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Background: While much is known about how morphological awareness (MA) contributes to reading development, little attention has been paid to how reading may conversely affect MA development, particularly in readers of Chinese in a bilingual/multilingual setting. Methods: The study adopted a cross-lagged panel design. Young bilingual readers of Chinese were measured in MA, word reading and reading comprehension -- all in Chinese -- twice from Grade 3 to Grade 4. Results: Path analysis revealed that Grade 3 MA significantly predicted Grade 4 reading comprehension after controlling for the autoregressive effect. Over and above Grade 3 MA, Grade 3 reading also significantly predicted Grade 4 MA. Subsequent analyses, however, revealed disparate developmental patterns between those with Chinese and English, respectively, as their home language. Implications: These findings, while supporting reciprocity of developmental relationships between MA and reading, also suggested that the pattern of relationships can vary as a function of students' target language experiences in a bilingual/multilingual setting.

This study examined the contribution of the constructs of orthographic processing (orthographic choice and orthographic choice in context), syntactic processing (grammaticality and sentence integrity), and verbal working memory (two reading span indicators) to written Chinese composition (narration, explanation, and argumentation) in 129 15-year-old L2 learners. A matrix task was also administered as a control task to tap cognitive flexibility. Structural equation modeling (SEM) analysis with written composition as a latent variable revealed orthographic processing and working memory as two significant, independent contributors, whereas the unique contribution of syntactic processing was not significant. Subsequent SEM analysis with narration, explanation, and argumentation as separate endogenous variables found varied patterns of the contribution of each latent predictor to written composition in different genres. These patterns are discussed in light of the importance of attention to learners' developmental stage and genre-sensitive measures to capture the psycholinguistic and cognitive underpinnings of written composition in L2 Chinese.

This study examined the impact of providing access to word pronunciation on the assessment of L2 Chinese learners' vocabulary knowledge. Chinese heritage learners (HLs) and foreign language learners (FLs) studying in American universities undertook a computer-based test in which they had first to select a picture that represented the meaning of a target word presented in characters only, and then answer the same item presented in both characters and pinyin (i.e. the alphabetic system to facilitate the pronunciation of characters). The provision of pinyin substantially increased the test reliability for both groups of learners but the differences between the no-pinyin and pinyin conditions were less marked for FLs than HLs. In the no-pinyin condition, the groups showed no significant score difference, whereas in the pinyin condition, HLs significantly outperformed FLs. The proportion of HLs who successfully corrected their original choices following provision of pinyin was also notably higher. These findings suggest that provision of pinyin impacted the two groups differentially. Implications for vocabulary knowledge assessment for different types of Chinese learners are discussed.

This study examined internal and external factors affecting pedagogical use of technology among 47 K-12 Chinese language teachers in the United States. Path analysis of the survey data was used to examine the relationships between the teachers' instructional use of technology, on the one hand, and on the other, their perceptions of three internal factors (i.e., technology's usefulness, its ease of use, and subjective norms) and one external factor (i.e., facilitating conditions). The results showed that these teachers' pedagogical use of technology could be predicted by two of the three internal factors (i.e., perceived usefulness and subjective norms) and by the external factor. Additionally, the external factor was found to have a significant influence on both perceived ease of use and subjective norms.

This longitudinal study examined the contribution of morphological awareness to English as a Second Language (ESL) reading comprehension. Young Chinese-speaking ESL learners completed twice with a one-year interval the same set of tasks that measured derivational awareness, vocabulary breadth, fluency of reading derived words, and passage comprehension. Structural Equation Modeling analyses revealed that at both Time 1 and Time 2, morphological awareness had a significant direct effect on reading comprehension over and above vocabulary knowledge, and such an effect became stronger over time. A significant indirect effect of morphological awareness on reading comprehension was also observed at both times. However, how the indirect effect was achieved varied across times. Longitudinally, Time 1 morphological awareness failed to significantly predict Time 2 reading comprehension over and above Time 1 reading comprehension and vocabulary knowledge; however, an indirect effect through the latter two variables was significant. This study indicates an increasingly important role of morphology in ESL reading comprehension, and highlights a need of explicit teaching of morphology to facilitate ESL learners' reading development.

Background: In spite of considerable advancements in our understanding of the different factors involved in achieving vocabulary-learning success, the overall pattern and interrelationships of critical factors involved in L2 vocabulary learning--particularly, the mechanisms through which learners regulate their motivation and learning strategies--remain unclear. Aims: This study examined L2 vocabulary learning, focusing on the joint influence of different motivational factors and learning strategies on the vocabulary breadth of adolescent learners of English as a foreign language (EFL) in China. Sample: The participants were 107 tenth graders (68 females, 39 males) in China. Methods: The data were collected via two questionnaires, one assessing students' motivation towards English-vocabulary learning and the other their English vocabulary-learning strategies, along with a test measuring vocabulary breadth. Results: Structural equation modelling (SEM) indicated that learning strategy partially mediated the relationship between motivation (i.e., a composite score of intrinsic and extrinsic motivation) and vocabulary learning. Separate SEM analyses for intrinsic (IM) and extrinsic motivation (EM) revealed that there were significant and positive direct and indirect effects of IM on vocabulary knowledge; and while EM's direct effect over and above that of learning strategies did not achieve significance, its indirect effect was significant and positive. Conclusions: The findings suggest that vocabulary-learning strategies mediate the relationship between motivation and vocabulary knowledge. In addition, IM may have a greater influence on vocabulary learning in foreign-language contexts.

