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This study assessed the effect of a teacher professional development (PD) programme that incorporated culturally responsive teaching on Chinese kindergarten teachers' perceptions of learning motivation of ethnic minority (EM) vs. Chinese pupils in Hong Kong. The moderating role of classroom ethnic composition was examined. Forty-five teachers in the intervention group attended 20 sessions of PD courses over 10 months, whereas 40 teachers who did not attend the current programme formed a control group. Pre- and post-tests were conducted to assess teacher perceptions of learning motivation and engagement of Chinese and EM pupils. Hierarchical structure of data was accounted for with multilevel modelling. Results showed that the intervention resulted in positive changes in teacher perceptions of learning motivation of EM (vs. Chinese) pupils among teachers working in classrooms with low proportions of EM pupils when compared to teachers in the control group. The findings highlighted that teachers' cultural diversity training programmes should be evaluated in relation to classroom ethnic composition and other contextual factors that influence the quality and frequency of interethnic contact.

This study aims to examine the effectiveness of an intervention program based on the PROSPER, a comprehensive framework which emphasises the importance of "positivity," "relationships," "outcome," "strength," "purpose," "engagement," and "resilience" in pre-service teachers' well-being in Hong Kong. Participants were pre-service pre-school teachers (N = 77) who participated in a 1-month randomised control trial with four intervention workshops. They were randomly assigned to either intervention (n = 40) or wait-list control conditions (n = 37). A survey with measures that assessed PROSPER well-being components was administered to participants before and after the intervention. Findings of repeated measures "MANCOVA" revealed no significant time x group interaction effect, Wilks' Lambda "F"(7, 50) = 1.66, p = 0.14, [eta-squared] = 0.19. Results of univariate analyses showed that a significant time x group interaction effect existed in relationship component ([eta-squared] = 0.08), indicating that the intervention was effective in facilitating pre-service pre-school teachers' positive relationships with their peers. Findings underscore the potential benefits of designing positive psychological interventions for teachers amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

This study investigated the direct relationship between home play opportunity and prospective school readiness, and the indirect relationships as mediated through object and social mastery motivation among Hong Kong Chinese kindergarten children. Participants were 106 local children (44.4% girls, mean age = 60.0 months) and their parents and teachers. Parents reported the demographic information and children's home play opportunity at time 1 (beginning of the school year), whereas children's object mastery motivation, social mastery motivation, and school readiness were reported by their teachers at time 2 (six months later). Research Findings: Results from the path analytic model revealed that children's home play opportunity significantly predicted their object mastery motivation, but not social mastery motivation or school readiness. Both object and social mastery motivation were positively associated with school readiness. Furthermore, the indirect relationship between home play opportunity, object mastery motivation, and school readiness was significant, but the one via social mastery motivation was non-significant. Practice or Policy: The findings highlight the collective roles of object and social mastery motivation in predicting children's school readiness. The results also suggest the desirability of providing kindergarten children with a varied and accessible home play environment which may promote their mastery motivation and school readiness.

This study aims to compare auditory temporal processing and phonological processing across locations and age levels and to test the direct and indirect effects of auditory temporal and phonological processing on proficiency in Chinese character reading. We recruited 108 typically developing children -- 25 and 24 kindergarteners from Taiwan and Hong Kong, respectively, and 34 and 25 primary school students from Taiwan and Hong Kong, respectively. Our findings showed that, before learning PCS, the languages' phonological complexity did not affect the importance of ATP in Chinese reading. Also, we found the use of PCS could lead to a direct effect from students' ATP to Chinese character reading as well as through phonological awareness. Our findings indicated that ways of learning to read influence children's patterns of cognitive and linguistic abilities, which should be considered in teaching designs for reading. [Translation from English by Mercè Rius.]

