| One of the most popular reading models now is the Simple View of Reading (SVR) which developed from English monolinguals. Based on that, Four-Components Models of Reading (4C) added two more components:verbal working memory (WM) and higher level comprehension. As a cognitive process, verbal working memory is used for verbal information to store and manipulate at same time. Although research on the reading comprehension across first language (L1) to second language (L2) is developing, few of them have mentioned verbal working memory in their study. The purpose of this study was to explore the relationship between verbal working memory and Chinese and English reading abilities in Chinese-English bilingual children whom are between8to13years old. There are47children who spoke Mandarin or Cantonese as their first language and English as their second language were tested about reading language, short-term memory and working memory in both English and Chinese. Overall, the results suggested that working memory is essential part in children’s first language and second language reading comprehension. In specific, cross-language relationships of phonological processing and cognitive abilities were found between the two languages. Moreover, when English working memory combined with other English linguistic skills, it played an important role in English reading. However, contrary to predictions, Chinese working memory did not connect to Chinese reading comprehension significantly. Furthermore, short term memory and working memory seems to be suppressor variable on English and Chinese reading comprehension. Finally, verbal working memory worked to English reading comprehension while non-verbal working memory worked to Chinese reading comprehension. It was found that minimal cross-language effects in second language reading comprehension. All the results also suggest that first language models could apply for the bilingual speakers. |
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