Word Associates Format (WAF) tests are often used to measure second language learners' vocabulary depth with a focus on their network knowledge. Yet, there were often many variations in the specific forms of the tests and the ways they were used, which tended to have an impact on learners' response behaviors and, more importantly, the psychometric properties of the tests. This paper reviews the general practices, key issues, and research findings that pertain to WAF tests in four major areas, including the design features of WAF tests, conditions for test administration, scoring methods, and test-taker characteristics. In each area, a set of variables is identified and described with relevant research findings also presented and discussed. Around eight topics, the General Discussion section provides some suggestions and directions for the development of WAF tests and the use of them as research tools in the future. This paper is hoped to help researchers become better aware that the results generated by a WAF test may vary depending on what specific design the test has, how it is administered and scored, and who the learners are, and consequently, make better decisions in their research that involves a WAF test.

Though pedagogical beliefs have been identified as critical factors in the success of technology integration, very few studies have included them in technology-adoption models. The present study revises the Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) by adding teachers' pedagogical beliefs, and tests the revised model among university-level English-as-a-foreign-language (EFL) teachers in China. Specifically, the revised model examines how teachers' constructivist and/or transmissive pedagogical beliefs influence four key constructs of the TAM: perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, attitude toward use, and intention to use. Survey data were collected from 202 Chinese EFL teachers and analyzed using path analysis. The revised model showed a good model fit. The results indicated that the sampled teachers' pedagogical beliefs were more constructivist-oriented than transmissive-oriented, and that the former type of beliefs had a significant positive influence on three of the above-mentioned TAM constructs (perceived usefulness, perceived ease of use, and attitude toward use). Teachers' transmissive pedagogical beliefs, on the other hand, did not have any significant impact on their attitudes toward information and communication technology (ICT) or their perceptions of its usefulness, though such beliefs did significantly affect their perceptions of how easy ICT was to use. Implications of these findings for teacher education and professional training are discussed.

This study examined the similarities and differences in the functioning of component processes underlying first language (L1) and second language (L2) word reading in Chinese. Fourth-grade Chinese children in Singapore were divided into L1 and L2 reader groups based on whether they used Mandarin or English as their home language. Both groups were administered a battery of tasks that assessed their orthographic processing skill (OP), phonological awareness (PA), morphological awareness (MA), oral vocabulary knowledge, as well as the ability to decode characters and multi-character compound words. Separate Structural Equation Modeling (SEM) analyses showed that in the L1 group, over and above all other variables, both OP and MA, as opposed to PA, were significant predictors of word reading, whereas in the L2 group, OP and PA, as opposed to MA, predicted word reading. Multiple-group SEM analysis further revealed that the effects of OP and MA were significantly larger in the L1 than in the L2 group, whereas a converse pattern was found for PA. These findings are discussed in light of the linguistic and language-to-print mapping properties of Chinese as well as the influence of L1 and L2 learners' differential experience on how they learn to read in Chinese.

Lexical ability, an umbrella term to cover various knowledge and skills pertaining to words in print, is a key component in reading comprehension. Little is known how different facets of lexical ability jointly contribute to L2 reading comprehension and how the contributions may differ between higher- and lower-proficiency L2 learners. This study, based on 201 adults who had studied Chinese in China, explored direct and indirect effects of distinct facets of lexical ability on L2 reading comprehension. The participants completed three paper-pencil tasks that measured three facets of lexical ability, that is, morphological awareness, character knowledge, and vocabulary knowledge. Their short-term memory, grammatical knowledge, and reading comprehension were also measured. Separate sets of path analysis showed that higher- and lower-proficiency learners had distinct patterns of relationships. Whereas higher-proficiency learners relied more on morphological awareness and vocabulary knowledge in L2 Chinese reading comprehension, lower-proficiency learners drew largely upon their character knowledge. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Soil organic carbon (SOC) in grasslands not only plays an important role in carbon cycle but also largely affects soil function and thus determines grasslands' productivity. However, the influence mechanism of different factors on SOC storage in grasslands of northern China remains unclear. Based on an extensive field investigation and multiple statistical approaches, we mapped SOC of the grassland in northern China, and explored their correlations with climatic factors, biological factors, human activity intensity (HAI), and soil physicochemical factors. The effects of these factors on SOC were also analyzed by structural equation model. The results showed that the SOC varied across the regions and was strongly correlated with soil chemical factors (i.e., soil total nitrogen [TN], amorphous Al, and amorphous Fe) and soil physical factors (i.e., clay, silt, and sand). HAI, which was mainly influenced by grazing, had a significant but negative impact on SOC. Different from previous studies, we found that climatic factors such as temperature and precipitation indirectly affected SOC by influencing biological factors such as vegetation coverage, vegetation height, Shannon–Weiner index, and species richness. The soil physicochemical properties and HAI were the dominant influencing factors for controlling SOC distribution in the grasslands of northern China. Our findings will further increase the understanding of the carbon cycle in grassland ecosystems, while providing important scientific references for temperate grassland ecosystem management. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This longitudinal study examined the contribution of morphological awareness to bilingual word learning of Malay-English bilingual children in Singapore where English is the medium of instruction. Participants took morphological awareness and lexical inference tasks in both English and Malay twice with an interval of about half a year, the first time at the end of Grade 3 (Time 1) and the second time at the end of the first semester of Grade 4 (Time 2). Structural equation modeling (SEM) analyses revealed that within both languages, morphological awareness significantly predicted lexical inference at Time 1 as well as Time 2, and the contribution also became strengthened over time. Cross-linguistic SEM analyses showed that concurrently at both Time 1 and Time 2, English morphological awareness only had a significant indirect effect on Malay lexical inference. The exact indirect relationships, however, varied between Time 1 and Time 2. In addition, an indirect effect of Time 1 English morphological awareness on Time 2 Malay lexical inference also surfaced. These findings suggest concurrent as well as longitudinal cross-linguistic transfer of morphological awareness from English to Malay.