This study examined the interrelationships among playfulness, prosocial skills, and school readiness of Hong Kong kindergarten children across time. Participants were 106 local children (55.6% boys, mean age = 60.0 months) and their parents and teachers. At time 1, parents reported their child's age, gender, and playfulness. Six months later at time 2, teachers reported children's prosocial skills and school readiness. The structural equation model revealed that children's playfulness at time 1 significantly predicted their prosocial skills at time 2, and that their prosocial skills and school readiness at time 2 were positively associated. The indirect relationship between playfulness and school readiness as mediated through prosocial skills was significant, whereas the direct relationship was non-significant. These findings suggest that children's playfulness may contribute to school readiness by fostering prosocial skills. Practically, results highlight the utility of promoting children's playfulness and prosocial skills to support their formal school transition.

This study examined the co-occurrence of word reading difficulty in Chinese (L1) and English as a second language (L2) and tested language and executive functioning (EF) skills as correlates. Thirty-nine poor readers in Chinese (PC), 39 poor readers in English (PE), and 26 poor readers of both languages (PB) were compared to 39 average readers who served as controls (C). The co-occurrence rate of L1-L2 difficulty was 40%. Moreover, PC, PE, and PB performed less well than C on all language and EF skills; PB performed less well than PC, PE, and C on L1 and L2 phonological awareness, L2 morphological awareness, rapid naming, and EF. Findings highlight the role of language and EF skills in L1 and L2 reading development.

This study investigated the learning strategies that university students with specific learning disabilities (SLD) report using in the Chinese language context. Participants were 105 first-year undergraduate students with SLD and 134 typically developing peers. Three questionnaires about reported reading/writing difficulties, metacognitive knowledge, and learning strategies were administered. Students with SLD reported using fewer learning strategies than students without SLD. The use of writing/research skills, which are the skills used to research topics from various sources in different ways (e.g., organizing writing projects, and monitoring for errors), significantly negatively predicted the reported reading/writing difficulties in both groups. These findings help expand our understanding of which learning strategies are useful for students with SLD and university instructors use more suitable techniques to facilitate the learning of these students.

Research Findings: This cross-sectional study examined the class- and child-level associations of social-emotional competence with behavioral and academic adjustment among Chinese kindergarten children and tested teacher collectivistic socialization goals as a moderator. Participants were 523 kindergarten children and their mothers and class teachers from Hong Kong, China. The mean age of children was 4.37 years (SD = 0.60), and 53% of them were boys. Using paper-and-pencil questionnaires, class teachers rated children's social-emotional competence and their own socialization goals, and mothers rated children's externalizing behaviors and school readiness and provided demographic information. Also, in structured interviews, children completed a Chinese word reading test. Multilevel models indicated that, controlling for child gender and age, mother age and education, and teacher experience of teaching, the class average of child social-emotional competence -- which indicated the overall social-emotional climate of the classroom -- was linked negatively to child externalizing behaviors and positively to child school readiness and Chinese word reading ability. Moreover, children who scored higher on social-emotional competence -- compared to their own class average (i.e., their everyday companions) -- scored lower on externalizing behaviors and higher on school readiness. There was no evidence of the moderating role of teacher socialization goals, however. Practice or Policy: Findings pointed to the utility of using class-wide initiatives to promote the overall classroom climate and using child-specific activities to promote individual social-emotional development.

This study investigated the unique contribution of orthographic awareness, letter knowledge, and patterning skills to early literacy and arithmetic competence. A total of 145 third-year kindergarten (K3) children (M[subscript age]: 73.43 months, SD = 5.36; 70 boys, 48%) from Hong Kong participated in this study. Children were assessed on their patterning skills, orthographic awareness, letter knowledge, verbal short-term working memory, visual-spatial perception, Chinese word reading, word writing, and arithmetic competence. With demographic variables and cognitive skills controlled, multilevel regression models indicated that patterning skills uniquely contributed to Chinese word reading and arithmetic competence but not to Chinese word writing. Orthographic awareness was a strong predictor of the three academic outcomes. Letter knowledge was significantly predictive of word reading and word writing but not of arithmetic competence. These findings highlight the differential roles of orthographic awareness, letter knowledge, and patterning skills in children's literacy and arithmetic skills.

