Work

The Association Between Metalinguistic Awareness and Chinese Word Reading: A Three‐Level Meta‐Analysis

Year: 2025

Type: article

Study designs: Systematic Review, Meta-Analysis

Abstract: This study involved a three‐level meta‐analysis on the correlations between metalinguistic awareness (i.e., orthographic, phonological, and morphological awareness) and Chinese word reading. Based on 16,823 individuals from 81 studies, the results revealed moderate associations between all three metalinguistic skills and Chinese word reading. Additionally, location, grade, and measurement type moderated these relationships. Orthographic awareness showed stronger associations with Chinese word reading in preschool than in other grades, among participants from Taiwan than those from mainland China, and when measurement involved semantic radical function awareness than when it involved form and phonetic radical function awareness. Additionally, syllable‐level phonological awareness showed stronger correlations than other levels only in preschool, and the associations declined after low primary. Subsyllable awareness showed the strongest association in low primary. Furthermore, word reading measurement moderated its association with phonological and morphological awareness. Phonological awareness correlated more with word reading accuracy than fluency, and morphological awareness correlated more with multicharacter than single‐character word reading accuracy.

Source: Language Learning

DOI: 10.1111/lang.12708

Authors: Xuan Zang, Kit‐ling Lau, Yu Ka Wong, Dan Wang

Institutions: Chinese University of Hong Kong, University of Glasgow

Language: English

Topic: Reading and Literacy Development

Subfield: Developmental and Educational Psychology

Field: Psychology

Domain: Social Sciences

SDG: Quality education

Open Access status: hybrid

Estimated APC paid: $3,760