Abstract
In this study, we investigated the contribution of morphological awareness (MA) in one language to word reading and vocabulary in another language in Hong Kong Cantonese–English speaking children, who learn Chinese and English in school in parallel from the age of 3.5 years onwards. Our sample consisted of 97 Cantonese–English speaking children including 34 first graders, 28 second graders, 21 third graders and 14 fourth graders. All children were administered tasks of nonverbal reasoning, phonological awareness in Chinese, and lexical compounding, vocabulary, and word reading in both Chinese and English. Results revealed that second language (L2) English MA significantly contributed to first language (L1) Chinese word reading and Chinese vocabulary knowledge. However, L1 Chinese MA was not uniquely associated with either L2 English word reading or vocabulary knowledge. Findings suggest that among Chinese children learning in Chinese medium of instruction schools with English taught as a second language, compounding skills in English may be useful for facilitating Chinese word reading and vocabulary acquisition, but Chinese compounding skills are not uniquely important for learning in English.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
Change history
18 December 2017
In the original publication of the article, the affiliation of co-author Dr Simpson Wai Lap Wong was incorrectly listed as Department of Early Childhood Education, Hong Kong Institute of Education, Tai Po, Hong Kong.
References
Carlisle, J. F. (2000). Awareness of the structure and meaning of morphologically complex words: Impact on reading. Reading and Writing, 12(3), 169–190.
Carlisle, J. F. (2007). Fostering morphological processing, vocabulary development, and reading comprehension. Vocabulary Acquisition: Implications for Reading Comprehension, 78–103.
Carlisle, J. F. (2010). Effects of instruction in morphological awareness on literacy achievement: An integrative review. Reading Research Quarterly, 45(4), 464–487. doi:10.1598/rrq.45.4.5.
Carlisle, J. F., & Feldman, L. B. (1995). Morphological awareness and early reading achievement. In L. B. Feldman (Ed.), Morphological aspects of language processing (pp. 189–209). Hillsdale, MI: Lawrence Erlbaum Associates.
Ceccagno, A., & Basciano, B. (2007). Compound headedness in Chinese: An analysis of neologisms. Morphology, 17(2), 207–231. doi:10.1007/s11525-008-9119-0.
Chen, X., Hao, M., Geva, E., Zhu, J., & Shu, H. (2009). The role of compound awareness in Chinese children’s vocabulary acquisition and character reading. Reading and Writing, 22(5), 615–631. doi:10.1007/s11145-008-9127-9.
Chow, B. W. Y., McBride-Chang, C., & Burgess, S. (2005). Phonological processing skills and early reading abilities in Hong Kong Chinese kindergartners learning to read English as a second language. Journal of Educational Psychology, 97, 81–87.
Chow, B. W. Y., McBride-Chang, C., Cheung, H., & Chow, C. S. L. (2008). Dialogic reading and morphology training in Chinese children: Effects on language and literacy. Developmental Psychology, 44(1), 233–244. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.44.1.233.
Chung, K. K., McBride-Chang, C., Wong, S. W., Cheung, H., Penney, T. B., & Ho, C. S. H. (2008). The role of visual and auditory temporal processing for Chinese children with developmental dyslexia. Annals of dyslexia, 58(1), 15–35.
Chung, W. L., & Hu, C. F. (2007). Morphological awareness and learning to read Chinese. Reading and Writing, 20(5), 441–461.
Cummins, J. (2005). Teaching for cross-language transfer in dual language education: Possibilities and pitfalls. In TESOL Symposium on dual language education: Teaching and learning two languages in the EFL setting (pp. 1–18).
Deacon, S. H., Benere, J., & Pasquarella, A. (2013). Reciprocal relationship: Children’s morphological awareness and their reading accuracy across grades 2 to 3. Developmental Psychology, 49(6), 1113–1126. doi:10.1037/a0029474.