The way culturally responsive teaching is employed in school settings in non-Western contexts is unclear. The question of how to teach Chinese effectively to ethnic minority (EM) children in Hong Kong has recently attracted much attention because their generally low level of Chinese language proficiency hinders their education and social integration. This study investigated teachers' competence in utilizing culturally responsive teaching to teach Chinese to EM children in kindergartens. Focus group interviews were conducted with 43 teachers from 20 kindergartens. The results showed that teachers from kindergartens with a high concentration of EM children were more competent in adapting their teaching methods to cater for EM children's learning styles and educational needs. However, teachers from low concentration kindergartens were less competent in incorporating multicultural elements in curriculum design and teaching materials. They demonstrated a more monocultural mindset in teaching Chinese to EM children. Teachers from high concentration kindergartens developed a better understanding of EM cultures, were more caring and had higher expectations of EM children. Implications for teacher education, school level and policy were discussed.

Research Findings: This study evaluated the impacts of a bilingual Chinese-English reading program on Chinese children from low socioeconomic status (SES) families. Ninety-nine children in the third year of kindergarten (K3) were recruited from five local kindergartens in two low-SES districts in Hong Kong, China. Children in the intervention group who participated in 15-weeks of language and literacy intervention were compared to a control group of 40 children who attended only regular literacy classes in their kindergartens. ANCOVA analyses revealed that after controlling for child gender and age, the intervention group performed significantly better than the control group on the posttest in Chinese phonological awareness and morphological awareness, English phonological awareness, vocabulary knowledge, and English word reading. These results point to a reading program's utility, emphasizing multi-component interventions for early bilingual language and literacy learning. Practice or Policy: Findings support the development of locally derived, evidence-based reading programs to cater to low-SES children's learning needs. These findings may also provide research-based evidence for formulating public policies and services, targeting the early language and literacy issues for low-SES children and their families and raising public awareness of the influence of poverty on child development in the early years.

Research Findings: This study investigated the bidirectional relations among paired associate learning (PAL), language-specific skills and Chinese word reading in kindergarten children from second year (K2) to third year (K3). We tested 204 children on four mapping conditions of PAL (i.e., visual-verbal, verbal-verbal, visual-visual, and verbal-visual), phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, executive functioning skills of working memory and inhibition, visual-motor integration, and Chinese word reading. Results of cross-lagged panel analysis showed that Chinese word reading uniquely predicted subsequent development of PAL and the language-specific skills of phonological awareness and orthographic knowledge, but not vice versa. Furthermore, the bidirectional associations between PAL and orthographic knowledge were not found in this study. The covariates of inhibition and visual-motor integration were also found to play crucial roles in the development of PAL. Practice or Policy: Together, these findings suggest that the process of learning to read modifies and refines the development of PAL and language-specific skills in beginning readers.

This study examined the direct and indirect associations among imaginational over-excitability, cognitive play processes, affective play processes, and parent-reported creative potential of Hong Kong Chinese kindergarten children. Participants were 106 parents of local kindergarten children (43.4% girls, mean age = 60.1 months). Parents reported their child's imaginational over-excitability, cognitive play processes, affective play processes, and creative potential through a questionnaire. Results from the path model revealed that children's imaginational over-excitability was positively associated with their cognitive and affective play processes. Children's parent-reported creative potential was significantly related to their cognitive play processes but marginally related to their affective play processes. Furthermore, the relationship between imaginational over-excitability and parent-reported creative potential was fully mediated by children's cognitive and affective play processes. Theoretically, the findings suggest that children's cognitive and affective play processes may explain the association between their imaginational over-excitability and parent-reported creative potential. Practically speaking, the results highlight the importance of providing imaginative children with opportunities and supports to carry out imaginative pretend play so as to promote their creative potential.

