Early oral language markers of poor reading performance in Hong Kong Chinese children.
This study investigated the extent to which language skills at ages 2 to 4 years could discriminate Hong Kong Chinese poor from adequate readers at age 7. Selected were 41 poor readers (age M = 87.6 months) and 41 adequate readers (age M = 88.3 months). The two groups were matched on age, parents' education levels, and nonverbal intelligence. The following language tasks were tested at different ages: vocabulary checklist and Cantonese articulation test at age 2; nonword repetition, Cantonese articulation, and receptive grammar at age 3; and nonword repetition, receptive grammar, sentence imitation, and story comprehension at age 4. Significant differences between the poor and adequate readers were found in the age 2 vocabulary knowledge, age 3 Cantonese articulation, and age 4 receptive grammar skill, sentence imitation, and story comprehension. Among these measures, sentence imitation showed the greatest power in discriminating poor and adequate readers.
Liu
Phil D
PD
Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, N.T. Hong Kong, China.
McBride-Chang
Catherine
C
Wong
Anita M-Y
AM
Tardif
Twila
T
Stokes
Stephanie F
SF
Fletcher
Paul
P
Hua Shu
D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004410:Dyslexia / Q000175:diagnosis* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D006723:Hong Kong; D006801:Humans; D007804:Language Development; D007807:Language Tests; D016015:Logistic Models; D008297:Male; D011932:Reading; D012307:Risk Factors; D013060:Speech; D013062:Speech Articulation Tests; D014825:Vocabulary