The Effects of Vocabulary Breadth and Depth on Reading Comprehension in Middle Childhood: The Mediator Role of Listening Comprehension

Abstract

This study investigated whether listening comprehension played a mediator role between vocabulary and reading comprehension. 127 Mandarin-speaking children were longitudinally assessed at 6;4, 6;10, 7;4, and 7;10. Data were collected in four batteries of tests implemented at the beginning of first grade (T₁); at mid-first grade (T₂); at the beginning of the second grade (T₃); and at mid-second grade (T₄). Participants’IQ, decoding, vocabulary breadth and depth knowledge were measured at T₁, listening comprehension at T₂, and reading comprehension at T₃ and T₄ respectively. Path analysis was utilized for analysis. Vocabulary breadth was found to contribute to reading comprehension via a full mediator role of listening comprehension with a lapse of 1 and 1.5 years; however, vocabulary depth directly influenced reading comprehension with the same time lapse over the effect of decoding and listening comprehension.

Disclosure statement

The authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.

Additional information

Funding

This research was supported by Major Project of National Social Sciences Foundation [13&ZD188], Philosophy and Social Science Planning of Shanxi [2019B204].