This study investigated the construct of paired associate learning (PAL) and its associations with Chinese word writing in kindergarten children. A total of 188 Chinese children (95 boys, mean age = 5.65 years; SD = 0.34) from [Xi'an], Mainland China in the third year of kindergarten participated in this study. Children were assessed on measures of PAL with four mapping conditions (i.e., visual-verbal, verbal-verbal, visual-visual, and verbal-visual), executive functioning (EF) of working memory and inhibitory control, visual-motor integration (VMI), phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge, Chinese word reading and Chinese word writing. Results of path anlyses showed that EF skills uniquely predicted the performance of PAL (except verbal-visual PAL) and VMI was a significant correlate of visual-visual and verbal-visual PAL only. Verbal-visual PAL made a marginal significant contribution to Chinese word writing over and above the effects of age, IQ, phonological awareness, VMI, and Chinese word reading. Furthermore, verbal-verbal PAL showed significant indirect effects on Chinese word writing via word reading. These findings underscore the importance of EF and VMI in explaining the performance of different types of PAL and the different mechanisms of PAL in contribution to Chinese word writing in kindergarten children.

Background: Research has shown that paired associate learning (PAL) plays an important role in children's word reading across different languages. However, little is known about the construct of PAL and its relationship with word reading in Chinese children. Methods: A total of 204 second-year kindergarten children from Mainland China were assessed on measures of PAL, including the four mapping conditions of PAL -- visual-verbal, verbal-verbal, visual-visual and verbal-visual PAL. Tasks of working memory (WM), inhibitory control, visual-motor integration (VMI), phonological awareness, orthographic knowledge and Chinese word reading were also administered to these children. Results: Our results showed that WM, VMI and phonological awareness were unique predictors of PAL, whereas inhibitory control and orthographic knowledge were not. Furthermore, PAL showed an independent contribution to Chinese word reading after controlling for phonological awareness and orthographic knowledge. The mediation analysis showed that PAL was a significant mediator of the association between different cognitive-linguistic skills and Chinese word reading. Conclusion: Paired associate learning contributes to Chinese word reading over and above phonological awareness and orthographic knowledge. Findings underscore the potential importance of PAL, as distinct from other cognitive-linguistic skills, for understanding variability in early reading development.

A form-preparation task in the language production field was adopted to examine output phonological representations in Chinese dyslexia and their susceptibility to training. Forty-one Chinese children with dyslexia (7-11 years old) and 36 chronological age controls completed this task. The controls demonstrated a marginally significant syllable facilitation effect (d = -0.13), indicating their use of syllable-sized phonological representations during speech production, while the group with dyslexia showed a significantly different pattern (d = 0.04), opposite to the direction of a facilitation effect. The children with dyslexia were then randomly assigned to either metalinguistic training (N = 22) or working memory training (N = 19). Only the metalinguistic training subgroup demonstrated a significant syllable facilitation effect afterward (metalinguistic: d = -0.13; working memory: d = -0.01). The results suggest the presence of a phonological representation deficit at the syllable level in Chinese dyslexia and its possible remediation by metalinguistic training. Such a phonological deficit in readers of a logographic script strongly supports the impaired phonological representation view of developmental dyslexia. A video abstract of this article can be viewed at https://youtu.be/zT2Be0xMkh0.

The influence of test anxiety on academic difficulties has been investigated in typically developing students, but the mechanism underlying the influence remains unclear, especially for those with specific learning disabilities (SpLDs). This study examined the role of metacognition in the relationship between test anxiety and literacy difficulties among Chinese typically developing adolescents as well as those who have been identified as having an SpLD and significant literacy difficulties (i.e., typically functioning SpLD) and without significant literacy difficulties (i.e., high-functioning SpLD) in Taiwan. A total of 238 first-year undergraduate students were recruited from eleven universities in South Taiwan. Among 238 students, 105 were identified to have SpLDs, and 133 were typically developing students. These students were asked to complete questionnaires on demographics, test anxiety, metacognition, and literacy difficulties (i.e., reading and writing). Structural equation modeling analyses showed that test anxiety among Chinese adolescents was linked to literacy difficulties but that only high-functioning and typically functioning students with SpLDs experienced a direct effect (without mediation by other factors). For those without SpLDs, the influence of test anxiety on literacy difficulties was not direct but significantly mediated by metacognition. Various components of these students' metacognition had mediating effects on different literacy difficulties. Test anxiety might influence the reading and writing difficulties of typically developing adolescents and those with typically functioning and high-functioning SpLDs through different mechanisms. Moreover, teachers at the university level are encouraged to consider students' test anxiety and metacognition when preparing their teaching materials.

