This study investigated the impact of Chinese dyslexia subtypes on English literacy skills (i.e., reading fluency and dictation) in Hong Kong children. Eighty-four Cantonese-speaking children officially diagnosed with dyslexia (Mage = 103 months) and 48 age-matched typically developing (TD) children were tested. Cluster analysis with performances on Chinese syllable awareness (CSA), Chinese phonemic awareness (CPA), Chinese phonological memory (CPM), Chinese orthographic awareness (COA), and matrix reasoning (MR) yielded three cognitive subtypes: the phonological deficit (PD) subtype, the orthographic deficit (OD) subtype, and the global deficit (GD) subtype. After controlling for English language experience, age, and gender, all three dyslexia subtype groups performed significantly worse in English word reading fluency and dictation than the TD children. In addition, the PD group performed worse in English PA; the OD group performed worse in English OA; and the GD group performed worse in all English skills except English PM. We compared the level of impairment in literacy between languages and dyslexia subtypes. In word reading fluency, all subtype groups experienced less impairment in English than Chinese, while the OD group showed the largest English advantage. In dictation, only the OD group showed a significant language effect favoring English. The findings suggest that different subtypes of Chinese dyslexia bear different risks for difficulties in English literacy.
CaravolasM. (2004). Spelling development in alphabetic writing systems: A cross-linguistic perspective. European Psychologist, 9(1), 3–14. https://dx.doi.org/10.1027/1016-9040.9.1.3
CastlesA.ColtheartM. (1996). Cognitive correlates of developmental surface dyslexia: A single case study. Cognitive Neuropsychology, 13(1), 25–50. https://doi.org/frknmk
6.
CheungH.ChanM.ChongK. (2007). Use of orthographic knowledge in reading by Chinese-English bi-scriptal children. Language Learning, 57(3), 469–505. https://doi.org/bhqtkx
7.
ChungK. K. H.HoC. S. H. (2010). Second language learning difficulties in Chinese children with dyslexia: What are the reading-related cognitive skills that contribute to English and Chinese word reading?Journal of Learning Disabilities, 43(3), 195–211. https://doi.org/cgvwdh
8.
CumminsJ. (1979). Linguistic interdependence and the educational development of bilingual children. Review of Educational Research, 49(2), 222–251. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543049002222
9.
FazioD.FerrariL.TestaS.TamburrelliF.MarraE.BiancardiM.MarzocchiG. (2021). Second-language learning difficulties in Italian children with reading difficulties. British Journal of Educational Psychology, 91, 63–77. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12348
10.
GathercoleS. E.WillisC.BaddeleyA. D. (1991). Differentiating phonological memory and awareness of rhyme: Reading and vocabulary development in children. British Journal of Psychology, 82(3), 387–406. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.2044-8295.1991.tb02407.x
11.
GevaE.Wade-WoolleyL. (2013). Component processes in becoming English-Hebrew biliterate. In DurgunoğluA. Y.VerhoevenL. (Eds.), Literacy development in a multilingual Context: Cross-cultural perspectives (pp. 85–110). https://doi.org/fq8j
12.
HairJ.BlackW.BabinB.AndersonR. (2013). Multivariate data analysis (7th ed). Pearson Education Limited.
13.
HanleyJ. R.HastieK.KayJ. (1992). Developmental surface dyslexia and dysgraphia: An orthographic processing impairment. The Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology Section A, 44(2), 285–319. https://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02724989243000046
14.
HoC. S.-H.ChanD. W.-O.LeeS.-H.TsangS.-M.LuanV. H. (2004). Cognitive profiling and preliminary subtyping in Chinese developmental dyslexia. Cognition, 91(1), 43–75. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0010-0277(03)00163-X
15.
HoC. S.-H.FongK.-M. (2005). Do Chinese dyslexic children have difficulties learning English as a second language?Journal of Psycholinguistic Research, 34(6), 603–618. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s10936-005-9166-1
16.
HoF.SiegelL. (2012). Identification of sub-types of students with learning disabilities in reading and its implications for Chinese word recognition and instructional methods in Hong Kong primary schools. Reading and Writing, 25(7), 1547–1571. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11145-011-9332-9
17.
