Cross-Lagged Relationships between Vocabulary Knowledge and Morphological Awareness among Chinese Children: A Longitudinal Study from Grade 1 to Grade 3

Examining changes in the longitudinal relationship between vocabulary knowledge and three types of morphological awareness (MA), a cross-lagged design was conducted with a sample of 146 Chinese children. Homophone awareness, homograph awareness, compounding awareness, and vocabulary knowledge were measured in grades 1 (T1), 2 (T2), and 3 (T3), respectively. After controlling for nonverbal IQ, phonological awareness, and rapid automatized naming, the structural equation modeling results showed that vocabulary knowledge significantly positively affected compounding awareness from T1 to T2 and T2 to T3. Vocabulary knowledge at T2 predicted homophone awareness and homograph awareness at T3. Furthermore, homograph awareness at T2 predicted vocabulary knowledge at T3. These findings provided evidence that vocabulary knowledge is a significant predictor of homophone awareness, homograph awareness, and compounding awareness; simultaneously, stressed the importance of three types of MA which might play different roles in Chinese vocabulary development. Moreover, the developmental relationship between the three types of MA and vocabulary knowledge is changing and has the characteristics of stages.