Social mastery motivation and parental response are important correlates of children's vocabulary and self-regulation skills, but little research has examined their relationships collectively. This study investigated the direct relationships among social mastery motivation (active interaction and positive affect frequencies), parental response, and self-regulation skills and the indirect relationships via vocabulary knowledge. Participants were 182 Hong Kong children (83 girls, mean age 3.82) and their parents. Path analysis revealed that active interaction frequency had direct negative (in boys) and marginal indirect positive relationships (via vocabulary knowledge, in girls) with self-regulation, whereas positive affect frequency was indirectly related to boys' self-regulation through expressive vocabulary. Parental response was positively related to self-regulation and marginally to social mastery motivation in boys only. Findings highlight that different aspects of social mastery motivation may relate to boys' and girls' vocabulary and self-regulation skills, and that parental response may particularly shape boys' social mastery motivation and self-regulation.

The present study investigated the executive functioning of working memory, inhibition, shifting, and planning in Chinese adolescent readers with dyslexia and how they related to Chinese (L1) and English (L2) reading comprehension. Fifty-seven Hong Kong Chinese students at Grade 7 were compared with 57 typically developing readers of chronological-age-matched controls on their performance on working memory, inhibition, shifting, planning, vocabulary knowledge, rapid naming, and reading comprehension in Chinese and English. Results from the multivariate analysis of variance showed that readers with dyslexia performed worse than the typical readers in executive functioning, vocabulary knowledge, rapid naming, and reading comprehension. Hierarchical regressions indicated that working memory, inhibition, and vocabulary knowledge were significant predictors of reading comprehension in L1 after controlling for age, IQ, and group membership. Furthermore, working memory, inhibition, shifting, vocabulary knowledge, and rapid naming contributed uniquely to reading comprehension in L2. Taken together, these findings suggest executive functioning difficulties in Chinese readers with dyslexia and highlight the differential contributions of executive functioning to Chinese and English reading comprehension; working memory and inhibition appear to play an important role in reading comprehension across different languages.

This 13-month longitudinal study investigated whether different phonological processing components independently predicted individual differences in Chinese word reading and arithmetic. Three phonological processing skills [phonological awareness, phonological memory, and rapid automatized naming (RAN)], word reading, and arithmetic were assessed among eighty-eight Hong Kong Chinese first graders (Mean age = 79.88 months, SD = 4.71), along with vocabulary and nonverbal intelligence. These abilities were measured again at second grade (Mean age = 92.89 months, SD = 5.14). Simple correlations showed that phonological awareness and RAN at grade one were significantly associated with word reading and arithmetic both at grade one and at grade two, while phonological memory at grade one was associated with arithmetic, but not word reading, at both grades. Among the three phonological skills, RAN at grade one uniquely predicted 4% of the variance in children's reading performance and 15% of the variance in arithmetic at second grade, beyond autoregressive effects, vocabulary, and nonverbal intelligence (model 3a). In contrast, neither phonological awareness nor phonological memory significantly predicted children's later reading and arithmetic performance. There was also a reciprocal influence of Chinese word reading, rather than arithmetic skills, on later RAN performance.

This study examined the bidirectionality between kindergarten children's executive functioning (EF) and word reading across two time points. Participants were 523 Hong Kong Chinese-speaking children (mean age at Time 2 = 64.59 months; 52.9% male) and their parents. At Time 1, children were administered the measures of EF skills: inhibitory control, attention shifting, working memory and Chinese word reading. They were reassessed with these measures at Time 2 one year later. Results from the cross-lagged panel model revealed that, controlling for child age, gender and parental education levels, children's word reading at Time 1 was significantly predictive of their working memory at Time 2, but that the three EF skills at Time 1 were not predictive of word reading at Time 2. These findings underscored the role of early word reading in promoting children's working memory.

