The Growth Of Chinese Word Reading In The Lower Elementary Grades

Reading ability is an important academic skill that is acquired during the elementary school. The previous longitudinal studies showed that the individual difference on reading performances had been shaped during Grade 1. The former studies on Chinese reading development in Grade 1 focused on static performance on reading tests, little research examined the growth of word reading skills during Grade 1. Therefore, the present study modelled the growth of word reading skills in Grade 1 using individual growth curves based on three-wave measurements of word reading in Grade 1. The present study also examined whether phonological processing skills and PASS cognitive processes contributed to the individual differences on the growth of word reading in Grade 1. Lastly, the present study examined the relationship between the growth of word reading in Grade 1 and the proximal and distal reading achievement.The first part examined the growth of word reading in Grade 1. Study 1 assessed the word decoding and reading fluency of 183 Chinese Grade 1 children in three time points, and modelled the growth of word reading in Grade 1 using individual growth curve analysis. The results showed that the growth of word reading skills was linear, and the intercept correlated with the slopes negatively indicating the growth is compensatory. However, groups of students who had a low/middle/high performance on the first testing showed different growth modelling. More specifically, the intercept of word decoding correlated with the slope positively in the low-performing group, different from other two groups, and the intercept of reading fluency did not correlate with the slope in the middle-performing group.On the basis of Study 1, Study 2 examined the developmental trajectories of wording reading in Grade 1 using latent class growth modelling. The results showed that there were four groups named the High group, the Above Average group, the Below Average group, and the Risk for Reading Difficulties group. The reading fluency slope of the High group did not differ from that of the Above Average group, whereas the word decoding slope of the High group was lower than that of the Above Average group. There was no difference between the reading fluency slope of the Below Average group and that of the Risk for Reading Difficulties group, but the word decoding slope of the Below Average group was higher that of the Risk for Reading Difficulties group.Study 3 in the second part examined the contribution of phonological processing skills and PASS cognitive processes in the first time point to the growth of word reading in Grade 1. The results of hierarchical regression analysis showed that both contributed to word reading. More specifically, rapid naming can uniquely explain the intercepts of word decoding and reading fluency, and also the slope of reading fluency. The Planning and Simultaneous processing can explain the intercept of word decoding, and they had an indirect effect on the intercept of reading fluency through rapid naming. The attention skill can uniquely explain the slopes of word decoding and reading fluency. Besides, the Planning and rapid naming can distinguish the four groups that had different developmental trajectories.The third part examined the relationship between the growth of word reading in Grade 1 and proximal and distal reading achievement. Study 4 examined whether the growth of word reading could explain the reading comprehension and reading attainment at the end of Grades 1 and 2. The results showed that both of the intercepts and slopes of word decoding and reading fluency made contribution to reading comprehension and reading attainment. The most important predictor to the reading achievement was the intercept of word decoding, and the next was the intercept of reading fluency. The contribution of the word decoding slope to the reading achievement at the end of Grade 1 was higher than that of the reading fluency slope, and the contribution of the reading fluency slope to the reading achievement at the end of Grade 2 was higher than that of the word decoding slope.Study 5 examined whether the intercepts and slopes of word reading in Grade 1 could predict the reading difficulties status at the end of Grade 2. and examined whether its predictive power was above the model of the intercepts of word decoding and reading fluency, and the model of word decoding, reading fluency and reading comprehension at the end of Grade 1. The result confirmed this hypothesis.