Deacon, S. H., & Kirby, J. R. (2004). Morphological awareness: Just “more phonological”? The roles of morphological and phonological awareness in reading development. Applied Psycholinguistics, 25(2), 223–238. doi:10.1017/s0142716404001110.
Deacon, S. H., Wade-Woolley, L., & Kirby, J. (2007). Crossover: The role of morphological awareness in French immersion children’s reading. Developmental Psychology, 43(3), 732–746. doi:10.1037/0012-1649.43.3.732.
Dunn, L. M., & Dunn, L. M. (1997). Peabody picture vocabulary test (3rd ed.). Circle Pines, MN: American Guidance Service.
Durgunoğlu, A. Y., Nagy, W. E., & Hancin-Bhatt, B. J. (1993). Cross-language transfer of phonological awareness. Journal of Educational Psychology, 85(3), 453–465. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.85.3.453.
Education Department. (1986). Hong Kong supplement to guide to the Standard Progressive Matrices. Hong Kong: Education Department.
Gottardo, A., Yan, B., Siegel, L. S., & Wade-Woolley, L. (2001). Factors related to English reading performance in children with Chinese as a first language: More evidence of cross-language transfer of phonological processing. Journal of Educational Psychology, 93(3), 530–542.
Ho, C. S.-H., Chan, D., Chung, K., Tsang, S.-M., Lee, S.-H., & Cheng, R. W.-Y. (2007). The Hong Kong test of specific learning difficulties in reading and writing for primary school students-second edition [HKT-P(II)]. Hong Kong: Hong Kong Specific Learning Difficulties Research Team.
Keung, Y.-C., & Ho, C. S.-H. (2008). Transfer of reading-related cognitive skills in learning to read Chinese (L1) and English (L2) among Chinese elementary school children. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 34, 103–112.
Kieffer, M. J., & Lesaux, N. K. (2012). Direct and indirect roles of morphological awareness in the English reading comprehension of native English, Spanish, Filipino, and Vietnamese speakers. Language Learning, 62(4), 1170–1204.
Koda, K. (2000). Cross-linguistic variations in L2 morphological awareness. Applied Psycholinguistics, 21(3), 297–320. doi:10.1017/s0142716400003015.
Koda, K. (2005). Learning to read across writing systems: Transfer, metalinguistic awareness, and second language reading development. In V. J. Cook (Ed.), Second language writing systems (pp. 311–334). Clevedon: Multilingual Matters.
Ku, Y.-M., & Anderson, R. (2003). Development of morphological awareness in Chinese and English. Reading and Writing, 16(5), 399–422. doi:10.1023/A:1024227231216.
Liu, P. D., & McBride-Chang, C. (2010). What is morphological awareness? Tapping lexical compounding awareness in Chinese third graders. Journal of Educational Psychology, 102(1), 62–73. doi:10.1037/a0016933.
Luo, Y. C., Chen, X., & Geva, E. (2014). Concurrent and longitudinal cross-linguistic transfer of phonological awareness and morphological awareness in Chinese–English bilingual children. Written Language & Literacy, 17(1), 89–115. doi:10.1075/wll.17.1.05luo.
McBride-Chang, C., Cheung, H., Chow, B. Y., Chow, C. L., & Choi, L. (2006). Metalinguistic skills and vocabulary knowledge in Chinese (L1) and English (L2). Reading and Writing, 19(7), 695–716. doi:10.1007/s11145-005-5742-x.
McBride-Chang, C., Cho, J. R., Liu, H., Wagner, R. K., Shu, H., Zhou, A., et al. (2005). Changing models across cultures: Associations of phonological awareness and morphological structure awareness with vocabulary and word recognition in second graders from Beijing, Hong Kong, Korea, and the United States. Journal of Experimental Child Psychology, 92(2), 140–160. doi:10.1016/j.jecp.2005.03.009.
