The Predictive Power Of Chinese Key Linguistic Skills On Chinese Students' English Word Reading And Spelling:the Mediating Effect Of English Linguistic Skills

English is one of the most widely used languages in the world.English word reading and spelling,as two basic aspects of English language acquisition,have received extensive attention in Chinese English teaching.Numerous studies have indicated that English linguistic skills play an important role in English word reading and spelling.However,relevant researches show that Chinese linguistic skills(CLS)also can contribute to English literacy development,and this effect may be direct or indirect realized by the mediating effect of English linguistic skills(ELS).According to the current literature,most studies on linguistic skills focus on the reading skill,while little attention has been paid to the spelling skill.Therefore,this study also takes the spelling into consideration.And this study chooses students from Grade 6 of Jianhu Experimental Primary School in Jiangsu Province as the research objects to investigate the predictive role of Chinese key linguistic skills upon English word reading(EWR)and English word spelling(EWS).The results indicate that:1)CLS and ELS are significantly correlated and the correlation efficient between Chinese phonological awareness(CPA)and English morphological awareness(EMA)ranks first among all correlation analyses;2)In terms of ELS and EWR and EWS,except English orthographic awareness(EOA),both EPA and EMA can contribute to EWR and EWS;3)With ELS controlled,Chinese phonological memory(CPM)can significantly predict EWR,and CPA and CMA can indirectly predict EWR through the mediating effect of EPA and EMA;CMA can directly explain the variance of EWS,and CPA can indirectly predict the EWS mediated by EPA and EMA.This study provides more theoretical support for the relationship between English and Chinese linguistic skills and English literacy development,and it enriches the previous research on the influence of Chinese linguistic skills on Chinese children's English word-level literacy development.Also,this research provides some pedagogical inspirations for English teaching and learning,and also sheds light on future studies.