TY - JOUR
T1 - Within- and cross-language pathways from morphological awareness to reading comprehension in Chinese-English bilingual children
AU - Li, Ran
AU - Cain, Kate
AU - Tong, Shelley Xiuli
N1 - This study was supported by the ESRC/RGC Joint Research Scheme (ES/K010425/1), awarded to Shelley Xiuli Tong and Kate Cain; the Research Fellow Scheme (RFS 2021- 7H05); and General Research Fund (17621321, 17625125), awarded to Shelley Xiuli Tong by the Research Grants Council of Hong Kong, Special Administrative Region of China. We thank all undergraduate research assistants for data collection. We are also especially grateful to the parents and children for their participation.
Publisher Copyright:
© The Author(s) 2026.
PY - 2026/6/29
Y1 - 2026/6/29
N2 - Morphological awareness is a critical predictor of reading comprehension, yet its direct and indirect contributions within and across languages remain complex in bilingual children, particularly in typologically distinct language pairs. We examined pathways from morphological awareness to reading comprehension within and across first language (L1) Chinese and second language (L2) English in Chinese-English bilinguals. A cross-sectional sample of 467 Hong Kong students in Grade 2 (n = 150, age = 8.10 years), Grade 5 (n = 158, age = 11.19 years), and Grade 8 (n = 159, age = 13.79 years) completed measures of morphological awareness, vocabulary, word reading, and reading comprehension in both L1 and L2. Grade-specific structural equation models showed that L1 morphological awareness predicted L1 reading comprehension indirectly via vocabulary in Grade 2, but directly in Grades 5 and 8. L2 morphological awareness predicted L2 reading comprehension directly and indirectly via vocabulary and word reading in Grade 2, directly in Grade 5, and directly and indirectly via vocabulary in Grade 8. Across languages, L1 morphological awareness supported L2 reading comprehension through L2 morphological awareness, vocabulary, and word reading and L2 morphological awareness supported L1 reading comprehension through L1 morphological awareness and vocabulary in Grade 2. By Grade 5, there was an indirect pathway from L1 to L2 via L2 morphological awareness. In Grade 8, significant indirect effects emerged bidirectionally via morphological awareness in the other language. Findings reveal a dynamic role of morphological awareness in bilingual reading comprehension, highlighting the need for grade-tailored, language-general and language-specific morphological instruction in literacy support for bilingual children.
AB - Morphological awareness is a critical predictor of reading comprehension, yet its direct and indirect contributions within and across languages remain complex in bilingual children, particularly in typologically distinct language pairs. We examined pathways from morphological awareness to reading comprehension within and across first language (L1) Chinese and second language (L2) English in Chinese-English bilinguals. A cross-sectional sample of 467 Hong Kong students in Grade 2 (n = 150, age = 8.10 years), Grade 5 (n = 158, age = 11.19 years), and Grade 8 (n = 159, age = 13.79 years) completed measures of morphological awareness, vocabulary, word reading, and reading comprehension in both L1 and L2. Grade-specific structural equation models showed that L1 morphological awareness predicted L1 reading comprehension indirectly via vocabulary in Grade 2, but directly in Grades 5 and 8. L2 morphological awareness predicted L2 reading comprehension directly and indirectly via vocabulary and word reading in Grade 2, directly in Grade 5, and directly and indirectly via vocabulary in Grade 8. Across languages, L1 morphological awareness supported L2 reading comprehension through L2 morphological awareness, vocabulary, and word reading and L2 morphological awareness supported L1 reading comprehension through L1 morphological awareness and vocabulary in Grade 2. By Grade 5, there was an indirect pathway from L1 to L2 via L2 morphological awareness. In Grade 8, significant indirect effects emerged bidirectionally via morphological awareness in the other language. Findings reveal a dynamic role of morphological awareness in bilingual reading comprehension, highlighting the need for grade-tailored, language-general and language-specific morphological instruction in literacy support for bilingual children.
KW - Bilingual reading comprehension
KW - Chinese-English bilingual children
KW - Cross-language effects
KW - Morphological awareness
UR - https://www.scopus.com/pages/publications/105043303402
U2 - 10.1007/s11145-026-10873-7
DO - 10.1007/s11145-026-10873-7
M3 - Journal article
AN - SCOPUS:105043303402
SN - 0922-4777
JO - Reading and Writing
JF - Reading and Writing
ER -