Background: Studies have shown that word dictation and syntactic skills are significant predictors of written composition performance among Chinese children in elementary grades. However, there is a paucity of research on the bidirectional relationships between these two cognitive-linguistic skills (i.e., word dictation and syntactic skills) and Chinese writing skills. Methods: This paper reports the findings of a 1-year longitudinal study tracking the developmental patterns of Chinese writing among students in Grades 3 and 5 in Hong Kong. The participants were administered tasks involving cognitive-linguistic skills (working memory, word dictation and syntactic skills) and writing skills (narrative writing and expository writing). Results: Multiple regression analysis revealed that word dictation and syntactic skills in Grades 3 and 5 were significant longitudinal predictors of Chinese written composition performance in Grade 4 and Grade 6. Syntactic skills, but not word dictation, contributed a significant amount of unique variance to writing performance after controlling for the autoregressor effect of writing. The results also showed that written composition performance in Grades 3 and 5 contributed unique variance to individual differences in syntactic skills in Grades 4 and 6, after controlling for syntactic skills in the preceding year and other cognitive-linguistic variables. Conclusion: The patterns of results underscore the significance of syntactic skills in Chinese written composition in upper elementary grades and the bidirectional relationship between syntactic skills and written composition in Chinese.

Author(s): Wing-kai Fung [sup.1] , Kevin Kien-hoa Chung [sup.1] Author Affiliations: (1) grid.419993.f, 0000 0004 1799 6254, Department of Early Childhood Education, The Education University of Hong Kong, , 10 [...], Social mastery motivation is a critical correlate of children's vocabulary and socioemotional skills, but little research has investigated the relationships among these factors. The present study investigated the direct relationships between socioemotional skills and the instrumental and expressive indicators of social mastery motivation and the indirect relationships between these variables through receptive vocabulary. The participants were 171 Hong Kong Chinese kindergarten children (76 girls; mean age 3.84 years) and their parents. The children's social mastery motivation, receptive vocabulary, and non-verbal intelligence were individually assessed in their homes. Both of each child's parents reported their educational level and child's socioemotional skills. Path analysis revealed that expressive social mastery motivation had a positive relationship with socioemotional skills and that instrumental social mastery motivation was indirectly related to socioemotional skills through receptive vocabulary. The findings highlight the different relationships between two indicators of social mastery motivation and socioemotional skills, and social mastery motivation may improve children's vocabulary and socioemotional skills through day-to-day social interactions.

The number of Chinese children living in poverty has risen steadily in Hong Kong, China. However, little is known on the longitudinal effects of family socioeconomic status (SES) on cognitive-linguistic skills, word reading and writing in children from low-SES backgrounds. This study examines differences in cognitive-linguistic skills and word reading and writing across kindergarteners from the low- and middle-SES groups. It also investigates the direct link between SES and children's concurrent Chinese literacy skills and how cognitive-linguistic skills mediate the longitudinal associations between SES and word reading and writing. One hundred and nine children were assessed at Kindergarten K2 (Time 1) and reassessed at Kindergarten K3 (Time 2). Children were administered the measures of vocabulary knowledge, phonological awareness, morphological awareness, executive functioning, Chinese word reading, and Chinese word dictation at both time points. Results revealed that low-SES children performed less well on Chinese word reading and dictation than their middle-SES peers at both time points. Moreover, hierarchical regression and mediation analyses suggested that SES had a direct relation with Chinese word reading at Time 1 after controlling for age and cognitive-linguistic skills, and an indirect link with Chinese word dictation at Time 2 which was fully mediated by phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge at Time 1. The results highlight that SES may exert an impact on children's early Chinese reading and writing and suggest the benefit of improving phonological awareness and vocabulary knowledge of low-SES children.