary knowledge and morphological awareness among Chinese children: a longitudinal study from grade 1 to grade 3

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Abstract

Examining changes in the longitudinal relationship between vocabulary knowledge and three types of morphological awareness (MA), a cross-lagged design was conducted with a sample of 146 Chinese children. Homophone awareness, homograph awareness, compounding awareness, and vocabulary knowledge were measured in grades 1 (T1), 2 (T2), and 3 (T3), respectively. After controlling for nonverbal IQ, phonological awareness, and rapid automatized naming, the structural equation modeling results showed that vocabulary knowledge significantly positively affected compounding awareness from T1 to T2 and T2 to T3. Vocabulary knowledge at T2 predicted homophone awareness and homograph awareness at T3. Furthermore, homograph awareness at T2 predicted vocabulary knowledge at T3. These findings provided evidence that vocabulary knowledge is a significant predictor of homophone awareness, homograph awareness, and compounding awareness; simultaneously, stressed the importance of three types of MA which might play different roles in Chinese vocabulary development. Moreover, the developmental relationship between the three types of MA and vocabulary knowledge is changing and has the characteristics of stages.

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Data Availability

The datasets generated during and/or analysed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

Data Availability

The datasets generated during and analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author on reasonable request.

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Funding

This research was supported by the National Social Science Found of Pedagogy General Project: Research on the Influence Mechanism and Intervention of Family Adaptation under the “Double Reduction” Policy (BBA220198).

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Parent Education Research Center, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China

    Yue Xia, Ruibo Xie & Zhenliang Wang

  2. Key Laboratory of Intelligent Education Technology and Application of Zhejiang Province, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China

    Yue Xia, Ruibo Xie & Zhenliang Wang

  3. College of Teacher Education, Zhejiang Normal University, Jinhua, China

    Yue Xia, Ruibo Xie & Zhenliang Wang

  4. Faculty of Psychology, Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, Research Center of Children’s Reading and Learning, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Xinchun Wu

  5. School of Applied Psychology, Beijing Normal University at Zhuhai, Zhuhai, China

    Xinchun Wu

  6. Collaborative Innovation Center of Assessment for Basic Education Quality, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China

    Thi Phuong Nguyen

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Xia, Y., Xie, R., Wu, X. et al. Cross-lagged relationships between vocabulary knowledge and morphological awareness among Chinese children: a longitudinal study from grade 1 to grade 3. Read Writ 37, 563–580 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-022-10364-5

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