Predictors of beginning reading in Chinese and English: A 2-year longitudinal study of Chinese kindergartners

Ninety Chinese children were tested once at age 4 and again 22 months later on phonological-processing and other reading skills. Chinese phonological-processing skills alone modestly predicted Chinese character recognition, and English letter-name knowledge uniquely predicted reading of both Chinese and English 2 years later. Furthermore, concurrently measured phonological-processing skills in Chinese, but not English, accounted for unique variance in both English and Chinese word recognition. English invented spelling was strongly associated with reading in English only, and orthographic knowledge significantly accounted for unique variance in Chinese reading only. Results suggest both universal and specific characteristics of the development of English word and Chinese character recognition among young native Chinese speakers learning to read English as a second language.