Longitudinal predictors of very early Chinese literacy acquisition

This 2-year longitudinal study examined both concurrent and longitudinal relations of a variety of reading-related cognitive tasks and Chinese word reading and word dictation among 187 Hong Kong Chinese kindergarteners aged 4-6. Homophone awareness, visual skills and syllable awareness were all uniquely associated with Chinese word reading across time, with age, vocabulary knowledge and nonverbal IQ statistically controlled. Only visual skill and syllable deletion uniquely explained early Chinese word dictation, however. Results extend previous research on cognitive correlates of Chinese literacy and highlight the small but unique contribution of homophone awareness for early reading acquisition in Chinese.