Morphological awareness in biliteracy acquisition: A study of young Chinese EFL readers
Abstract
This study examined contribution of morphological awareness to reading comprehension in two typologically diverse languages, focusing on young Chinese EFL (English as a Foreign Language) readers in China. It was particularly interested in how cross-linguistic similarities and variations in morphological awareness affected its transfer in Chinese–English biliteracy acquisition. Grades 5 and 6 children were measured in compound awareness and reading comprehension in English, and compound awareness, radical awareness, and reading comprehension in Chinese. Hierarchical regression analyses revealed that compound awareness contributed to reading comprehension within both Chinese and English. In addition, over and above English compound awareness and Chinese reading comprehension, Chinese compound awareness, but not radical awareness, explained a unique amount of variance in English reading comprehension. After Chinese compound awareness was controlled for, English compound awareness, however, did not make a significant contribution to Chinese reading comprehension. These findings were discussed in light of the common and language/script-dependent aspects of morphological awareness in Chinese and English and the context of biliteracy acquisition.
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Chinese morphological compounding predicted English reading comprehension in Zhang et al.'s (2014) study.
“Although Zhang et al.'s (2014) study on Chinese children learning English showed that Chinese morphological compounding predicted English reading comprehension”
From Do word-level skills show cross-linguistic transfer and predict bilingual reading? (2026) · cites this paper as Zhang et al., 2014
The findings regarding whether L2 morphological awareness predicted L1 reading are inconsistent.
“However, the findings regard -ing whether L2 morphological awareness predicted L1 reading are inconsistent.”
From Do word-level skills show cross-linguistic transfer and predict bilingual reading? (2026) · cites this paper as Zhang et al., 2014
Zhang et al.'s (2014) study did not show the association between English morphological compounding and Chinese reading comprehension.
“their study did not show the association between English morphological compounding and Chinese reading comprehension.”
From Do word-level skills show cross-linguistic transfer and predict bilingual reading? (2026) · cites this paper as Zhang et al., 2014
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- Authors
- Zhang, D., Koda, K., & Sun, X.
- Affiliations
- Nanyang Technological University (SG)
- Carnegie Mellon University (US)
- Singapore Centre for Chinese Language, Singapore
- Venue
- International Journal of Bilingualism
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2012-09-12
- Volume
- 18
- Issue
- 6
- Pages
- 570-585
- ISSN
- 1367-0069 (ISSN-L)
- 1756-6878
- OpenAlex
- W2069313658
- Cited by
- 33
- References
- 44
- Citations by year
- 2026: 4 · 2025: 2 · 2024: 2 · 2023: 1 · 2022: 4 · 2021: 4 · 2020: 2 · 2019: 5 · 2018: 2 · 2017: 2 · 2016: 2 · 2015: 3
- FWCI
- 1.93
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- International Journal of Bilingualism (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Reading and Literacy Development
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Developmental and Educational Psychology › Second Language Acquisition and Learning
- Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › Language and Linguistics › EFL/ESL Teaching and Learning
- Keywords
- morphological awareness, biliteracy, reading comprehension, language transfer, Chinese-English bilingualism, young learners
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