title: Cross-Lagged Relationships between Morphological Awareness and Reading Comprehension among Chinese Children.
abstract: The present study examined the developmental relationship between morphological awareness (MA) and reading comprehension (RC) using a 2-year and four-wave cross-lagged design with a sample of 149 Chinese children (80 males and 69 females). We measured children's MA, word reading (WR), and RC from T1 to T4, in addition to phonological awareness, vocabulary knowledge, and general cognitive ability at T1 as control measures. Four plausible cross-lagged models were assessed and compared to examine the direction of the developmental relationships between MA and RC over time. Results found support for a reciprocal-causation model, that is, MA stably predicted subsequent RC, and the reverse relation was also found. Longitudinal mediation analyses revealed that WR partially mediated the relationship between MA and RC in Chinese children. These findings extend our understanding of the relationship between MA and RC. The practical implications for these two developing skills in Chinese children are discussed.
authors.affiliation: Department of Psychology, Ningbo UniversityNingbo, China; Research Center of Children's Reading and Learning, Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, School of Psychology, Beijing Normal UniversityBeijing, China.
authors.forename: Yahua
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Cheng
authors.affiliation: College of Education, University of Houston, Houston TX, USA.
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Children's Reading and Learning, Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Xinchun
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Children's Reading and Learning, Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Hongyun
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.affiliation: Research Center of Children's Reading and Learning, Beijing Key Laboratory of Applied Experimental Psychology, School of Psychology, Beijing Normal University Beijing, China.
authors.forename: Hong
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Li
keywords: Chinese children; longitudinal cross-lagged study; morphological awareness; reading comprehension; word reading