Development And Predictors Of Word Reading Accuracy And Fluency In Lower Elementary Chinese Children:Evidence From A Longitudinal Study

When children learn to read written texts,word learning is one of the primary challenges they will face.After entering school,children begin to receive formal Chinese language education,and their word reading abilities rapidly develop.When studying children’s word reading abilities,accuracy and fluency are two widely studied indicators.However,previous studies often used cross-sectional or singletime-point designs,resulting in deficiencies in describing the developmental trends and influencing factors of word reading accuracy and fluency.To fill this research gap,this study conducted a two-year,four-time-point tracking study on 149 elementary school students.Based on this,we used a latent score change model to model the joint developmental trajectory of word reading accuracy and fluency.At the same time,this study systematically investigated five language-related cognitive skills,including phonological awareness,orthographic awareness,rapid naming,vocabulary knowledge,and morphological awareness,and their predictive effects on the initial state and development speed of word reading accuracy and fluency.Finally,this study explored the feasibility of early identification of children with reading disabilities and examined their early characteristics.Through these studies,we can have a more comprehensive understanding of the development of Chinese children’s word reading abilities,and provide a more scientific basis for Chinese language teaching.The main findings of this study are as follows:(1)In the early stages of primary school,word reading accuracy and fluency in children exhibit a bidirectional relationship,and both affect each other and develop together.Among them,the initial level and growth rate of reading accuracy are negatively correlated,showing a compensatory effect,while the initial level and growth rate of reading fluency are positively correlated,showing a Matthew effect.In addition,as time goes on,the development speed of children’s word reading accuracy and fluency gradually slows down.(2)Orthographic awareness and rapid naming have significant predictive effects on the initial state of word reading accuracy and fluency,while phonological awareness and rapid naming can significantly predict the development speed of word reading fluency.In addition,the predictive effects of cognitive and language skills have different distributions within the range of abilities,and they have different predictive effects on children with different ability levels.(3)By using machine learning models,children’s diagnosis of reading disabilities in the second grade can be accurately predicted based on cognitive,environmental,and psychological factors measured in the early stages of school entry.These factors all have important contributions when explaining the causes of reading disabilities.