The Longitudinal Relationship Between Repeating Patterning and Second Language English Reading in Chinese Preschool Children: A Random-Intercept Cross-Lagged Panel Model

Abstract

The relationship between patterning, an important math ability, and reading has begun to receive scientific attention, but much remains unclear. No previous study has investigated this relationship in the second language (L2) learning context, where the reading-processing system appears to be different from that in the first language learning context. This study examined the bidirectional relationship between repeating patterning and L2 reading using a random-intercept cross-lagged panel model. Three waves of data were collected from 138 Chinese preschool children learning English as an L2. A significant within-person effect was found for the path from repeating patterning to early L2 reading, but not vice versa. This finding attests to the significance that repeating patterning may hold for Chinese children’s acquisition of English as an L2. It also points to the possibility that patterning can be applied to modulate the mechanism of L2 word reading processing, which has traditionally been understood as L2 learners being more reliant on “shallow” semantic information and less sensitive to “deep” structural (i.e., syntactic/morphological) patterns.