HuC.CattsH. W. (1998). The role of phonological processing in early reading ability: What we can learn from Chinese. Scientific Studies of Reading, 2(1), 55–79. https://dx.doi.org/10.1207/s1532799xssr0201
18.
HuC.SchueleC. M. (2015). When language experience fails to explain word reading development: Early cognitive and linguistic profiles of young foreign language learners. The Modern Language Journal, 99(4), 754–770. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/modl.12274
19.
KalindiS. C.McBrideC.TongX.WongN. L. Y.ChungK. H. K.LeeC. Y. (2015). Beyond phonological and morphological processing: Pure copying as a marker of dyslexia in Chinese but not poor reading of English. Annals of Dyslexia, 65(2), 53–68. https://dx.doi.org/10.1007/s11881-015-0097-8
20.
KatzL.FrostR. (1992). The reading process is different for different orthographies: The orthographic depth hypothesis. Advances in Psychology, 94(C), 67–84. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/S0166-4115(08)62789-2
21.
KeungY. C.HoC. S. H. (2009). Transfer of reading-related cognitive skills in learning to read Chinese (L1) and English (L2) among Chinese elementary school children. Contemporary Educational Psychology, 34(2), 103–112. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.cedpsych.2008.11.001
22.
LallierM.ValdoisS.Lassus-SangosseD.PradoC.KandelS. (2014). Impact of orthographic transparency on typical and atypical reading development: Evidence in French-Spanish bilingual children. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 35(5), 1177–1190. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2014.01.021
23.
LiS.TaoS.JoshiR. M.XuQ. (2018). Second-language reading difficulties among native Chinese-speaking students learning to read English: The roles of native- and second-language skills. Reading Research Quarterly, 53(4), 423–441. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rrq.204
24.
LindgrénS.-A.LaineM. (2011). Cognitive-linguistic performances of multilingual university students suspected of dyslexia. Dyslexia, 17(2), 184–200. https://doi.org/dxxn6n
25.
ŁockiewiczM.JaskulskaM. (2016). Difficulties of Polish students with dyslexia in reading and spelling in English as L2. Learning and Individual Differences, 51, 256–264. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.lindif.2016.08.037
26.
LovettM. W.BordenS. L.DeLucaT.LacerenzaL.BensonN. J.BrackstoneD. (1994). Treating the core deficits of developmental dyslexia: Evidence of transfer of learning after phonologically- and strategy-based reading training programs. Developmental Psychology, 30(6), 805–822. https://doi.org/10.1037/0012-1649.30.6.805
27.
McBride-ChangC.ChoJ.-R.LiuH.WagnerR. K.ShuH.ZhouA.MuseA. (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. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jecp.2005.03.009
28.
McBride-ChangC.LiuP. D.WongT.WongA.ShuH. (2012). Specific reading difficulties in Chinese, English, or both: Longitudinal markers of phonological awareness, morphological awareness, and RAN in Hong Kong Chinese children. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 45(6), 503–514. https://doi.org/10.1177/0022219411400748
29.
McBride-ChangC.ShuH.ChanW.WongT.WongA. M. Y.ZhangY.PanJ.ChanP. (2013). Poor readers of Chinese and English: Overlap, stability, and longitudinal correlates. Scientific Studies of Reading, 17(1), 57–70. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2012.689787
30.
Miller-GuronL.EundbergI. (2000). Dyslexia and second language reading: A second bite at the apple?Reading and Writing, 12(1), 41–61. https://doi.org/db62fd
31.
MorrisR. D.ShaywitzS. E.ShankweilerD. P.KatzL.StuebingK. K.FletcherJ. M.ShaywitzB. A. (1998). Subtypes of reading disability: Variability around a phonological core. Journal of Educational Psychology, 90(3), 347–373. https://doi.org/cgn7qb
OrenR.BreznitzZ. (2005). Reading processes in L1 and L2 among dyslexic as compared to regular bilingual readers: Behavioral and electrophysiological evidence. Journal of Neurolinguistics, 18(2), 127–151. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.jneuroling.2004.11.003
34.
PalladinoP.FerrariM. (2008). Phonological sensitivity and memory in children with a foreign language learning difficulty. Memory, 16(6), 604–625. https://doi.org/10.1080/09658210802083072
35.
