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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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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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-010-9293-4