Longitudinal associations between metalinguistic awareness, executive functions, and Chinese character reading: A network analysis

Using behavioral network analysis, the present study aimed to examine the relation between various cognitive-linguistic skills and Chinese character reading in children from preschool to primary school. A cohort of 172 Chinese children (41.3% female; M_age = 5.74 ± 0.32 years) were followed from the end of kindergarten (T1) to first grade (T2) and end of Grade 3 (T3), and were assessed on cognitive-linguistic skills (i.e., orthographic awareness, morphological awareness, rapid automatized naming, and phonological awareness), executive functions, and character reading. Behavioral network analysis showed that the association between orthographic awareness and Chinese character reading was significant at T1 and T2 but faded by T3. Morphological awareness displayed no significant correlation with Chinese character reading at T1 and T2, while this correlation strengthened at T3. Rapid automatized naming consistently demonstrated a significant correlation with Chinese character reading across all three time points. In contrast, phonological awareness, inhibitory control, and working memory failed to exhibit a significant correlation with Chinese character reading at all three time points. The findings shed light on the unique and evolving roles of metalinguistic skills in shaping Chinese character reading during this developmental stage.