PerfettiC.CaoF.BoothJ. (2013). Specialization and universals in the development of reading skill: How Chinese research informs a universal science of reading. Scientific Studies of Reading, 17(1), 5–21. https://doi.org/10.1080/10888438.2012.689786
RavenJ. (2000). The Raven’s Progressive Matrices: Change and stability over culture and time. Cognitive Psychology, 41(1), 1–48. https://dx.doi.org/10.1006/cogp.1999.0735
38.
ShuH.McBride-ChangC.WuS.LiuH. (2006). Understanding Chinese developmental dyslexia: Morphological awareness as a core cognitive construct. Journal of Educational Psychology, 98(1), 122–133. https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0663.98.1.122
39.
ShumK. K.HoC. S.-H.SiegelL. S.AuT. K. (2016). First-language longitudinal predictors of second-language literacy in young L2 learners. Reading Research Quarterly, 51(3), 323–344. https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/rrq.139
40.
SiuT. S. C.McBrideC.TseC. S.TongX.MaurerU. (2018). Evaluating the effects of metalinguistic and working memory training on reading fluency in Chinese and English: A randomized controlled trial. Frontiers in Psychology, 9, Article 2510. https://doi.org/dvjv
41.
SparksR. L.GanschowL. (1995). A strong inference approach to causal factors in foreign language learning: A response to MacIntyre. The Modern Language Journal, 79(2), 235–244. https://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1540-4781.1995.tb05436.x
TongX.McBride-ChangC. (2010). Chinese-English biscriptal reading: Cognitive component skills across orthographies. Reading and Writing, 23(3), 293–310. https://doi.org/ct5t7p
44.
TongX.TongX.McBride-ChangC. (2015). A tale of two writing systems: Double dissociation and metalinguistic transfer between Chinese and English word reading among Hong Kong children. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 48(2), 130–145. https://doi.org/f6z8tp
45.
ValdoisS.PeyrinC.Lassus-SangosseD.LallierM.DémonetJ. F.KandelS. (2014). Dyslexia in a French-Spanish bilingual girl: Behavioural and neural modulations following a visual attention span intervention. Cortex, 53, 120–145. https://doi.org/f5x2d5
46.
Van Der LeijA.MorfidiE. (2006). Core deficits and variable differences in Dutch poor readers learning English. Journal of Learning Disabilities, 39(1), 74–90. https://doi.org/db8vnr
47.
WagnerR. K.TorgesenJ. K. (1987). The nature of phonological processing and its causal role in the acquisition of reading skills. Psychological Bulletin, 101, 192–212.
48.
WangL. C.YangH. M. (2014). Classifying Chinese children with dyslexia by dual-route and triangle models of Chinese reading. Research in Developmental Disabilities, 35(11), 2702–2713. https://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.ridd.2014.07.001
49.
WangM.GevaE. (2003). Spelling performance of Chinese children using English as a second language: Lexical and visual–orthographic processes. Applied Psycholinguistics, 24(01), 1–25. https://dx.doi.org/10.1017/S0142716403000018
50.
WangM.YangC.ChengC. (2009). The contributions of phonology, orthography, and morphology in Chinese–English biliteracy acquisition. Applied Psycholinguistics, 30(2), 291–314. https://doi.org/10.1017/S0142716409090122
51.
ZhangJ.McBride-ChangC. (2014). Auditory sensitivity, speech perception, L1 Chinese, and L2 English reading abilities in Hong Kong Chinese children. Developmental Psychology, 50(4), 1001–1013. https://dx.doi.org/10.1037/a0035086
52.
ZoubrinetzkyR.BielleF.ValdoisS. (2014). New insights on developmental dyslexia subtypes: Heterogeneity of mixed reading profiles. PLOS ONE, 9(6), Article e99337. https://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0099337
Supplementary Material
Please find the following supplemental material available below.
For Open Access articles published under a Creative Commons License, all supplemental material carries the same license as the article it is associated with.
For non-Open Access articles published, all supplemental material carries a non-exclusive license, and permission requests for re-use of supplemental material or any part of supplemental material shall be sent directly to the copyright owner as specified in the copyright notice associated with the article.