McBride-Chang, C., Shu, H., Zhou, A., Wat, C. P., & Wagner, R. K. (2003). Morphological awareness uniquely predicts young children’s Chinese character recognition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 95(4), 743–751. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.95.4.743.
McBride-Chang, C., Tardif, T., Cho, J. R., Shu, H. U. A., Fletcher, P., Stokes, S. F., et al. (2008). What’s in a word? Morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge in three languages. Applied Psycholinguistics, 29(3), 437–462. doi:10.1017/s014271640808020x.
Pasquarella, A., Chen, X., Lam, K., Luo, Y. C., & Ramirez, G. (2011). Cross-language transfer of morphological awareness in Chinese–English bilinguals. Journal of Research in Reading, 34(1), 23–42. doi:10.1111/j.1467-9817.2010.01484.x.
Ramirez, G., Chen, X., Geva, E., & Kiefer, H. (2010). Morphological awareness in Spanish-speaking English language learners: Within and cross-language effects on word reading. Reading and Writing, 23(3–4), 337–358. doi:10.1007/s11145-009-9203-9.
Ramirez, G., Walton, P., & Roberts, W. (2014). Morphological awareness and vocabulary development among kindergarteners with different ability levels. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 47(1), 54–64. doi:10.1177/0022219413509970.
Shu, H., McBride-Chang, C., Wu, S., & Liu, H. (2006). Understanding Chinese developmental dyslexia: Morphological awareness as a core cognitive construct. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98(1), 122–133. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.98.1.122.
Sparks, E., & Deacon, S. H. (2015). Morphological awareness and vocabulary acquisition: A longitudinal examination of their relationship in English-speaking children. Applied Psycholinguistics, 36(2), 299–321. doi:10.1017/S0142716413000246.
Tong, X., & McBride-Chang, C. (2010). Chinese–English biscriptal reading: Cognitive component skills across orthographies. Reading and Writing, 23(3–4), 293–310. doi:10.1007/s11145-009-9211-9.
Tong, X., McBride-Chang, C., Shu, H., & Wong, A. M. (2009). Morphological awareness, orthographic knowledge, and spelling errors: Keys to understanding early Chinese literacy acquisition. Scientific Studies of Reading, 13(5), 426–452.
Tong, X., Tong, X., & McBride, C. (2016). Unpacking the relation between morphological awareness and Chinese word reading: Levels of morphological awareness and vocabulary. Contemporary Educational Psychology. doi:10.1016/j.cedpsych.2016.07.003.
Wagner, R. K., Muse, A. E., & Tannenbaum, K. R. (Eds.). (2007). Vocabulary acquisition: Implications for reading comprehension. New York: The Guilford Press.
Wang, M., Cheng, C., & Chen, S. W. (2006). Contribution of morphological awareness to Chinese–English biliteracy acquisition. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98(3), 542–553. doi:10.1037/0022-0663.98.3.542.
Wang, M., Perfetti, C. A., & Liu, Y. (2005). Chinese–English biliteracy acquisition: Cross-language and writing system transfer. Cognition, 97(1), 67–88.
Zhou, Y. L., McBride-Chang, C., Fong, C. Y. C., Wong, T. T. Y., & Cheung, S. K. (2012). A comparison of phonological awareness, lexical compounding, and homophone training for Chinese word reading in Hong Kong kindergartners. Early Education & Development, 23(4), 475–492. doi:10.1080/10409289.2010.530478.
Acknowledgements
This research was supported by Collaborative Research Fund of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Research Grants Council (CUHK8/CRF/13G) to Catherine McBride, Connie Ho, Mary Waye, and colleagues. We thank all research assistants for data collection. We are also especially grateful to parents and participants for their participation.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Tong, X., McBride, C., Ho, C.Sh. et al. Within- and cross-language contributions of morphological awareness to word reading and vocabulary in Chinese–English bilingual learners. Read Writ 31, 1765–1786 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-017-9771-z
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11145-017-9771-z